Application of a Gamified Interactive Response System to Enhance the Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation, Student Engagement, and Attention of English Learners

Abstract

This study combined the gamification element and an interactive response system (IRS) in the development of a gamified IRS, and examined its effects on the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, engagement, and attention of junior high school students when learning English. The quasi-experimental research method comprised the scales for measuring intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, student engagement, and attention, as well as an open-ended questionnaire to collect quantitative and qualitative data for analysis. The study involved 144 seventh-grade students who were divided into three groups to learn English using different polling tools. The results indicated that when the gamified IRS was used for polling activities in the classroom, the fun, interactive, competitive, and novel nature of the system helped improve the students' levels of intrinsic motivation, overall engagement, emotional engagement, and focused attention. The use of clickers for polling leads to significant intrinsic motivation compared to using small whiteboards. This study suggests integrating the gamification element with classroom teaching to make English classes more interesting and attractive to learners. In addition, tools that are highly interactive, challenging, and competitive make students pay more attention in the classroom, and so are more helpful to them when learning English.