The Implementation of Digital Gamification in English Classroom: Teachers’ and Students’ Perspectives

Abstract

Teaching English is one of many challenging subjects to teach. English teachers have always been trying different methods to maximize students’ proficiency and competency in the targeted language as it plays an important role in many aspects, especially in education. Some teachers have sorted to adapt the digital gamification method into their English classroom instruction. Furthermore, teaching using digital gamification is a relatively new concept. In the learning context, digital gamification is an educational method that incorporates game-like elements into the classroom to increase student engagement, promotes a learning environment with positive motivation, and benefits student performance. Research pertaining to digital gamification is growing but very limited study has yet to examine both perspectives of the teachers and the students towards its implementation and how it can influence the engagement level and performance outcomes in a Malaysian context. To urge this matter into the light, this research intended 1) to investigate the teachers’ and students’ perspectives towards the implementation of digital gamification in English classrooms on an engagement level; 2) to investigate the teachers' and students’ perspectives towards the implementation of digital gamification in English classrooms on performance outcomes. Adapting the quantitative research method, an online questionnaire consisting of 3 discrete sections to answer the research questions was distributed to 86 respondents from the high schools in Malaysia. Then, using SPSS version 27 the responses from the participants were processed to derive the numerical data such as the frequencies, means, average means, and the standard deviation. The main research findings indicated that both teachers and students have a positive perception of the implementation of digital gamification in the English classroom as it greatly improved the degree of engagement and performance outcome. The finding suggested that this research could contribute to the teacher's understanding of the potential of digital gamification in addressing certain behaviors and increasing engagement and performance goals.