Motivation, engagement, and autonomy in gamified mobile-assisted language learning: undergraduate EFL learners’ perspectives

Abstract

This mixed-methods study investigates Saudi undergraduate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ perceptions of gamified mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) and its relationship with motivation, engagement, autonomy, confidence, social interaction, and perceived effectiveness. A structured questionnaire was administered to 175 undergraduate students, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive subsample of 12 female participants. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively, while qualitative data were examined through thematic analysis following an established qualitative approach, with interview findings used to explain and illuminate the quantitative patterns. Findings reveal consistently high levels of positive perception across both dimensions, with learners attributing their motivation and engagement primarily to rewards, competition, and progress tracking, and their autonomy and confidence to the flexibility and immediate feedback afforded by mobile applications. Thematic analysis yielded six themes, including enhanced enjoyment and novelty, competitive engagement, reward-driven motivation, improved attention, contextual flexibility, and minor technical challenges. The study contributes to digital education research by providing empirical, theoretically grounded evidence from a gender-segregated Saudi higher education context, and by adopting a multidimensional mixed-methods framework that captures both the strength and the experiential texture of learners’ engagement with gamified MALL. Implications are discussed for the pedagogically meaningful integration of gamified mobile applications in university-level EFL instruction.