Level up : Language proficiency and gamification in upper secondaryschool

Abstract: Gamification is a new but upcoming feature in classrooms that has grown with the digitalisation in Swedish homes and schools. The aim of this literature review is to research how gamification can influence upper secondary students’ language proficiency in English as a foreign language. Five sources were analysed, four journals and one conference paper, and the results show that gamification could increase language proficiency if it is used in a moderate amount and that the summative assessment with instant feedback could be beneficial for students when moderating their own language development. Motivation seems to be the key word in the results and the main subject that all the authors agree can be created and beneficial to the students' language proficiency. The results also showed that gamification is a new feature that has to be researched more in order to give a valid answer to the question of whether or not gamification is appropriate to use in school.