This case study examines a practical approach to helping 7th-grade students at a secondary school in a small town, who face significant challenges learning English. Many students enter lower secondary school with severe learning gaps, a very weak vocabulary base, and high anxiety when speaking. Traditional methods—like copying long lists of words and translating heavy textbook passages—often fail this group, causing them to fall further behind and lose interest.
To break this cycle, a six-week project was designed to test whether digital games, point systems, and interactive tools like Kahoot! or Quizizz could make a real difference for these struggling learners. The project split students into two equal groups with similar low English levels. One group continued with traditional book-and-paper exercises, while the other group practiced the exact same vocabulary through digital team challenges, visual match-ups, and game-like quizzes where they could use fun, anonymous nicknames.
The results showed a clear contrast between the two approaches. While the traditional group forgot most of the words shortly after their regular test, the students in the gamified group showed massive progress. More importantly, they remembered the words weeks later because the games turned dry vocabulary into an enjoyable, rewarding experience.
Beyond the test scores, the digital approach completely changed classroom behavior. By allowing students to answer questions on a screen instead of shouting them out loud, self-reported classroom anxiety dropped by 68%. Struggling students stopped giving up because the apps rewarded their effort and progress rather than just perfection. Additionally, team-based games encouraged stronger students to naturally step up and help their weaker classmates.
The study concludes that digital gamification is an essential tool for inclusive learning. It effectively bypasses traditional language barriers, builds student confidence, and turns the English classroom into a supportive environment where lower-performing students can successfully catch up.
Conclusion
The six-week study conducted at this school proves that the way we teach vocabulary to struggling English learners makes a massive difference in their long-term success. Traditional methods—like copying word lists and completing repetitive worksheets—simply do not work for low-proficiency 7th graders. While students taught traditionally managed a minor short-term test average of 5.10 out of 10.00, they quickly forgot the material, dropping back down to a failing score of 4.10 just three weeks later. Traditional teaching failed to help them retain what they learned.
In contrast, digital gamification completely transformed how weak learners processed and remembered the language. By using interactive tools like Kahoot! and Quizizz, low-proficiency students saw their scores jump from a baseline of 3.55 to a passing 7.20 on the immediate post-test. Most importantly, they kept a strong average of 6.60 on the unannounced delayed test, achieving a remarkable net retention gain of +3.05 points.
Beyond the numbers, the digital approach fixed a major psychological barrier: classroom fear. Replacing high-stress public speaking with low-stakes screen interactions led to a 68% drop in self-reported classroom anxiety. Instead of staying silent or giving up, struggling students actively participated because the system rewarded their effort and progress. Furthermore, team-based formats naturally encouraged higher-performing peers to step up and coach their teammates, replacing classroom isolation with meaningful teamwork.
Ultimately, this research proves that digital gamification is not a distraction; it is a necessity for a fair, inclusive classroom. It levels the playing field, builds student confidence, and helps lower-performing students bridge their learning gaps successfully.
Recommendations
To support low-proficiency English learners and apply these successful results across the school, the English Department recommends the following actions:
- Implement a 10-Minute Digital Warm-Up: Replace stressful oral testing at the beginning of class with a quick, low-stakes digital vocabulary quiz. Use anonymous or randomized nicknames so struggling students can test their knowledge without the fear of public embarrassment.
- Prioritize Visual-Lexical Matching: Move away from dry English-to-Romanian translation lists. When building digital games, use direct image-to-word matching to help weak learners build strong mental associations without getting overwhelmed by heavy text.
- Offer Gamified Homework Options: Give struggling students the option to skip traditional grammar worksheets in favor of reaching specific practice goals on free vocabulary apps (like Quizlet or Duolingo) at home, rewarding their consistency and effort with experience points (XP) or participation badges.
- Utilize Live Team Modes for Peer Coaching: Use team-based digital formats at least once a week. This structure naturally motivates stronger students to guide and explain vocabulary to their weaker peers in real-time, taking the pressure off the teacher and the individual struggling student.
- Expand the Digital Toolkit for Teachers: Provide brief training sessions for the faculty at the school, to share best practices on managing smart displays and setting up free educational gaming accounts to maximize student engagement across all grades.
Student Feedback Questionnaire (5-Point Likert Scale)
This anonymous questionnaire is given to students at the end of the 6 weeks to measure the emotional and behavioral impact.
Instructions for students: Please read each statement carefully and tick (\(\checkmark \)) the box that best describes your experience during the English vocabulary lessons.
(1 = Strongly Disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Neutral, 4 = Agree, 5 = Strongly Agree)
# Statement 1 2 3 4 5
1 I felt nervous or anxious when practicing English vocabulary during this module.
2 Using digital games (Kahoot!, Quizizz) made me enjoy learning new English words.
3 Playing in digital teams helped me interact and learn from my classmates.
4 The instant feedback (seeing right/wrong answers on screen) helped me correct my mistakes immediately.
5 I feel more confident using the new English words outside of the games now.
References / Bibliography
• Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom. Cambridge University Press.
• Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Pergamon Press.
• Plass, J. L., Homer, B. D., & Kinzer, C. K. (2015). Foundations of Game-Based Learning. Educational Psychologist, 50(4), 258-283.
• Reinders, H. (2012). Digital Games in Language Learning and Teaching. Palgrave Macmillan.