GAMIFICATION ON EFL STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION AND ANXIETY IN THIRD-LANGUAGE LEARNING: A UNIVERSITY IN SOUTHERN VIETNAM

Abstract

 Gamification has been widely adopted in foreign language education to enhance student engagement and reduce anxiety in
language learning. Focusing on English-major students learning French as a third language at Tra Vinh University, Vietnam. This study examines changes in students’ motivation and anxiety following the use of gamified classroom activities. A pre-post quantitative survey was conducted with 55 undergraduate students using validated measures of motivational dimensions and foreign language classroom anxiety over a 15-week semester in the 2025–2026 academic year. The findings indicate increases in students’ interest
and effort, alongside a reduction in classroom anxiety, while perceived competence and perceived value showed no significant change. The results suggest that gamification helps students feel more comfortable and engaged in learning, but does not immediately change their core motivational beliefs. By situating gamification within a multilingual, third-language learning context, this study extends existing research by highlighting the value of gamification as an engagementoriented pedagogical approach for additional foreign language learning in higher education.