Gamifying lesson endings in university EFL: a mixed-methods cluster randomized classroom trial of course thriving, engagement, and motivation

Purpose To examine whether adding a gamified end-of-lesson segment to otherwise shared instruction influenced course thriving, engagement, and motivation in a short university EFL course in Japan.Design/Methodology/Approach A pair-matched cluster randomized classroom trial was conducted across four classes (N = 44), comparing a Gamified condition with a time- and content-matched business-as-usual (BAU) condition. Preregistered quantitative outcomes were course thriving, engagement, course-level L2 motivation, and basic psychological needs (BPN) as a prespecified mechanism, alongside exploratory outcomes and weekly postlesson engagement pulse ratings. Weekly audio reflections were analyzed thematically to examine how students experienced the two lesson formats.Findings Confirmatory results indicated limited between-condition separation on the broad course-level outcomes: adjusted posttest estimates generally leaned in favor of the Gamified condition, but effects were small and confidence intervals included zero. Preregistered BPN change scores were lower in Gamified than BAU (p = .030), contrary to H4; this difference attenuated after baseline adjustment (p = .792), while higher posttest BPN was associated with better course outcomes. Weekly engagement pulse ratings were higher in the Gamified condition, but this difference was no longer statistically clear after adjustment for T0.5 course engagement. Qualitative findings showed that students in both conditions described positive classroom experiences, but through different pathways.Originality/Value The study suggests that gamification may be more relevant for shaping the experiential texture of classroom learning than for producing broad course-level advantages over a strong non-gamified alternative. It also shows the value of mixed methods for identifying distinct positive pedagogical pathways across conditions.