Summary of Journal 6

KAHOOT IT OR NOT?

CAN GAMES BE MOTIVATING IN LEARNING GRAMMAR?

by Ewa Zarzycka-Piskorz

Pedagogical University of Cracow

Gamification is  not a  very new concept. It is the  use  of game elements and game design techniques in a non-game context. It is used in various contexts for various purposes. There is strong evidence that shows the relationship between game playing and increased motivation. More and more learning games emerge and bring a promise to help to learn a language. There are certain game elements that could be  used  in  non-game contexts to  trigger effective player engagement as well as persistence and motivation to win/learn.

This study examines the influence of specific game elements onto players, presents the motivational aspects of game involvement, and investigates what game elements could be responsible for increasing motivation to participate and engage in a grammar learning game. All of these are investigated on the example of a Kahoot.it online game, which was used with the General English language course students attending the classes in The Modern Languages Centre at the Pedagogical University, Cracow, Poland. Therefore, the research questions were 1) Why are students trying to learn what is relevant to them using gamification tools? And 2) What makes them want to play a learning game?

The first significant finding from this immediate evaluation is the grammar learning effectiveness, which is graded very high (90%). This shows that even though the content may be difficult, the students seem to be open and eager to learn through the use of an online game.

As the second part of the research was based on delayed feedback, it allowed to measure different things: familiarity with language games, motivating reasons to play, and the role of the fun component. It shows clearly that students are not familiar with online class games, and that they would approve of their use more in the future.

This finding suggests that using Kahoot or any game in class would be welcome. One may wonder if this is because of the lack of methodological variety, work overload, constant presence of games in their lives, the need for strong stimuli or the desire to have fun rather than monotonous hard work.