Gamification for English language teaching: A case study in translation and interpreting

Abstract

Abstract Twenty-first century societies are increasingly connected thanks to new technologies and the use of English as a lingua franca. This means that students have to be proficient in all four English language skills (writing, reading, listening and speaking) in order to obtain a university degree and get a job. Despite the fact that English is studied in Spain from a very early age, it seems that learners fail to acquire English language proficiency. Therefore, the main objective of this article is to investigate the effectiveness of gamification as an active methodology for teaching English, specifically to students of the BA in Translation and Interpreting at the University of Malaga (Spain). To this end, we have employed a mixed methodology to collect quantitative and qualitative data on the opinions of a sample of students of the mentioned degree. The results demonstrate that gamification has many positive effects on learning, as it enables students to be more motivated in the classroom.