This master thesis aims to shed light on the use of the gamification method in teaching Spanish as
a foreign language to older adults. The starting points of the work are concepts of a long life society
and lifelong learning. The awareness that our society is an ageing society and that with the
increasing development of the education for elderly people, there is also a growing demand for
foreign language courses for older adults, leads to a study on the characteristics of education for
older people. On the other hand, we are also following the current trend of the use of gamification
in education, including the field of foreign language teaching. The study shows the opinion of
older adults on the impact of the introduction of gamification in the teaching of Spanish on their
learning of Spanish. It also focuses on their perception of the elements used in gamification and
identifies which elements are suitable for older adults. As the teacher-mentor plays an important
role in the integration of gamification in Spanish language teaching, the research also seeks to
identify their role in the implementation of gamification and to highlight the challenges or
obstacles that they may face in doing so.
The empirical part presents the findings of a qualitative research conducted among participants of
beginner and advanced Spanish courses at the Fužine Activity Centre and the Cene Štupar Public
Institute in Ljubljana in the academic year 2022/2023. The research included older students and
foreign language teachers who teach courses for older adults. The results showed that both
participants and teachers mostly perceived only positive effects of gamification, the main effect
being higher motivation. Some elements of gamification (e.g. feedback, levels, participation, time
limits, relationships with people, progression, challenges) were identified by participants as
appropriate, while others (e.g. avatar, leaderboard, points, competition, badges, dropout) were
considered as less appropriate for older adults. Teachers' responses show that teachers have an
important role to play before, during and after the introduction of gamification in teaching, facing
challenges related to the characteristics of older people's learning, the creation of gamification, the
older people's digital competences and equipment to implement a digital form of gamification.
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