Gamification in the ESL and EFL classroom

If I had to share something that has really taken my ESL and EFL teaching to the next level, it would be class gamification.

Using a well-structured gamification strategy has highly improved my learners’ motivation and academic results.

And you know, things got even better when I noticed that my learners loved it!

Want to know why gamification works so effectively?

Well, it is because it creates engagement and it motivates and captivates students. ESL and EFL gamification makes learners reach high concentration levels that, as you know, are essential when learning dense or more complex concepts. On the contrary, if you think about a traditional lesson, the attention span of the pupils usually decreases significantly.

If we analyze the reason why people fancy playing video games, it is because they are “gamified”. According to Tiago Eugenio in his book Aula em Jogo (2020), a group of scientists held a magnetic resonance imaging study in which individuals’ brain activity was compared under different learning conditions.

Photo: Andrey Metelev – Unsplash

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The first group of learners had to read a question and choose the correct answer. They were told that if they were able to do this, they would receive ten points; if they weren’t able, they wouldn’t receive any. The second group had to deal with basically the same conditions presented to the first group, however, they were provided with immediate feedback to help them discover if their answer was right or wrong. This group received ten reward points as well. The last group was exposed to gamification by keeping the same conditions given to the second group, however, they were asked to split into two teams and compete against each other. The winners were given the chance to spin a wheel and receive some random points, which meant that they were exposed to an uncertain reward.

Photo: Clint Bustrillos – Unsplash

After three or four weeks of study, the three groups took a 40-question test designed to measure the knowledge acquired along the experiment and, as you can foresee, it was the group exposed to the gamified strategy the one who got the higher scores. This study also revealed that when working on gamified activities, the neuronal activity related to distraction and lack of concentration decreases significantly, allowing pupils to be much more focused and successful when working on the tasks.

In short, gamification is an amazing tool to use in designing lessons, weekly units or even complete terms. Besides, it can also be an excellent instrument to promote discipline and fellowship among your students.

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