Case Study: Gamification as a strategy for vocabulary learning in university students

Abstract

Research have shown that gamification can have a great and positive impact in students’ motivation and engagement with their learning. Since Covid-19 and social distance happened, teachers needed to adapt and create the conditions for students to continue with their learning, to boost their interest and motivation in a virtual environment. As a result, the use of online games seemed to be a way to grab students’ attention and to increase their level of participation in class while learning new vocabulary. Some authors have commented that at least 10 to 17 encounters might be necessary for word meaning to be recalled. Games used as a tool in vocabulary learning in a second language allow repetition through failure taking away the shyness or shame to try it again. The aim of this survey was to know the perception on the effectiveness of using online games when learning vocabulary at the English area of the Technical University of Babahoyo. The results showed that most teachers are willing to use online games. Even though some of them found it difficult to use games based on their content, they realized that gamification helped most of the students to engage in class. Students were more open to receiving information when experimenting with progress and persisted in their learning when they receive feedback repeatedly. Nevertheless, vocabulary acquisition also involves other aspects besides the meaning which opens new doors for this study to expand and explore in further research.