Motivating and engaging efl learners in e-learning with game elements

Educational technology has seen many developments in recent years. There are various technological tools that aim at improving learning and teaching both inside and outside the physical classroom. E-learning, in this respect, has gained widespread popularity in educational contexts around the world in different forms such as class/institution-based websites and massive open online courses. In spite of its growing reputation, there have been concerns about this new type of education in terms of satisfaction, isolation (Power & Gould-Morven, 2011), withdrawal, attrition (Atchley, Wingenbach, & Akers, 2013; Yang, Sinha, Adamson, & Rose, 2013), student retention (Allen & Seaman, 2014) and thus learner motivation and engagement. In an effort to overcome the pitfalls of online learning, many educators around the globe are now turning their attention to a fairly new concept named gamification, which aims to increase motivation and engagement of students through the inclusion of game elements and game design techniques outside the context of games (Werbach & Hunter, 2012). The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of gamifying online foreign language courses on the motivation and engagement of learners and to explore which of the game elements can be identified as potentially contributing to foreign language learning, if any. The study took place for one semester in a blended-learning environment within a preparatory program that offered intensive general English education to first-grade university students. The participants of the study, 19 students attending a class in this program, had two-hour Self-Access Center (SAC) classes in the computer laboratory each week under the supervision of the researcher, along with the classroom-based courses in the framework of the preparatory program. The e-learning platform (Moodle) used in SAC classes was gamified utilizing various gamification elements. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed to investigate the effects of gamification. First of all, the participants were distributed a computer readiness scale at the beginning of the study. They were also asked to write diaries about their experiences on the gamified online courses at regular intervals. In addition, the researcher took field notes on critical incidents occurring both online and in the computer laboratory. At the end of the study, the participants completed a questionnaire regarding their experiences and were interviewed to triangulate the data received from the other data collection tools. The tracking system of the e-learning platform was also examined in order to explore the extent of student engagement. The results of the computer readiness scale, questionnaire, and Moodle tracking system were analyzed quantitatively, and the student diaries, interviews, and field notes were analyzed through content analysis. The findings of the study reveal that gamification has significant positive effects on the EFL learners' motivation and engagement in the online course. In addition, the integration of game elements into e-learning seems to have an indirect contribution to language learning in many aspects such as increased motivation, engagement, self-awareness, self-directed learning, practice, scaffolding and self-confidence. It is also found that the students attached more meaning to game elements such as content unlocking, progression, emotions and feedback in terms of language learning, rather than the surface-level game elements like leaderboard and badges, which are among the most frequently used elements in gamification studies. The findings also indicate that the presence of game elements in the online course could be accompanied by some disadvantages. When applied with a poor educational content and inadequate supervision, for example, gamification will probably produce superficial engagement and unintended behavior at the expense of losing certain qualities in online courses such as intrinsic motivation, meaningful engagement, and reliability of student achievements in the online course. In this respect, the study suggests caution when employing gamification in learning contexts rather than assuming it as a neutral educational breakthrough and uncritical adoption of game elements. On the other hand, when used with pedagogically sound and relevant content as well as the availability and supervision of the teacher, gamification is likely to work effectively and produce positive results in terms of not only motivation and engagement of learners but also foreign language learning and development. Keywords: Gamification, game elements, e-learning, motivation, engagement.