The use of gamification in foreign language teaching: A case of study

Abstract

Gamification represents a promising trend in education as a means of increasing students’ motivation to learn. By using game elements –like competition or rewards– students are engaged in interactive learning processes that challenge their skills in a more compelling way that traditional lecture classes do. Despite an increasing interest in gamification there is a scarcity of research on the subject specially related to the type of video games genres used in gamification. This research focuses on analysing a complex video game genre –adventure games– to better understand how this type of video game genre can be used to teach a foreign language (L2). In doing so a case study –Trace Effects, developed by the United States Department of State– is analysed. A mixed narratology and ludology approach was used to analyse how storytelling and game elements were used to teach English to speakers of other languages. Main results show how adventure video games can be used to teach complex English grammar encouraging students to use the principles of English grammar to create sentences that allow them to achieve the game goals.