Assessing the Effects of Gamification on Developing EFL Learners’ Idiomatic Knowledge: Do Attitudinal Factors Contribute to the Learning of the Idioms with the Game?

Abstract

Regarding the attractiveness of educational games for EFL learners, the present research intended to investigate the effects of gamification on improving Iranian EFL learners’ idiomatic knowledge. In addition, the current research examined the attitudes of Iranian EFL learners towards using gamification in English learning in the Iranian EFL context. Firstly, to carry out this research, the researchers administered the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) to 84 Iranian EFL learners and selected 50 upper-intermediate participants. Secondly, they divided the selected participants into an experimental group (EG) and a control group (CG). Thirdly, the researchers gave an idiom pretest to the participants of both groups to assess their idiomatic knowledge before starting the treatment. Fourthly, the EG was taught the new idioms using game-based instruction, while the CG received traditional idiom instruction. Following the instruction of 70 idioms to both groups, the participants received an idiom posttest to determine the influence of the treatment on their idiomatic knowledge. The EG was then provided an attitude questionnaire, and 15 members of the EG were interviewed as a result of the questionnaire. In the idiom posttest, the data were evaluated using paired samples and independent samples t -tests, and the findings revealed that the EG performed significantly better than the CG on the posttest of idioms. In fact, gamification helped EFL learners develop their idiomatic knowledge. The results indicated that Iranian EFL learners presented positive attitudes toward gamification in learning English idioms. In addition, the results revealed that enjoyment, fun, reducing anxiety, involvement, and immediate feedback were the factors that the students mentioned for the instructional games. The implications of this research can encourage English teachers to implement different educational games in their teaching.

Impact of Quiz Mode on Students’ Learning Achievement: A Gamified e-Quiz Study

“…After experiencing the two types of quizzes, more students in each group selected gamified e-quizzes over the conventional e-quizzes. As for their selection reasons, the students reported that they favored the gamified e-quiz mode because of the enjoyable and motivating experiences in low-anxious environments, confirming previous gamification research [26].…”

“…With a more rigorous research design, Ahmed et al [26] examined the effects of gamification on Iranian EFL learners' idiomatic knowledge. Using an experimental design, the researchers found that gamification helped the learners improve their idiomatic knowledge.…”

“…Using an experimental design, the researchers found that gamification helped the learners improve their idiomatic knowledge. The researchers noted that the strengths of gamification, including enjoyable learning, prompt feedback, and lowered anxiety, were the reasons for the students' positive perceptions [26].…”

“…The study [26] is judged to have good internal validity since it employed randomization for the two-group assignment. Due to the random assignment, the researchers could observe how the two groups' idiomatic knowledge changed from the pre-test to the post-test, attributing the difference observed in the post-test not to the possible difference between the two groups before the experiment but to the gamification intervention.…”

“…Previous gamification studies have discussed several issues, including motivation, attitudes, satisfaction, and learning achievement [1,2,3,4,5]. Gamification has been widely adopted in diverse areas such as mathematics, medical science, business, engineering, and language education [6,7,8,9,10].…”