Using online gamified application as a formative assessment tool in English classroom

Abstract

State-of-the-art digital technology has brought about changes in education. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we endure the revolution of a new era, which is online education or e-learning. In order to track students’ learning progress while keeping them motivated and engaged during e-learning, online gamified platforms with their gamification elements are budding and gaining in popularity among teachers and students. Therefore, this research evaluates the use of the Quizizz application as a formative assessment tool in the Year 3 English teaching and learning process and its effect on students’ academic achievement and motivation to learn English. This research is pre-experimental mixed-methods research, which was carried out for two learning modules in the Year 3 English syllabus. The research sample was 60 Year 3 students. The students’ motivation was assessed using the IMMS questionnaire before the learning cycle, and they took paper-based quizzes as pretests and Quizizz quizzes as posttests. When the learning sequences ended, students retook the IMMS questionnaire to evaluate their motivation after the intervention. They also participated in semi-structured interviews to share their experience of using the Quizizz application. Based on the analysis, the paired-sample t-test results (t60 = -4.12; p = 0.000) suggested a statistically significant difference in the pretest (M = 49.47) and posttest scores (M = 51.25). In addition, the IMMS questionnaire analysis also suggested an increment in students’ motivation in four subscales. The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test findings indicated a statistically positive change in students’ motivation after the intervention (Md = 3.58, mean rank = 12.00) compared to before (Md = 3.20, mean rank = 0.00), z = -4.20, p = 0.000. Furthermore, the semi-structured interviews showed that most students preferred gamified quizzes more than paperbased quizzes. Timers, leaderboards, power-ups and the scoring system were the gamification elements that they preferred. The majority of students assumed that gamified quizzes enhanced their learning, and all of them agreed that gamified quizzes increase their motivation to learn English. They also wish to participate in other courses implementing gamified learning environments. Overall, implementing online gamified applications, such as Quizizz as one of the classroom formative assessment activities, is a great way to track students’ learning progress during e-learning while enhancing their academic achievement and keep them motivated at the same time.