The The use of Gamification for English language assessment in Higher Education: an innovative perspective

Abstract

Assessment in the context of Higher Education plays a fundamental role in the educational process, as its aim is to measure students' progress and knowledge acquisition. However, traditional assessment approaches are often perceived as monotonous and demotivating, resulting in a lack of engagement and unsatisfactory outcomes. The Digital Era brings new perspectives to almost every aspect of human life, and thus Gamification emerges as an innovative proposal capable of transforming educational practices. Our objective is to analyze the effects of Gamification on what concerns the assessment of teaching and learning the English Language in Higher Education. Methodologically, we conducted a quantitative-qualitative and descriptive research, utilizing a case study approach. Two undergraduate students in the sixth semester of the Portuguese and English Language program at a Higher Education institution in the city of Recife participated in the research. Additionally, we had the participation of an English language professor from the mentioned institution and conducted semi-structured interviews with ten randomly selected English language teachers, using digital platforms. Thus, we employed the following strategies: (i) observation of English Language classes in the sixth semester; (ii) conducting semi-structured interviews with students and English language teachers; (iii) development of the Gamified Assessment; (iv) implementation of the Gamified Assessment in the Digital Technologies in Education course; (v) conducting a follow-up semi-structured interview with the students after the completion of the Gamified Assessment. Our results confirm the effectiveness of Gamified Assessment for teaching, learning, and evaluating the English Language in Higher Education.

KEYWORDS: Teaching and Learning; Gamified Assessment; Digital Technologies; Gamification; English Language.