Die Einführung von Gamification im DaF Unterricht an der Obafemi Awolowo Universität, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Abstract

Most Nigerian students of German are between 16 and 30 years old. This age group tends to be more interested in playing computer and video games than doing their home- and class work with traditional materials such as textbooks and workbooks. Younger students need interesting activities that are fun for them and motivate them to learn and, as a result, make progress and achieve rapid success in their learning. It is therefore surprising that gamification has not yet been introduced into the curricula of Nigerian higher institutions. As a result, there is hardly any research in the field of gamification in foreign language learning in general or its use in the teaching of German in particular. This lacuna in research on gamification in German studies in Nigeria led to the present study, which examines the introduction of gamification into German lessons at Obafemi Awolowo University. The study aims at initiating a targeted discussion on gamification in German studies and stimulating further scholarly conversations on the topic. Through this, the possibility of creating a didactic design for the use of gamification in German studies in Nigeria can be achieved. This study uses secondary data sources including articles, books and reviews about gamification in education or classrooms. Other sources include websites and blog posts. These sources provide useful insights from various studies on gamification and its use in education, especially in foreign language teaching, which help in drawing up suggestions for a successful introduction of gamification into the curriculum of Nigerian universities especially that of German at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria. The analysis of the data is based on a descriptive and content analysis.