Motivating EFL/ESL students can be a challenge. No matter how creative you are, and how many new games you introduce, sometimes what’s best for students is some good old-fashioned repetition.
Drilling grammar and memorising vocabulary is a vital part of learning, but it’s boring. So how do we motivate our students to do it? Gamification.
Gamification is a technique which incorporates motivating elements from games into a learning environment. Examples include: points for correct answers; levels or rankings; awarding special badges; and leaderboards.
This guide is focused on gamification for vocab practice in EFL/ESL classes, ideally with the use of a spaced repetition app like Anki. However, you can use the concepts and techniques for much more than this.
For example, teaching grammar, or any other subject which requires an element of repetition, can benefit from gamification, both in EFL/ESL and beyond.
To see the full vocabulary learning process, read my Best Method to Improve EFL/ESL Students’ Vocabulary: 9 Steps. For more on how to use Anki: Supercharge EFL/ESL Vocab With Spaced Repetition.
Before we get into specific gamification techniques, we have to talk a little about motivation.
Understanding different types of motivation
Motivation is a slippery beast. It varies between different people, and can change in one person over time, often rapidly. One day, a student may be full of energy and excitement to learn, and the next they’re complaining about how boring all the activities are.
And some types of motivation negatively affect learning. If students are motivated to learn things because they’re afraid a poor test result will result in punishment from parents, are they really motivated about what you’re teaching? Or are they just learning out of fear?
Richard Ryan and Edward Deci are two key figures in the world of motivational research. Their Self-Determination Theory (SDT) explains the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Here, I’ll briefly summarise Ryan and Deci’s theory, but if you want to learn more, I urge you to read their full article: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions.
Intrinsic motivation is when you do something because you enjoy it. It’s pleasant, exciting, or extremely interesting. The motivation comes from within.
Extrinsic motivation relies on a positive outcome which results from completing the activity, rather than the activity itself. Think prizes, beating your opponent, praise, etc.
Within the category of extrinsic motivation, there are four subtypes in a spectrum which ranges from external pressures to internal goals.
- External regulation: Promise of rewards, or the removal of punishment
- Introjection: Approval from others or the self
- Identification: Value of the benefits of the activity
- Integration: Alignment with internal goals and worldview
In an ideal world, all our students would be intrinsically motivated to do everything in our classes. We can work hard to achieve that, but sometimes it won’t be possible.
Instead, we have to look to extrinsic motivation, with a preference for those internally driven motivators like integration and identification.
Gamification allows us to do this. But if we don’t use it wisely, we can end up leaning too much on external motivators, which rarely last in the long term.
Why I think rewards are bad
Many teachers reward students with stickers, sweets, or free play time. And, to an extent, it works in motivating students to do their classwork.
However, I disagree with this approach for three reasons:
- It’s an unfair power dynamic, with the teacher holding the all the rewards.
- Students don’t care about the work. They just want to get it done to win the prize, leading to poor quality work and cheating.
- Rewards have diminishing returns. Over time, the teacher has to make them more valuable to keep students interested.
Tangible rewards (physical things like sweets and stickers) are the worst. Intangible rewards, like praise and recognition, on the other hand, can be beneficial as long as you don’t overdo them.
How to create intrinsic and internally driven extrinsic motivation
Self-Determination Theory proposes that intrinsic motivation requires autonomy, competence and relatedness. In brief:
Autonomy: Students have some level of control over what they do and how they do it. External pressures and rewards undermine this.
Competence: Students feel like they can achieve mastery over the activity. It’s boosted by encouragement and feedback, as well as a suitable level of challenge.
Relatedness: Students feel connected to the social group around them. A caring teacher and a collaborative environment help this.
For the full picture of Self-Determination Theory and its many aspects, read this article on selfdeterminationtheory.org.
Competition vs. collaboration
I’m not entirely against competition. In sports and high-level professions, it pushes people to expand their limits and achieve great things. Without competitiveness, we wouldn’t have Cristiano Ronaldo, iPhones, and the moon landings.
However, when there’s a competition, there’s inevitably a loser, or several losers.
Losing and failure are important. Character and inner growth come from not getting what you want and trying harder next time. Plus, failure adds meaning to subsequent triumph.
But it doesn’t always have a positive effect. Sometimes, losing leads to apathy and alienation, especially when it happens time and time again.
As a teacher, you can’t let this happen. Your priority is giving everyone the same opportunities to learn. If a section of your class doesn’t enjoy taking part in activities because they’ll probably lose to their classmates, or they’re at the bottom of the leaderboard, you’re excluding them.
Not only that, you’re incentivising students to cheat and take shortcuts. I’ve seen this time and time again. And when they don’t win, students end up moaning or saying it wasn’t fair. It gets toxic quickly.
That’s why I generally avoid competition in my EFL classes.
What works much better is to create a shared goal. Have your students collaborate to achieve something together.
Rather than competing against each other, they have to support their peers, and when they’re successful, everyone can share the positive feeling.
Of course, if they fail to reach the goal, you can end up with students blaming each other. To avoid this, let them win most of the time. Don’t make it too easy, but set a relatively low bar as a first achievement and push them to reach stretch goals which they’ll feel super proud of.
Now we’ve got the theory out of the way, it’s time to look at gamification techniques and how we should use them.
Elements of gamification and how to use them to motivate students
Games use dozens of elements to keep us motivated. And they work. Think of how many hours kids spend on their phones or consoles playing games. Often the games aren’t that great. But they’ve got addictive structures in place which keep the players coming back for more.
I’ve arranged the elements into four different categories, which we’ll look at individually.
1. Direct rewards (badges, trophies, currency)
You complete a mission, you get some coins. You defeat the big bad boss and get a cool badge, which nobody else has. You complete the game and win a trophy of awesomeness.
Tangible rewards (although they may be digital) are a big part of game motivation.
But as I explained earlier, they’re external and conditional. They reduce autonomy. If you apply them in your classes, your students will cheat and rush their way through the work just to get the prize.
How to use: Sparingly, if at all. If you’re going to use them, consider giving them out when students don’t expect it, and make sure they don’t have much monetary value, if any.
2. Leaderboards and rankings
Plenty of video games have world rankings or mini-leagues you can join to compete against your friends to score the most points.
These can provide instant motivation in class through competition. Think of the House Point system in the traditional British school system (Harry Potter, for example).
They may sound great at first, but in most cases, they’re damaging. Sure, the students who get to the top of the rankings stay motivated, but what about the ones who lag behind and can’t catch up?
If you want half your class to feel discouraged and the other half to cheat and swindle their way to the top, then leaderboards are for you.
These systems have winners and, as a result, losers. Not very inclusive. And what happens when some of the students decide it’ll be fun to get as few points as possible? I’ve seen this happen, and it undermines the entire system.
How to use: Don’t.
3. Progression indicators – levels, point tallies, experience
Filling up that XP bar or gathering points to get to the next level has a profound effect on motivation. It’s hard not to want to reach the next rung on the ladder.
Showing progression over time gives students a feeling of competence. They can see their path to mastery.
Here’s a scorecard I made with progression through points and levels. Later in the article, I’ll show you how to use it for gamifying vocab practice.
You can apply this concept within a single activity, as students tick off the steps, and fill up a progress bar, or you can use it throughout the year to keep them going in the long term.
If you have individual progression indicators, you may run into the same issues I highlighted in the section above about leaderboards and rankings.
Instead, have one progression indicator for the whole class. This way, you don’t have to keep track of each student’s points separately, and it creates a strong sense of relatedness as the class works together.
How to use: Show whole class progression, without highlighting individual contributions.
4. Narratives and quests
Often, the most engaging part of a game is the theme and story. Players interact with characters and events, which create investment.
Nobody likes leaving a story unfinished.
Treat your classes like missions or quests. Make students feel like they’re going on a journey together, telling their own story, beating bad guys and solving puzzles.
You can have your students role play characters in the story, and even dress up. All this creates more relatedness and autonomy as students carve their own paths as part of a supportive group.
Creating narratives and quests takes a fair amount of forethought and planning, and can fizzle out if you don’t have time to maintain it.
How to use: With care and enthusiasm. This is an advanced technique, so don’t worry if you aren’t confident implementing it straight away.
Practical example of gamifying vocabulary practice in EFL/ESL classes
In private classes of 1-4 students, I use Anki to practice vocabulary. While some students are happy just to go through the repetitions, enjoying the process of learning and knowing it’ll be useful in their lives, some students don’t find it so exciting.
To learn more about using Anki in EFL/ESL classes, read my article Supercharge EFL/ESL Vocab With Spaced Repetition (Anki).
This is often the case for younger students, but can apply to anyone. And, although this technique is for small groups, you can adapt it to full-sized classes quite easily.
Here’s how it works:
Scorecard: I created a scorecard with hundreds of tiny icons, representing points, which students can colour in. There are levels with progressively more points. You can download it right here:
Students write their names in the box at the top.
Getting points: Each student answers three Anki questions on their turn. For each question, if they get the answer correct, you colour in two point icons. If they don’t know it, they can ask their team mates. If a team mate provides the correct answer, colour in one point icon.
When they’ve answered three, move on to the next student.
Colours: Colour in all the point icons the same colour. If each student has their own colour, it becomes a competition of who got the most points. But when they’re all identical, it’s a team effort.
After one or two sessions, let one students do the colouring, then rotate each week.
Effectiveness: This is a simple gamification method, but it works wonders. It has transformed a relatively boring vocab exercise into a powerful collaborative experience where students are excited to see their team mates succeed, and supportive when they don’t know the answer. This gives it great relatedness.
It has a high level of competence, too, because they can see their progression over time. One of my students has coloured in thousands of points andloves getting more since they reflect how much he has learned.
Autonomy isn’t extremely high. There’s a bit of customisation, they can colour in their own points, and you can give your students more choice by asking if they want to study extra words in the session.
The scorecard creates intrinsic motivation in most students. And when it doesn’t, it at least has the positive side of extrinsic motivation, with students being able to see the value in what they’re doing and align it with their goals of learning more English.
I’ve been tempted to give rewards when they reach a certain level. So far, I’ve resisted. And I’d urge you to do the same. The system works without the need for any extra bribery.
Improving the game: If I were to start fresh with this system, I’d frame it as a story. The icons are animals, so perhaps the students own an imaginary veterinary practice and they have to get all the points in the level to heal the injured animal.
They could have a picture where they draw all the animals they’ve healed as another reminder of how much they’ve achieved.
Conclusion – Level up your teaching
Gamification has become a bit of a buzzword, especially in the corporate world. In teaching, it’s been around in one form or another for decades, often with little real impact.
Not all gamification methods are equal. Some can be actively damaging, as with leaderboards and tangible prizes.
But now you know how to do it right. Use my example above, or create your own systems involving collaboration, achievable progression, and even stories.
This article is connected to my guide on learning vocab: Best Method to Improve EFL/ESL Students’ Vocabulary: 9 Steps so make sure you check that out, too.
