ANALYSIS ON THE APPLICABILITY OF GAMIFICATION IN AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASS OF 3RD E.S.O

It is inherent in our human state to play and entertain ourselves while learning. One of the pioneers of learning while playing is Maria Montessori. This physician and educator, in her work Montessori Method of 1912, defended that children should learn naturally while developing their own initiative and natural skills, especially through practical play.

Moreover, since the impact of technology and globalization has made English to become a lingua franca, many learners have realized that their traditional English learning at school was not an appropriate preparation for the real world use of this language. What is more, there are English learning methods and methodologies, which are usually dynamic and communicative, and which are on the web for learners’ disposal. This phenomenon shows that informal learning, the one which does not occur in the classroom, has been more flexible within context relevance, comparing it to formal learning.

In this dissertation, what I aim to prove is that gamification can be introduced in the 3rd E.S.O. English Language Curriculum in order to improve the students’ academic results. As playing games is an interesting pastime, I want to prove that they can be used for making learning more attractive for students. Since I started working as an English teacher, I have been interested in making my students enjoy being in class and learning. Therefore, in my opinion, games and gamification are perfect methods for this purpose.

Having set out the essay and the general motivation, we can declare that the investigation of this issue might be of the interest of teachers because they can use more dynamic and engaging methodologies for their lessons. Nowadays, students ask for more active participation in class, and teachers should be able to answer to these requirements.

Given the growing interest of using new and active methodologies in class, in this dissertation it is my purpose to investigate whether gamification can be introduced in the 3rd E.S.O. English Language Curriculum and if the students improve their academic results with it.

Specifically, I am interested in the applicability of gamification in the subject of English as Second Language learning in the 3rd year of E.S.O classroom of a school in Valencia.