Gamified Listening in Hospitality ESP: Enhancing Listening Skills and Engagement of Thai EFL University Students
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Abstract
This study aimed to: 1) examine the effectiveness of gamified listening activities in improving listening skills, 2) analyze the levels of learners’ engagement in a Hospitality English course, and 3) explore students’ perceptions of the gamified activities. A mixed-methods design was utilized after the listening gamification intervention, with 22 tourism-major students enrolled in Hospitality English in the second semester of the 2024 academic year, selected through purposive sampling. The research instruments consisted of a pretest and posttest of listening skills, a learner engagement questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews. The listening tests consisted of three components: general comprehension, lexical recognition, and contextual understanding, all embedded in hospitality situations. The data were collected over a period of 12 weeks. Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed-rank Test and content analysis. The findings revealed that: (1) listening skills across all three dimensions significantly improved after implementing the gamified listening activities (pretest: M = 12.00, SD = 5.589; posttest: M = 18.77, SD = 3.915; p < .001), with the largest gains observed in hotel-specific vocabulary (p < .001). 2) The questionnaire results indicated high engagement (M = 4.43, SD = .645) across emotional, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions. 3) Students reported that game elements such as points, leaderboards, and rewards helped to enhance motivation, increase enjoyment, and improve vocabulary retention, which is aligned with the behavioral engagement (M = 4.44, SD = .615). However, during the focus group interview, some noted anxiety from competitive activities, suggesting that balanced activity design should integrate collaboration and reflection alongside competition. Overall, the study demonstrates that gamified listening effectively enhances listening skills and engagement in ESP, offering practical implications for improving English instruction in hospitality education.
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