Vol. 1 No. 4, 2021
Exploring Teachers’ Perception on Gamification in Online Grammar Teaching
Mendalami Persepsi Guru Terhadap Gamifikasi Dalam Pengajaran Grammar Online
Asifayanti*, Sukardi Weda, Amirullah Abduh English Departement, Postgraduate Program, Universitas Negeri Makassar, Makassar, Indonesia
*Penulis Koresponden: [email protected]
ABSTRAK
Penelitian ini berfokus pada menganalisis perspektif guru dalam menerapkan gamifikasi dalam pengajaran tata bahasa online. Subjek penelitian adalah empat guru bahasa Inggris yang mengajar di sekolah menengah pertama di Kabupaten Maros. Pengambilan sampel dilakukan secara sengaja atau purposive sampling. Rinciannya, masing- masing adalah guru berasal dari sekolah menengah pertama Mangai Maros, sekolah menengah pertama 8 Mallawa Camba Maros, sekolah menengah pertama Satu Atap Salenrang Maros, dan sekolah menengah pertama Angkasa Lanud Hasanuddin Maros. Instrumen penelitian adalah wawancara, daftar observasi, dan dokumentasi.
Berdasarkan analisis data, diperoleh beberapa hasil; pertama, implementasi gamifikasi ke dalam pembelajaran grammar online diaktualisasikan pada kegiatan pembelajaran. Kedua, guru memandang bahwa penerapan gamification membantu sistem pembelajaran jarak jauh dan memainkan peran penting dalam pengajaran grammar secara online. Ketiga, guru memandang bahwa penggunaan elemen permainan dalam gamifikasi meningkatkan partisipasi, perhatian dan motivasi siswa dalam mempelajari grammar melalui sistem online. Temuan menunjukkan beberapa hambatan yang dirasakan oleh para guru, mereka menunjukkan bahwa kurangnya sumber daya merupakan hambatan utama membatasi guru dalam menerapkan gamification di kelas grammar online.
Kata Kunci: Gamification, Game Elements, Grammar, Online Learning.
ABSTRACT
This study focuses on analyzing the teacher's perspective in applying gamification in online grammar teaching. The research subjects were four English teachers who teach in junior high schools in Maros Regency. Sampling is done intentionally or purposive sampling. The details, respectively, are teachers from Mangai Maros Junior High School, 8 Mallawa Camba Maros Middle School, Salenrang Maros One Roof Middle School, and Angkasa Lanud Hasanuddin Maros Junior High School. The research instruments were interviews, observation lists, and documentation. Based on data analysis, several results were obtained; first, the implementation of gamification into online grammar learning is actualized in learning activities. Second, the teacher views that the application of gamification helps the distance learning system and plays an important role in teaching grammar online. Third, the teacher views that the use of game elements in gamification increases students' participation, attention and motivation in learning grammar through an online system. The findings show some of the obstacles felt by the teachers, they show that the lack of resources is the main obstacle limiting teachers in implementing gamification in online grammar classes.
Keywords: Mification, Game Elements, Grammar, Online Learning.
1. INTRODUCTION
Since the early of 2020, almost all schools and colleges around the world have closed down classrooms (physical classes) and moved entirely into online- virtual classrooms due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Teachers’ techniques of delivering syllabus, along with other aspects, have changed significantly worldwide.
Zhou, Li, and Wu (2020) mentioned that in order to conduct online teaching and learning, the use of information technology and internet technology is needed. The truth is that it has been a challenging assignment for many teachers to teach online and to use educational technology. There are three challenges for online education, including the limitation of time for teachers to prepare for online classes, the isolated feeling experienced during the pandemic by both teachers and students, and the emergence of an effective teaching approach to motivate students to continue learning (Huang 2020).
In language classes, getting students more motivated and inspired is the most noticeable reason for embracing technology. In addition, to fulfill the needs of students, teachers are encouraged to address important topics related to the learning, also practice various teaching techniques which allow students to become more active participants with good motivation and commitment to their learning. Thus, it becomes a challenge for every teacher. As Mishra, Gupta, and Shree (2020) stated that this very new teaching technique gives teachers and students the challenge of adapting to the "technological complexities."
English grammar is a basic knowledge of English, which assists students effectively in reading, writing, speaking and understanding English. It is however a complex language variable that makes teaching and learning challenging. Teaching grammar should also be fun to inspire students to produce better results.
Teachers should recognize that students nowadays are digital experts who have been used to advancements in technology. Furthermore, teachers should be able to adapt to more successful methods to achieve the best outcomes in grammar learning.
The framework for applying novel approaches and techniques to integrate an active learning process is provided by existing educational paradigms and education phenomena. One of these phenomena that can empower students to achieve the goals of their English learning is Gamification because it exhibits an
innovative and captivating learning activity. It also enables students to play an active role in the learning process, thereby fostering constructive learning, skill development and problem-based learning (Parreñoa 2016).
Gamification is a fairly new thing in the education system, even though games have been commonly used in teaching. In this case, teachers can use many gamification methods to further motivate their students to learn the target language. Because gamification is a new concept in itself, there is still little research on this. Lee and Hammer (2011) said that gamification was primarily conducted in marketing or other business fields with varying levels of success.
While the actual gamification research is still limited, but it shows mixed results. One of them is that it provides beneficial effects on learning and encouragement if used correctly, so it is deemed sufficient to be implemented in both offline and online classes. By extension, this effect can also be applied to second-language classes. However, there is currently very little use of gamification for second-language education, although it is recommended for use in the teaching framework. As (Fitriani et al. 2021) stated that the use of online platforms in teaching and learning would benefit students to be independent learners.
While language teachers are always trying to inspire learning and empower their students, gamification can be a new way to do this. Due to the lack of research in the field of second-language gamification, particularly in grammar teaching, there are numerous questions about how gamification can be used and how it can be most useful.
Based on the explanation above the researcher intends to to conduct a reaserch entitles “Exploring Teachers’
Perception on Gamification in Online Grammar Teaching”. For this study, the researcher focuses are on how Junior High School English teachers in Maros regency implement gamification and what the teachers’ perceptions are on using gamification in online grammar teaching.
2. RESEARCH METHOD
The study is a qualitative research with a case study design. The population of the research is the English teachers of junior high schools in Maros regency which consists of 120 teachers.
The sample of the research enrolled four (4) teachers who actively teach in junior high schools, and they are the members of English MGMP (Teacher Education Consensus Points) in Maros regency. Based on the preliminary research using interviews, they stated that they actively teach grammar online and apply gamification in their online class, especially in grammar teaching. They are from UPTD SMPN 32 Satap Mangai Maros, UPTD SMPN 8 Mallawa Camba Maros, UPTD SMPN 28 Satu Atap Salenrang Maros, and UPTD SMP ANGKASA LANUD HASANUDDIN Maros. The criteria of the sample chosen were the sample should actively teach English through online system and has always incorporated gamification in his/her class, and he/she lives or teaches in an area with good network coverage regarding the required internet access to perform gamification technique.
In this study, the researcher used three instruments for collecting the data. They were interview, observation and documentation. The data of this research are information about the junior high schools English teachers’ perception and the implementation of gamification in online grammar teaching in Maros regency. In this study the interview transcript and recording are the primary data while field note and pictures during observation are the secondary data.
For analyzing the data, the researcher used technique by Miles and Huberman (1994) who stated that there are some data analysis procedures, they are : data reduction, data display, verification and conclusion. In this research, data reduction was done by making summary contact, developing category coding, making reflection note and data selection. Data reduction was the using of greeting in opening and ending the lesson, the teacher’s voice in teaching, and etc. The researcher used narrative essay in displaying the data. Since the beginning of the research, the researcher made temporary conclusion. In the last step, the conclusion was verified to the notes taken and furthermore, it was brought to the perfect conclusion.
3. RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS
3.1. Results
To obtain the data related to the implementation of gamification in online grammar teaching, the researcher conducted the observation and interview with four English teachers in Maros regency. They are all currently teaching in four different schools. The results of the data can be seen as following:
1) How do you prepare your lesson plan?
Based on the statement from the teachers, the researcher found that it was clearly seen that they were well-prepared enough to provide the students with gamification activities. They put the gamified lesson plan in their RPP and carefully chose the games to be used based on the topic of the lesson in each chapter.
2) To what extent does gamification have a role in teaching grammar through online system?
Based on the statements from the teachers, the researcher could see that gamification is used to help them in the distance learning nowadays and has an important role to assist them in delivering the online grammar lessons.
3) How should gamification be used in teaching grammar through online teaching?
The researcher could analyze that the teachers should carefully plan on when she needs to apply the gamified lesson itself after considering the students condition, material and lesson target of the day. Based on the facts, they apply gamification mostly after delivering the lesson target and use it as assessment in the class.
Teachers’ understanding
4) To what extent is gamification beneficial in assisting you and converting hard grammar focus to more enjoyable task?
The researcher could see that the teachers have the same idea that gamification is a useful new methodology in teaching grammar especially through online system. As teaching grammar is usually boring, gamification offers fun and enjoyable techniques to engage students and it helps them to understand and memorize more.
5) To what extent is gamification beneficial in enhancing students grammar mastery?
According to the statements form the four teachers, the researcher concluded that the teachers have the same understanding that gamification can increase students’
mastery in learning grammar. It is in that the process of learning is fun and enjoyable. It motivates them to do the tasks more and more in order to better score. In some gamified application there are also repetitive or drilling system, so the students are shown their mistakes and they can learn from the error answers they made.
Teachers’ view
6) How much do game elements (points, bedges, leaderboard) increase your students motivation and participation in studying grammar through online system?
According to the statements from the four teachers, the researcher concluded that the four teachers perceived that the game elements in gamaification significantly enhance students’ participations in grammar learning process through online system. It was strengthen by the statement: ““…It effects the students so much in improving the students’ motivation and participation because the elements of the gamification can make the students be more competitive and more collaborative…”
7) How far do game elements (points, bedges, leaderboard) draw your students’ attention to various grammar lessons?
According to the statements from the four teachers, the researcher could find out that the teachers perceived that the game elements (points, bedges, leaderboards) increase students’ focus to the lessons. It was shown clearly on the statement “... Surprisingly, all of them answer the questions well. This could be hard to get when I just give them a text based questions only, most of the time, they didn’t even send me the answer.”
8) To what extent do your students express the sense of enjoyment while working on the grammar task through online system?
Based on the statement, the researcher could comprehend that the teacher perceived that the students expressed the sense of enjoyment while doing the grammar task through gamification by laughing and mentioning some sentences in English unconsciously, by showing enthusiastic attitude and becoming not passive during the class, telling the teacher that the activity was fun and putting the screenshot of their achievement in their social media to announce to their other friends, by competing to finish the task earlier and asking to have more and more gamified activities in the class.
9) What negative effects of using gamification can you see in your online grammar teaching?
Based on the statement mentioned by the teachers, the researcher could conclude that the teachers saw that students’ focus was more to the game than to the lesson in that they could not wait for the teacher’s presentation. Moreover, gamification also caused conflicts between students since they became more competitive to get score.
Additionally, the researcher could get that the teachers perceived that the negative effect of using gamification was that the gamification applications were confusing for some students so they could not apply it well.
10) What barriers do you get in using gamification in online grammar teaching?
According to the interview, the teacher mentioned some barriers in applying gamification such as the need of tools to operate it and it required long preparation.It was the process of deciding the games that matched the students background especially to those who were not familiar with technology. And also long time preparation and technical instruction become problems in using gamification.
Teachers’ Actions
11) How often do you use gamification in your online grammar class?
The teachers mentioned that they usually apply gamification in their online grammar class especially at the end of the chapter as the assessment. It was strengthen by the statement statement:
“ … during the time of online learning at the end of every chapters I usually try to make a gamivied activity.
Considering the condition of the students which is financially not equal so I usually announce it 3 or 4 days before I do the gamification so they can prepare for it.”
12) What is your favourite gamification platforms to use in your online grammar teching? Why?
Based on the interview, the teachers mention that the most favourite gamification used in their online grammar class is Quizizz. It was strengthened by the statements :
“Of course the most frequently I use is Quizziz. First the design is beautiful, then the second one is that it is easier because there are a lot of questions inside, we can just choose them by entering the topic, and you will see many of the showing up. Even I can use Quizizz if I suddenly realize that the students are bored but I have no plans at all for the games, I can prepare for it suddenly in just 10 minutes”
3.2. Discussion
1) The implementation of gamification in teaching grammar through online system.
In line with the observation results, in the interview, the teachers mentioned that in the process of preparation, they needed a long time to choose
gamified activities according to the learning targets they have made in the previous lesson plans. Especially in teaching grammar, which is quite difficult to teach through an online system, they must choose an interesting and effective method to use and make students understand. Dobson (2013) suggests that teachers should make comprehension preparation for the game. They should know game regulation and plan how to direct conversation during or following the game.
Based on the data collected, the researcher knew that implementing gamification is very helpful in online teaching, but the teachers are required to choose appropriate activities not only according to the lesson target but also the ability of the equipment, such as the students' cellphones and internet networks they have as well as students' skills in using IT. It means teachers must consider a variety of issues while creating online games for their students. Teachers must exercise caution and precision when selecting games, as this directly impacts how well they are received and appreciated by students. To ensure that games are effective, teachers must ensure that they are appropriate for students' ages and levels (Forsberg 2018). Naturally, different age groups require varied materials, game formats, and game topics.
Additionally, there are various structural games designed to reinforce and practice specific grammatical components of languages among pupils (Hanus and Fox 2015). These must be related to the students' ability and prior knowledge. It's common for students to perceive games as challenging when the topics are inappropriate and outside their range of knowledge and expertise.
The obligation to teach online during the pandemic forces teachers to have creativity in delivering lessons to help students understand and achieve lesson targets easily. In this case, the implementation of gamification plays an important role, especially in teaching grammar which is considered difficult. As Linda Mayasari (2019) stated that speaking of technology, it becomes a trend in education. Some researches indicate that it plays significant role in education. Technology can be the learning media which make students become active and improve students’ skill in English.
The implementation of gamification helps the distance learning system be more interactive and produces a pleasant learning experience for students. Moreover, various attractive features in gamification help
teachers make the teaching and learning process easier and more engaging for students.
In line with the observations, the interviews showed that according to the teachers, the implementation of gamification in grammar lessons was commonly done after the presentation of the lesson targets and also used as a final assessment of the lesson. In order to get maximum results in implementing gamification, teachers must be careful in choosing the right time to give gamified activities to students so that the results can be maximized. Several strategies are available to create an effective lesson closure. These strategies not only help facilitate learning of the content of the lesson, but also allow the lesson to(Mashable 2017) be seen as an integrated whole (Kleinsaser et al, 2006)
2) The English teachers’ perception (Understanding, View, and Action) of using gamification in online grammar teaching.
Teachers’ Understanding
• Converting hard grammar focus to more enjoyable task.
Grammar is a foundational knowledge of English that enables ESL / EFL students to read, write, speak, and interpret the language effectively. It is, nevertheless, a dynamic component of language that makes teaching and learning challenges. As a result, teaching grammar should be fun in order to help students obtain better results (Redjeki and Muhajir, 2020).
Based on the collected data, the researcher knew that the English teachers in Maros regency perceived that gamification is a beneficial strategy to assist teachers to creat a fun online grammar learning. According to Al- Bulushi and Al-Issa (2017), engaging gamified activities have enhanced the learning process of the students, and that using communicative games for imparting vocabulary and grammar have been better than the older method of learning grammar. Thus it can be stated that the method of gamification have been useful in successfully delivering knowledge to the students and keeping the students motivated.
Gamified grammar games are some of the most successful methods for encouraging students to practice the language and serving as a model for all students in terms of learning how to use the language effectively in real life. In general, grammatical games are beneficial because they motivate, teach, inspire,
and entertain while simultaneously promoting higher grammar fluency and proficiency.
• Enhancing students’ grammar mastery
When playing online grammar games, the target points can be set for both the advanced and the beginning levels at the same time. The grammar teachers make certain that the students are presented with structures that they can identify as right or incorrect. Games assist in revising grammar skills and ensuring that learners learn more effectively, both of which are important (Americanenglish.state.gov 2019).
Based on the data collected, the researcher comprehended that the English teachers in Maros regency perceived that gamification is beneficial in improving students’ grammar mastery. The process of learning, which is enjoyable, can trigger the students to do the tasks. Furthermore, in some gamified grammar applications, they provide a drilling system to review and revise the mistakes, so students are given a chance to learn and make a correction from their mistakes.
According to Becker and Nicholson (2016), students are satisfied with games since they allow them to work together while improving fundamental grammatical skills. These grammar games frequently encourage students to build the habit of using language appropriately rather than focusing on memorizing the correct grammar structures. On the other hand, teachers must guarantee that their pedagogical worth is remembered and that this is kept in mind while developing games for use in the online class.
Teachers’s view
• Game elements increase students’ motivation and participation.
According to the data collected, the researcher got that the teachers perceived that the use of game elements (Points, Bedges, Leaderboards) in gamification increase students participations. According to Lee and Hammer (2011), this is because when students see that they are being rewarded by the system with more points every time they participate, they will be motivated to participate more often. Also, when students see that they are getting more rewards, for example badges for completing complex activities, they will also be willing to continue and do more (Dobbs et al. 2009).
According to A. Stott and Neustaedter (2013), students accustomed to using games and other instruction techniques are more motivated to learn and have the flexibility to fail. As a result, it is utilized to instill confidence in students. When students take risks and succeed, they gain confidence. Additionally, it demonstrates that students are not afraid of failure in this gaming-based study design. According to the result, it can be claimed that teachers use gaming techniques to focus students' attention on the learning process rather than on the ultimate result. However, it has been suggested that it increased student performance by motivating them to take examinations in challenges and rewarding them with points (Mahmoud 2018). Additionally, the gamification elements enable students to self-assess their tests constantly.
• Game elements draw students’ attention to various grammar lessons.
While direct teaching provides several advantages, it has been observed that students are more receptive to alternative learning techniques in their grammar lessons. As Pritchard (2017) notes, games are frequently assumed to aid students in such situations.
It aids in their acquisition, review, and internalization of grammatical structures. It has been believed that when students are allowed to participate in various communication activities, they learn more successfully. Due to the widespread assumption that grammar class is boring, games are frequently suggested to keep students involved and interested in what is being taught in the classroom (Becker and Nicholson 2016).
Based on the data collected, the researcher knew that the English teachers in Maros regency acknowledged the fact that game elements (points, bedges, leaderboards) increase students’ focus to the lesson.
The study's findings indicated that teachers positively perceived gamified activities in online grammar classes that incorporate game aspects. Specifically, teachers discovered that online grammar lessons that incorporate demanding activities and gaming components help students developed a sense of competence, accomplishment, and joy. Additionally, teachers believed that the difficulties associated with online grammar assignments caused students to assume they possessed abilities beyond their capacity and achieved more than the lesson demands.
According to Domingues et al.(2013), game features
create challenging assignments that assess students' competency. Dobbs et al. (2009), Dominguez et al.
(2013), and V. et al. (2015) demonstrated that presenting students with demanding work increases their competence and accomplishment.
Additionally, the study's findings indicated that teachers viewed gamified grammar lesson aspects as promoters of students' confidence in their willingness to achieve in online grammar classes. Additionally, teachers perceived immediate feedback as quality of gamified grammar activities that effectively inspire students to improve their performance. Jaggars and Xu (2016) suggested that elements of gamified online courses like instructor-student contact, modalities, and quick feedback help students become more committed to online learning. Additionally, Joyner et al. (2014) and Driscoll et al. (2012) reinforce these statements by stating that the design characteristics of gamified online courses foster a debate by notifying and clarifying crucial lessons components to students.
• Students’ enjoyment within gamification.
Among kids and teenagers, an online language game is a popular tool as they are used to accessing the Internet (Yunus, 2018). They also enjoy playing games.
Thus, with online language games, their interest can be raised in studying English language grammar. Games are a sort of stress management alternative which can be employed in the classroom because of their relaxing and engaging character (Tobar-Muñoz et al., 2015).
When learners like the game, they can grasp content more effectively (Koksal, Çekic, & Beyhan, 2014). The online language game is liked by many since it is fun and amusing. The nature of games is to deliver a pleasurable experience for participants. Due to that, implementing games in the classroom indicates that learners can have fun while learning.
Based on the data collected, the teachers perceived that students showed the sense of enjoyment while doing the task during gamification.the students became more engaged and showed enthusiastic attitude. Previous literature has comprehensively examined the need for enjoyment in learning. One of the most needed experiential aspects in game design is enjoyment, fun, or pleasure (Deterding,2015). Many variables need to be addressed in making a game entertaining, so it can be claimed that conveying delight in a game is relatively rigid. Enjoyment value is significant as it can motivate, engage and provide good influences in an
environment (Villagrasa, et al., 2014). One of the most acceptable factors while speaking about enjoyment and fun is that enjoyment is associated with motivation, precisely intrinsic motivation (Kim and Lee, 2013).
Enjoyment in intrinsic motivation highlights that enjoyment is brought by interacting with the activities themselves, in which the tasks have their appeal and engage the users towards the surroundings (Malone, 1981).
• Negative effects of gamification in online grammar class.
The research's findings suggested that the teachers viewed gaming components in online grammar learning as encouraging negative student characteristics. According to the study, the teachers surveyed agreed that game features in online learning management systems have a detrimental effect. These participants stated that by introducing game aspects into online grammar learning, students generate bad feelings, form poor relationships with other students, become demotivated and apprehensive. According to these few concurring participants, the inclusion of game features causes students to focus on accumulating points rather than comprehending the material successfully. Significantly, these findings concur with Sandford et al. (2006). Hanus and Fox (2015) supported these findings by observing that leaderboards demotivate students due to the immediate assessment of a single effort, whether good or bad.
The disadvantages of introducing game aspects into online grammar learning are a result of the platform's competitive nature. Charles et al. (2011) discovered that game features foster competitiveness, which students find unsatisfying. In contrast, research has discovered that gaming features promote conversation among students, increasing socialization (Ajayi, 2009;
Cheong et al., 2011). Students develop poor learning habits as a result of game components (Lister 2015).
The research's findings indicated that the teachers believed that incorporating gaming aspects into online grammar learning encouraged students to learn for the sake of obtaining points rather than mastering the content. Lister (2015) bolsters these findings by arguing that gaming aspects obstruct the learning process's overall purpose.
• Barriers in implementing gamification
Regarding barriers in implementing gamification, the results indicate that a lack of resources is a major obstacle limiting teachers from implementing gamification in online grammar classes. Teachers' opinions of a lack of resources include a lack of time to prepare gamified lessons, a lack of gamified course materials, and a lack of specific training to teach using gamification. Teachers also highlighted a lack of financial assistance as a barrier, implying that teachers may believe that gamification necessitates expensive gear (e.g., computers or handphones) and software (e.g., the internet quota). The findings are similar to a prior study, which identified a lack of time, training, and financial assistance as major barriers to instructors using information and communication technology in the classroom (for a review see: Mumtaz, 2000).
Demirbilek and Tamer (2010) discovered recently that teachers considered they lacked sufficient knowledge on how to employ educational games. it can be used to a larger gamification context , with teachers lacking sufficient training in how to use online gamification solutions such as Kahoot! One unexpected finding is that teachers' perceptions of students' lack of interest in gamified courses impede them from utilizing gamification in their classes because they believe their efforts in preparing gamified classes are not worth it.
After all, students do not value it adequately. Previous research indicated that teachers were concerned about students' disinterest in using online games with educational aspects due to perceived inappropriateness within the course topic (Can and Cagiltay, 2006). Another important source of concern for teachers is the perception that gamification does not fit their courses, implying that some subjects are more ideal for gamification than others. This is similar to the findings of Ince and Demirbilek (2013) among High School teachers. Emin-Martinez and Ney (2013) discovered that teachers seek congruence between the game-based learning activities they deploy and the subject they teach.
The 'need to match the subject' shows that some teachers view gamification as a form of supplementary activity that can be interesting because of its novelty but is not important to the topic's learning process. In general, gamification appears to be a cool innovation that 'borrows time' from the genuine effort of learning the subject. It appears to be a flawed approach to gamification, as it does not evaluate gamification in the context of other classroom approaches geared to teach
the subject but rather as a novel or surprise activity in and of itself.
Teachers’ action
• The frequency of gamification implemented in online grammar teaching by the English teachers in Maros regency.
Based on the data collected, most teachers perceived that they usually apply gamification due to the high demand from the students and the benefit of implementing it. The teachers explained that they could use gamification as their scoring system in the assessment. Students' progress can be tracked using this gamification form of learning. It is because this strategy, through the use of scaffolding, guides students' learning (Stott & Neustaedter 2013). It is a method of modern pedagogy. Gamification can be used to categorize and organize knowledge, making it easier for students to learn. It enables students to restart at any moment if they become stuck (Foresberg 2018). It encourages the learner to reconsider and retry the task rather than dreading failure. As a result, it enables students to advance in their subject area. The progress of the gamification process can be viewed in terms of the pupils' degree of interest. When pupils demonstrate a high level of interest in a subject, this is regarded as progress.
On the other hand, another teacher perceived that she did not use gamification too often due to the lack of the time and resources. Some teachers choose to gamify classroom activities because they believe it is simple.
That is not in reality. It is not easy to create gamified exercises that fulfill specific learning objectives. It demands extensive planning in advance and a critical assessment of the activity's desired consequences.
• The teachers’ perception on their favourite gamification application
Based on the interview results, the researcher could get some data about gamification application which mostly the teachers like to run. Surprisingly they all prefer to use Quizizz. During the recent era of home- based learning (HBL), in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers turned to online platforms to assist them in giving more engaging lessons for their students, rather than simply handing them paper- based tasks. Quizizz was one of the most well-known platforms used throughout the HBL era. Due to the network's ease of use, teachers explained that they frequently gave their students links to quizzes on the
platform. It is even more appealing to many because it is free, quick, and allows for tracking and storing learners' grades. In using Quizizz, learners would not have much problem in navigating around the website.
Its interface, which is user-friendly, helps learners to access different functions without much hassle. With this, learners who have limited Internet access would not waste much time or Internet quota on navigating around aimlessly (Pekta¸s, M & Kepceo ˘glu, 2019). In the teaching and Sustainability learning process, students only need a game code from their teachers in order to access a game that can be played in real-time mode or student-paced mode (Almeida & Simoes, J.
2019).
4. CONCLUSION
Based on the findings which are explained in the discussion about the teachers' perception on gamification in online grammar teaching in Maros regency, the researcher then drew the conclusion. The conclusion covers all of the research questions of this study. The conclusions are as follow:
a. When implementing gamification in online grammar teaching, the junior high school English teachers in Maros regency apply 3 steps of teaching process: preactivity, main-activity, and post-activity. The implementation of gamififcation into online grammar teaching is actualized in the main-activity after the presentation of the lesson target and is also used as a final assessment of the lesson. However, the teachers perceive that they have to make comprehension preparation for gamification which leads to time preparation.
b. The junior high school English teachers in Maros regency perceive that the implementation of gamification helps distance learning system, it plays significant role in online grammar teaching now that it makes students become more active, and it assists teachers in delivering the lesson target.
c. The junior high school English teachers in Maros regency perceive that gamification is a beneficial strategy to assist teachers to converting hard grammar focus to more enjoyable task. It motivates, teaches, inspires and entertains while simultaneously promoting higher grammar fluency and proficiency.
d. The Junior High School English teachers in Maros regency believe that gamification is beneficial in improving students’ grammar mastery.
Gamification allows students to work together while improving fundamental grammatical skill.
It encourages students to build their habit of using language appropriately rather than focusing on memorizing the correct grammar structure.
e. The Junior High School English teachers in Maros regency perceive that the use of game elements improve students participations. Gamification instill confidence of the students. When students see that they are being rewarded by the system with more points every time they participate, they will be more motivated to participate more often.
f. Game elements also draw students’ attention to various grammar lessons. Teachers discovered that online grammar lessons that implied game elements helped students develop a sense of competence and accomplishment.
g. Based on the findings, the junior high school English teachers in Maros regency perceive that students show the sense of enjoyment during gamification activities. It proves that in gamification students can have fun while learning.
h. In another hand, the findings suggest that the junior high school English teachers in Maros regency view gamificaton in online grammar teaching can encourage negative characteristics of the students. It makes the students focus on accumulating points rather than comprehending the material successfully.
i. The findings show some barriers perceived by the teachers, they indicate that a lack of resources is a major obstacle limiting the teachers from implementing gamification in online grammar class. Teacher’s opinions of a lack of resources include a lack of time to prepare gamification itself, a lack of gamified course material, and a lack of specific training to teach using gamification. Teachers also highlight a lack of financial assistance as a barrier.
j. The junior high school English teachers in Maros regency perceive that they usually use gamification strategy in their grammar online class due to the high demand from the students.
On the other hand, one of the teachers perceive that she does not apply gamification too often due to the lack of the time and resources as the barriers.
k. The gamification application which mostly run by the junior high school English teachers in Maros regency is Quizizz. During the recent era of home-
based learning (HBL), in response to the COVID- 19 pandemic, teachers turned to online platforms to assist them in giving more engaging lessons for their students, rather than simply handing them paper-based tasks.
The data produced in this study research can be used as secondary data and sources by other researchers, combined with the sample size, which may provide an in-depth understanding of the research field. The researcher will be able to get new ideas and benefits from gamification strategies in online classes to teach grammar to students in the future. As a result, the research findings will help the school, teacher, and student in Maros regency and throughout Indonesia.
Thus, the learner will be able to achieve a high quality of proficiency in the English language. The research has advanced the gamification process in learning, demonstrating that it is advantageous for students learning grammar and other teaching and learning processes.
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