Abstract:

Video games account for a vast majority of gamification experiences in education. However, not all video games are equally successful among players, this is, some video games are more engaging than others. This study analyzes the effect of engagement in students´ attitude toward an educational video game designed to learn English vocabulary. The main results suggest that there is a correlation between perceived engagement when playing the educational video game and the attitude toward the educational video game. Perceived engagement also correlates with perceived entertainment when playing the educational video game. Gender differences were also analyzed suggesting that male students were more engaged than female students. Implications for both educators and developers of educational video games are discussed. The main limitations of the study and future research lines are also pointed out.

Keywords:

Educational video games, gamification, attitude, engagement, gender, entertainment.