Gamified EFL Instruction: An Overview of the Most Recent Research Trends Vilma Mikašytė Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Faculty of Informatics Kaunas University of Technology Kaunas, Lithuania vilma.mikasyte@ktu.lt Abstract—This paper provides an overview of six gamified one can notice an increasing number of publications on such learning environments that were developed for teaching English technology-enhanced language instruction. Recent studies as a foreign language (EFL). The tools were reported upon in indicate a variety of potential or already proven benefits of publications that appeared in top scientific journals in 2017. The game-based foreign language learning, including increasing current survey describes the main features of the educational students’ involvement, motivation and attentiveness to detail games that were employed in the conducted experiments and [9]. The aim of the present paper is to provide an overview of focuses on the key findings that are specifically related to the the latest papers on game-based foreign language instruction EFL learning outcomes. The results of the experimental short- that report the results of the learning outcomes when the tool term studies reveal that students who played educational games that is used for instruction was developed by the instructors obtained significantly better results than those who received conventional EFL instruction. themselves. Keywords—technology-enhanced, EFL, language learning, A. Data sources game-based learning, gamification As the current paper gives a theoretical overview of the newest research trends in a specific area, gamified EFL I. INTRODUCTION instruction, the only data source is research papers. They were selected by drawing on the methodology proposed by [10]. The A variety of sources claim that English is the most popular paper selection was carried out in several stages. Firstly, the foreign language to learn [1], [2]. A couple of decades ago, available scientific journals from the top 20 Google Scholar English, as well as other foreign languages, was mostly taught scientific journals on educational technology 1 were inspected and learned in classroom-based formal education. However, by looking for the keyword ‘language learning’. Then, to with the rise of mobile technology, vast opportunities for non- ensure that none of the potentially relevant papers remain formal language learning emerged. People are no longer limited unnoticed, the researcher went through all the issues of the to learning at a specific place at a specific time. In other words, aforementioned journals (published in 2017) manually. Later, they have access to ubiquitous learning [3]. It can be suggested the selected papers were assessed in terms of their suitability that when it comes to ubiquitous foreign language learning, it for the present survey. Some papers were deemed unfit for the was especially boosted by free mobile applications. There are purpose because they (a) do not focus on gamified EFL hundreds of free or semi-free apps that address acquiring teaching / learning, (b) do not focus on teaching skills, thus holistic foreign language skills. Some of them, e.g. Duolingo, were rejected. Mindsnacks, and Memrise, feature simultaneous learning and practicing of language skills via gamified environments. That is, there are different game-like elements, such as levels, points, B. Structure badges, and likewise. The aforementioned together with the The remaining of the paper is structured as follows: Section gains of learning a language which is the third major language II provides an overview of technology-enhanced and gamified in terms of the number of native speakers, English [4], are the language teaching/learning, Section III briefly describes the reason why these apps are becoming more and more popular. educational games that were discovered in the most recent publications, Section IV discusses the key findings, and Section In the light of the above, it is evident that formal education V draws the conclusion. must keep up with the changing preferences and needs of the contemporary ubiquitous learner. Therefore, foreign language instructors strive to employ Information and communication II. GAMIFIED EFL INSTRUCTION technology (ICT) to make the teaching/learning process more This section provides a consine theoretical survey of EFL and attractive, fun, and at the same time efficient. Foreign language gamified foreign language instruction. teachers either come up with innovative ways to exploit already existing ICT resources (e.g. social media [5], wiki [6], vine [7], or e-books [8]) or develop their own. In the academic literature, Copyright held by the author(s). 7 A. EFL Instruction the lower-achieving students are compared, which means that To begin with, EFL stands for English as a foreign there is no great difference between the intake of more language. When it comes to foreign language teaching and advanced learners [13]. Ideally, gamified learning should be learning, two main terms are used to define the phenomena. As beneficial to each and every student. Moeller and Catalano [11] explain, ‘foreign language teaching Nonetheless, the abovementioned research conclusions and learning’ refers to when students are being taught a should not be taken for granted. There is a lack of longitudinal language other than their mother tongue in a different country studies that indicate the long-term retention results of learning than the language is typically spoken. Another term is ‘second via gamified educational environments [24]. To prove or language acquisition’, which describes learning a non-native disclaim the actual educational potential of gamified EFL language while living in the environment where it is commonly instruction, more scholarly effort needs to be invested in spoken [11]. Scholars indicate that regardless whether carrying out longitudinal studies on the long-term effects of individuals are taught a foreign or second language, the relying on educational games to learn English (as well as any traditional teaching paradigm has shifted from teacher-centered other foreign languages). to learner-centered language teaching [11], [12]. It means that the teacher should establish rapport with the students and take III. THE IDENTIFIED EDUCATIONAL GAMES into consideration their learning styles, needs, and preferences [12]. This section contains a brief overview of the educational games that were identified after carrying out a survey of the In the times when technology is omni-present, it does not most recent publications on technology-enhanced EFL make much sense to be still using the old ways of giving instruction. instruction, especially when it comes to foreign languages. Nowadays, the majority of students own a mobile device or can A. The Conference Interpreter [25] be provided with one (for educational purposes) by their educational institution. Despite that, some scholars (esp. those The game was developed by the authors of the paper back from Taiwan, e.g. [13], [9]) emphasize that some foreign in 2013. The authors note that before applying the game in an languages, especially English, are still taught by relying on the actual teaching/learning environment, in total 17 versions of the archaic paper- and memorization-based tasks [9]. Such teaching style does not comply with the new educational game were piloted and revised after receiving feedback from paradigm. Nor does this type of instruction provide the players. The intended audience is university students. The authenticity, which is important in foreign language educational game is in essence a simulator of a conference, thus teaching/learning [13], [14]. More technology-oriented teachers students have to simultaneously translate, for which they need know that it is exactly where gamified learning environments to know and use appropriate lexis. The simulation is in English, can come in handy. while the target language is Spanish. Students are then exposed to multiple-questions-type exercises in which they need to B. Gamified Foreign Language Instruction choose the appropriate option (see Fig. 1b). The purpose of the Almost a decade ago, in 2009, Thrilling and Fadel claimed game is to increase the learners’ vocabulary and a variety of that the available digital tools help to develop the key “21st skills needed for an interpreter. In addition to the educational century skills: critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, content and instant feedback, the game also features a level and innovation, media literacy, ICT literacy, flexibility, initiative, reward system and enables collecting scores and power-ups. and self-direction” [15]. It can be argued that all of these skills To test the effectiveness of the game, an experiment was should be also transferred into the context of learning foreign conducted. One group of students played the game without languages. There are teachers around the world who are trying any teacher intervention (experimental group). Another group to achieve exactly the aforementioned. Not only do they got to study from a booklet with the same contents as in the experiment on using diverse teaching methods (e.g. problem- game (control group). The students were also asked to based learning [16], flipped classroom [17], or language complete a pre-test, post-test, and delayed test. Statistically immersion [18]), but they also devise their own teaching processed data reveal that even though students in the materials and those who are more tech-savvy even develop experimental group had no help from the instructor, they their own educational games. learned the target vocabulary because they played the game. Recently, gamified language instruction has become very Moreover, their learning results were better than those of the popular. The benefits as well as challenges of educational students in the control group. However, when their test results games have been discussed and reported upon by quite a were compared six weeks after the experiment, there were no number of scholars globally (e.g. [19], [20], [21]). To prove significant differences in students’ knowledge of lexis. that the outcomes of gamified learning are more satisfactory than those achieved by the traditional means, experimental studies are conducted and the two teaching/learning styles are compared. The latest studies usually note that when playing educational games, students actually acquire more knowledge and improve their language skills (e.g. those of listening and speaking) [15], [22], [23]). Some studies, on the other hand, reveal that the only significant learning outcome result is when 8 An experiment was conducted to check whether the students in the experimental group would achieve the target results without any teacher intervention, by solely relying on playing the educational game. The students in the control group read a traditional children’s storybook with the same contents as in NEU-CST. The students in the both groups also completed a pre- and post-test. The results reveal that there is a statistically significant difference when it comes to the aforementioned students’ achievement. The experimental group shows better learning outcomes of vocabulary, comprehension, pronunciation, and listening. (a) C. Problem-based English listening game [9] The authors developed the game. They do not indicate at what specific age category the game is aimed, but in this case, it was played by ninth graders. The purpose of the game is to enable the students to practice, enhance or develop their listening skills and to reduce their language anxiety. They supposedly do so while following a storyline of a wizardry school from which they will eventually graduate provided they perform the necessary tasks and successfully overcome some challenges on their way. The game is built on three databases, namely those of materials, gaming elements, and students’ (b) profile. The first database is comprised of resources (i.e. Fig. 1. The interface of the game The Conference Interpreter listening tasks, a vocabulary, and extra materials) provided by an expert language instructor. The second database holds a B. Near East University Children’s Story Teller (NEU- variety of game components, such as battles and weapons as CST)[26] well as treasures and bonus rewards. The third database collected information on the learners’ status and learning The Android mobile application was developed by the behaviours. The listening game has different difficulty levels authors. As it is based on children’s stories, it is aimed at (see Fig. 3), or phases, to achieve which, students need to young students (more precisely, 12-13 years old). Some complete various listening tasks. features of the application (e.g. music) are based on previous studies that reveal what aspects make the learning process not only successful, but enjoyable as well. The authors indicate that the game includes a unique component, which is speech- to-text application that allows to listen to the text being read as one is looking at it on the screen. The learner also gets instant feedback. The simplicity and colourful imagery of the game (see Fig. 2) addresses vocabulary acquisition as well as comprehension, pronunciation and listening skills. The game has an in-built testing option, too. Fig. 2. The interface of the game NEU-CST Fig. 3. The interface of problem-based English listening game 9 The authors compared the problem-based game to develop the game, the authors combined game science and conventional technology-enhanced teaching. The experimental mobile computing. The game was played by tenth-graders. In group was exposed to the former, and the control group to the the game, the learner can choose an appropriate level of latter. The both groups took a pre- and post-test. The statistical difficulty and, to proceed with the game, has to answer the analysis shows that students benefited more from playing the questions that are based on the learning objectives. In addition, problem-based game than from the other type of instruction. students have the chance to discuss the materials and the game itself on Facebook. The game is built to be beneficial to the D. Task-based learning AR educational game and Self- instructor as well. That is, the teacher can manage the directed learning AR educational game [27] resources that are present on the game and see the discussions Both games were developed by the authors with a specific on the Facebook forum. audience, third-graders, as well as different learning styles in mind. The AR educational games run on Tablet PC. The goal of the games is to expand learners’ vocabulary and increase their spelling skills. To investigate and compare different learning approaches, one game is built upon the self-directed learning style, whereas another game is based on task-based learning. The former AR educational game allows students to regulate their own learning by giving them the opportunity to choose the order of the learning targets as they wish. The latter AR educational game gave no freedom for the students to select the sequence of the tasks, and everything was controlled by the system. Another difference between the two games is that in the first version, students can re-choose the target, whereas in the second game they can only proceed to the next step if they have successfully fulfilled the previous one. Despite the aforementioned differences, the games have some features that they share; for example, they contain the same vocabulary resources and have seven situational stations. Every learning target is superseded by a vocabulary test. As children cannot type well enough yet and the screen is rather small, the tests rely on dragging the letters with fingers to make up the words required. Fig. 5. The interface of Happy English Learning System The effectiveness of the game was experimentally tested. There was an experimental and a control group, both of whom also took a pre- and post-test. After applying statistical analysis to their dataset, the authors conclude that the group that played the educational game achieved better results. F. OpenSimulator Project-CLILiOP [Content and Language Integrated Learning in Opensimulator Project] [15] The authors report that it took a total of 160 hours to develop the game. It was then piloted and afterwards improved. The target age group is not specified, but the educational game was employed to teach six-graders. The aim Fig. 4. The interface of the AR educational game of the game is to teach the learners lexis related to Geography, thus they get to control avatars that are visiting a virtual island The two approaches to learning were compared. Students and exchanging conversations in English. In the game, took pre- and post-tests. Interestingly enough, after applying students traverse the island and get information about the statistical measures to see whether there is any significant target vocabulary on the way, at sign-posts and media corners difference between the results of the two groups, none were which were specifically designed for that function. The latter found. In other words, all students performed equally well. two elements of the game contain such resources as videos and presentations. Students can interact with them by pausing, E. Happy English Learning System [28] rewinding, and likewise. The game also suggests benefits for The downloadable off-line game is based on Monopoly and the instructor as it is based on ready-made scripts. This means Chance and was designed for mobile devices. It incorporates that s/he need not invest too much time in scripting and course materials and assignments with gaming elements. To programming. The authors claim that once the script is 10 developed, it does not require too much effort to adapt it variety of different topics (e.g. [15], [28]). It can be suggested according to other lesson plans. that the games could also be adapted to teaching languages other than English as well. By looking at the screenshots of the game interfaces, one can see that some of the games are more sophisticated than others. The quality of the graphics and game elements may have an effect on how well the game performs its desired function – conveying educational content that one is supposed to comprehend and consequently learn. None of the studies address this issue, but future studies should take this concern into account. Despite the aforementioned short-comings, the results of the studies can be regarded as promising to at least some extent because the educational games are compared to traditional teaching/learning materials. That is, authors conduct experiments on two (in one case, three [15]) groups. One is exposed to experimental conditions (i.e. play the game), the other works on the same materials but in a more traditional way (i.e. students do the exercises and tests on paper). Fig. 6. The interface of OpenSimulator Project-CLILiOP In general, it can be stated that the six educational games comply with the student-centered educational paradigm. The The authors investigated the potency of the game. In total, amount of instruction is reduced and there is more emphasis there were three groups of students that took part in the on self-regulated learning, thus empowering the learner to experiment. The first one was control/conventional, the second control his/her learning process. More importantly, by learning was taught by using conventional CLIL, and the third one was EFL via educational games, students also acquire or at least exposed to CLILiOP. The members of each group got to take improve the earlier mentioned 21st century skills (e.g. pre- or post-tests. The results indicate that those students who problem-solving, creativity, and ICT literacy). had the latter method included in their learning process achieved more than two times greater results than the control group. V. CONCLUSION IV. DISCUSSION This paper provided an overview of six educational games that were developed in order to teach EFL. All the six games Almost all the previously described educational games were developed by EFL instructors themselves with the (except [25]) are used as a supplement for at least somewhat purpose to increase their students’ language skills. The games traditional teaching/learning. It is not specified whether address holistic language skills and are mostlly directed at the instructors employ any additional innovative strategies in youngest segment of EFL learners. The effectiveness of the teaching EFL. The latter is important because it may effect educational games were tested experimentally. Five out of six students’ cognitive abilities, motivation, or other factors that games result in significantly greater learning outcomes when play a role in language learning. compared to the results of the control groups. Nevertheless, The greatest drawback of the surveyed studies is reliability. the results should not be taken for granted as the studies only The experiments were carried out with small samples in a reveal short-term results. Future studies could address this short period of time. Only one paper [25] employed a delayed issue and reveal the potential of technology-enhanced EFL test, and its results suggests that with time, the better learning learning in the long run. outcome achieved by playing an educational game, plunge to the same level of those who received traditional EFL ACKNOWLEDGMENT instruction. It is of paramount importance to investigate the The author of the paper would like to thank the anonymous long-term results of playing educational games, otherwise reviewers and editors for their insightful comments. their real educational potential remains undisclosed. That is not to say that carrying out long-term studies of this kind would be easy. The same instructor does not necessarily teach REFERENCES the same students and it would be hard to claim that students’ knowledge was not influenced by other sources or factors (e.g. [1] B. 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