Enhancing Idiomatic Competence of Thai EFL Learners through Gamification

Abstract

One of the challenges for Thai students who learn English as a foreign language is understanding idiomatic expressions because most individual words in idioms do not convey literal meanings. Moreover, the learners also require a deep comprehension of sociolinguistic, cultural, and pragmatic functions of the idioms to facilitate their understanding. Therefore, idioms need to be delivered by using the appropriate teaching approach. To do this, teachers should understand how EFL learners acquire and use idioms in the process of communicating and enhancing their proficiency. Gamification, the current trend in language education, is widely suggested to be implemented in English classrooms to increase idiomatic competence of the learners. This review article aims to analyze the current state of English idiom teaching in Thailand and examine the efficacy of gamification in EFL classrooms. It also synthesizes empirical studies on gamification in Thai EFL contexts from 2014 to 2025 and proposes a three-stage framework for integrating gamification in idiom instruction by employing a narrative review of literature and previous research conducted in Thai educational contexts. The findings reveal that while gamification has been extensively applied to vocabulary, grammar, and communication skills in Thailand, its implementation for idiomatic competence remains unexplored. The proposed framework comprises Preparation, Implementation, and Assessment stages, providing practical guidelines for integrating gamification into curriculum design to effectively support Thai EFL learners, policymakers, and communities. However, challenges such as limited technological infrastructure and teacher preparedness were identified.