Exploring the Impact of Gamification on EFL Students’ Communicative Competence in Oral Expression Classes:

Abstract

Communicative competence is considered crucial in social and academic contexts in general, and in foreign language learning in particular. However, due to the lack of sufficient opportunities for practical applications, many EFL students encounter serious difficulties and challenges to enhance their communicative competence. Therefore, EFL teachers have to be aware about how to improve such fundamental students’ needs. The present research aims to investigate the impact of communicative games on EFL students’ communicative competence in oral expression classes. It is then hypothesized that the implementation of well -designed games in EFL oral classes may develop EFL students’ communicative competence. In order to achieve the research aim, answer research questions, and test hypothesis, a mixed method research was adopted. More precisely, a questionnaire was administered to collect data from twenty oral expression teachers at the Department of Letters and English Language, University of 08 Mai 1945, Guelma. In addition to students’ classroom observation of two groups of Firstyear LMD level in oral expression classes for the academic year 2023/2024. Based on the interpretation and the analysis of the results, the hypothesis is confirmed and revealed the positive impact of gamification on EFL students’ communicative competence. Moreover, teachers have positive attitudes towards the use of games on the improvement of communicative competence of their students. The assessment of students’ communicative competence before and after the use of games proves that this technique has a positive effect on their communicative competence. It is then highly suggested that oral expression teachers should incorporate games as an engaging teaching strategy or technique into their course content.