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Top1. Introduction
The term ‘gamification’ is generally used to refer to the application of game mechanics in non-gaming environments, in order to enhance the identified processes and improve the participants' experience (Caponetto et al., 2014). Hence, it refers to the use of games for purposes other than play, for example, in teaching and learning – as is the case in this paper. Several previous studies have examined the impact of gamification on language learning, recording the positive impact of this approach on language learners (for example, Flores, 2015; Huynh et al., 2016; Rawendy et al., 2017).
There are several applications that can be used for gamification in education, one being ‘Kahoot!’. According to its website (Kahoot.com) Kahoot! is “a game-based learning platform” that promotes learning through “engagement and fun”. The Kahoot website offers ready-made games for subjects such as mathematics, but teachers can also create a game for any topic that they are teaching or asking their students to learn. . An important feature of Kahoot! is that it supports team play, where students in the same class compete to achieve the highest score. The application also considers the speed and accuracy of the students’ responses. In addition, the program keeps records of the students’ previous contributions and grades. Importantly, the teacher can design the game to suit the curriculum and the students’ level, in order to serve the teaching goals.
Learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) are growing up digitally. They are looking to use teaching and learning technologies to suit their ICT skills and reinforce their learning. Kiryakova (2014) states that teachers need to find teaching methods that will give students the chance to be active learners, while ensuring high motivation and learning engagement.
This paper reports on an experimental study, carried out in KSA to explore how a gamified approach to learning using Kahoot! compares with the more traditional or usual approach to teaching L2 grammar. The experiment was conducted to gain an understanding of the learners' feelings about the experience together with measuring the development in grammar. The study took place during the Covid-19 pandemic, when teaching had already moved from face-to-face (F2F) to online using a VLE (Virtual Learning Environment). The components of the teaching/learning activities included in the experiment consisted of the students’ weekly assignments, which followed instructional and practice sessions provided once a week to cover various grammar rules. The Experiment group used Kahoot! For their assignments, while the Control group used Google Forms. Google Forms was the platform used by teachers at the University for remote teaching in the period of lockdown in 2020. Prior to the start of this remote teaching, the weekly assignments were paper based. The research methodology section of this paper provides details of the experiment in this study.
The purposes of this research were to:
- 1.
Design a possible method of using the Kahoot gamification program to help teach English grammar.
- 2.
Test the effectiveness of 'gamification' by using the Kahoot Program to facilitate students' educational attainment in English grammar.
- 3.
Discover how the participants feel about using the Kahoot program as a means of learning English grammar.
- 4.
Generate recommendations for using the Kahoot program to teach English grammar, as part of learning English as a foreign language (EFL) and specifically in universities in Saudi Arabia.
In particular, these purposes relate to the following research questions:
- 1.
What is one possible way of including Kahoot in an online English grammar course for EFL learners?
- 2.
What is the impact of using Kahoot, compared to Google Forms, on EFL learners’ performance on an online English grammar course?
- 3.
How do EFL learners in the groups using Google Forms and Kahoot describe their experiences of these modes of delivering assignments?