Gamification in spoken language pedagogy: Indonesian EFL teachers’ perspectives

Abstract

Gamification enhances student engagement and learning through problem-solving, storytelling, competition, and rewards, but its success depends on having well-trained teachers. Thus, investigating educators' perspectives on using gamification, particularly in teaching speaking, is essential. The study aims to explore Indonesian EFL teachers’ perceptions of gamification in teaching speaking, focusing on their views, understanding, and actions regarding gamification in teaching speaking. A mixed-method approach was used in this study to investigate those four aspects. The participants of this study were 45 English instructors. Data were gathered through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The questionnaire responses were analyzed descriptively to assess teachers’ perceptions across three criteria as well as the game elements they used, while the interview data were examined using thematic analysis. The results show that teachers have a positive perception toward gamification used in teaching speaking. Moreover, this study discovers the most popular elements used by teachers, namely roleplay, competition, and giving rewards. As gamification has various elements, this finding proves that teachers tend to be monotonous in implementing game elements. Teachers also seem to have mixed conceptions about gamification and game-based learning. This study's finding shows the practical implication to the speaking teachers and school or university stakeholders in developing a gamification strategy.

Keywords

• efl teachers’ perceptions
• game elements
• gamification
• teaching speaking
• teaching strategy