The impact of gamification on English vocabulary acquisition in A2-level EFL learners

Abstract

Gamification has emerged as an innovative pedagogical strategy in the teaching of English as a foreign language; however, there is limited empirical evidence from direct classroom interventions with primary school students in Latin American contexts. The present study aimed to examine the impact of gamification on English vocabulary acquisition in seventh grade students at the A2 level in a public school in Esmeraldas, Ecuador. A convergent parallel mixed methods design was employed, with a sample of 22 students selected through purposive sampling. Data collection followed a four-stage sequence: first, a diagnostic test was administered as a pre-test; then the gamified intervention was carried out over four consecutive weeks, with one weekly session of 90 minutes using the platforms Kahoot! Wordwall, Quizizz, and Blooket, during which a teacher observation checklist was recorded weekly; afterward, a final test was administered as a post-test; and finally, a student perception survey was applied on a Likert scale. Quantitative results showed an increase from 43.55% to 85.91% in average achievement between the pre-test and the post-test, a statistically significant improvement according to the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (Z = 4.09, p < .001) with a large effect size (r = .87), with positive gains recorded in all 22 participants. The teacher observation checklist recorded an overall average of 3.90 out of 4.00 across the dimensions of engagement, vocabulary use, and oral fluency, with Kahoot! being the platform with the best results. The student perception survey showed a broadly favorable evaluation, with agreement percentages ranging from 93.2% to 97.7% depending on the section assessed. It is concluded that digital gamification constitutes an effective methodological strategy for vocabulary development, motivation, and communicative confidence in public primary education contexts in Latin America, although these results should be read as initial evidence of short-term consolidation, given the single-group design and the brief duration of the intervention.