Progress, Pressure, and Participation

Abstract

Semester-long structural gamification is less understood than short platform-based activities in English as a foreign language research. This exploratory mixed-methods case study examined learners' experiences of a 12-week system of experience points, levels, challenges, rewards, collaborative tasks, and a leaderboard in an A2-level university course in Kuwait. The study used a 20-item questionnaire which was completed by 38 learners at the beginning and end of the semester. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests showed that 12 of 15 comparable ratings became more favourable at the Bonferroni-adjusted threshold. Five randomly selected learners completed Arabic semi-structured interviews. They described visible progress, recoverable mistakes, and shared recognition, while evidence concerning leaderboard pressure remained insufficient. The findings describe reported changes and selected experiences within one classroom but do not establish causal effectiveness, satisfaction of psychological-need, or objectively measured vocabulary learning or retention.