The effectiveness of gamification tools to teach and learn EFL: a survey-based study on L1 Spanish-Catalan secondary school students

Abstract

[eng] This dissertation aimed at exploring the use of different gamification tools to learn English as a foreign language (EFL). In particular, it sought to analyse whether games are effective tools to learn English in the context of secondary education, and, if so, whether they contribute to improving specific language skills. Several studies have already shown the effectiveness of gamification and game-based learning (Hartt et al., 2020; Rodríguez-Fernández, 2017). Gamification can be defined as “the use of game elements and game design techniques in a nongame context” (Zarzycka-Piskorz, 2016). Among its benefits, one of the most relevant is that it increases students’ motivation, emotional involvement and enjoyment while learning a foreign language (Hartt et al., 2020). Furthermore, games “enable to integrate both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational components to make players feel more motivated to engage in the target activities” (p. 592). As a result, this study intended to test the use of Kahoot!, EdPuzzle and Quizlet both inside and outside the classroom with 4th ESO students in a secondary school in Mallorca for a period of approximately six weeks. Apart from that, students were delivered a pre-survey and a post-survey to be answered before and after the experiment respectively, to know their perceptions on the use of gamification tools to learn English. Then, results from the two surveys were compared to see if significant differences were observed. Overall, the study showed that games are very useful tools inside and outside the classroom as long as they are used responsibly and in addition to other teaching materials. Taking this into account, it also offered a didactic proposal with diverse activities to apply twelve different gamification tools to the EFL classroom throughout the whole academic year.