Gamification in education: game design elements in the 'Solutions second edition' EFL textbook set
Date
2018
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
The students today are often referred to as ‘digital natives’ who have grown up in
the digital age and as a result think and process information differently than the previous
generations (Prensky 2001). Living in a digital age with digital natives, whose perception
of learning differs from that of the generation(s) preceding them, it is the duty of educators
to be receptive to new methodologies of learner engagement that might help to shape a
learning environment better suited to the new type of learners (Dyer 2015:65). The need
for a new approach to teaching and learning in general is stated also in the Estonian
Lifelong Learning Strategy 2020, a document that guides the developments in education in
Estonia in 2014-2020. Gamification, the use of game elements in non-game contexts
(Deterding et al. 2011), is said to have great potential also in education as it helps to
increase both user engagement and motivation Simões et al. (2013).
The aim of this thesis is to locate and analyse gamification elements in a textbook
set used in Estonian schools and to see how the elements present exploit the potential of
gamification in the context of language teaching. This would provide an idea of what the
starting point would be in using gamification in English as a Foreign Language (EFL)
lessons and what kind of support it could give for gamifying EFL classes. Knowing game
elements would help teachers incorporate the elements into the methods they are already
familiar with (Keramidas 2010).
The thesis consists of an introduction, two core chapters and a conclusion. The
introduction explains the reasons for addressing the topic, states the research questions and
introduces the structure of the paper. The first chapter presents the definition of
gamification, provides examples of gamified systems, discusses criticism towards
gamification and the following response, and introduces different gamification taxonomies.
It also includes the list of game elements used in the analysis conducted in the second
chapter. The list of game elements is compiled based on game element taxonomies
suggested by Cugelman (2013), Blohm and Leimeister (2013 in Seaborn and Fels
2015:19), and Robson et al. (2015). The second chapter gives a short overview of the
Solutions Second Edition textbook set, introduces the game elements found in different
parts of the set, and discusses the gamification potential of the set. The conclusion provides
a summary of the findings.
Description
Keywords
inglise keel, võõrkeeleõpetus, mängud, motivatsioon