Conquering the iron throne: using classcraft to foster students’ motivation in the EFL classroom

Abstract

This study aims to analyse motivation in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) secondary classroom through gamification. To this end, a gamification proposal based on Game of Thrones TV series was designed. Classcraft, an online role-playing platform, was used to create a gaming scenario in the classroom. The proposal was implemented in two groups of 4th year of secondary school, formed by 43 students aged between 15 and 16 years old. Results showed that gamification had a positive impact on fostering students’ motivation. Particularly, a notable increase in students’ participation was observed since their extrinsic and intrinsic motivation – which increased 0.69 and 0.58 points accordingly – had improved after the implementation of the gamification proposal. Consequently, Classcraft proved to be a tool with a great potential to involve and engage students in the EFL classroom.