[eng] For many decades, the bases of education have remained unchanged. In an era
where classrooms are being provided with personal computers, projectors, and
interactive whiteboards, the ineffectiveness of traditional educational
methodologies has been brought into the open. This has caused the reaction of
many researchers, educators, and institutions, who have united forces to reinvent
and innovate the educational scene at a wide scale. Part of the focus has been
placed on gamification which, in a broad sense, consists on applying game
mechanics to real life contexts to achieve higher levels of engagement and
motivation from users while simultaneously having them acquire new abilities.
Despite having been supported by psychological theories, the limited number of
practical studies carried out so far showcases inconclusive results. Thus, this MA
dissertation adds to the corpus of practical studies on gamification in the hope
that someday it will prove useful in the search of a definite answer in this matter.
In this study, two groups of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students at
different academic levels (3rd year of Compulsory Secondary Education and 1st
year of Non-Compulsory Secondary Education) in a Spanish high school were
taught a didactic unit each in an environment characterised by a high presence
of gamification elements and techniques, with Classcraft being at the forefront.
So as to gather students’ impressions and their previous experiences within the
educational system, two different questionnaires (one prior to the experiment and
another one afterwards) were delivered to them. Apart from this, they were
encouraged to briefly fulfil a weekly portfolio to gather information on what they
found most motivating, engaging or boring in each of the classes in which
gamification was applied