Gamified vs. Non-Gamified Language Learning: The Role of Working Memory and Gaming Disorder

Learning is an essential human need, contributing to personal and intellectual growth influenced by various factors, including motivation. Gamification, the incorporation of game elements into non-game contexts, has been widely explored as a method to enhance learning and increase engagement and motivation to learning. While extensive research has examined the effectiveness of gamified learning on student performance, limited attention has been given to the role of working memory capacity and individuals gaming disorder tendency. Gamification could hypothetically consume memory or trigger a desire for gaming, potentially impacting learning. This paper is based on an experiment with 45 participants (53.33% female) aged between 18 and 27 years (M = 21.51, SD = 2.63) They learned Spanish through both gamified and non-gamified e-learning materials. We assessed learning outcomes based on immediate performance after the sessions and memory retention after two days. The experiment lasted 50 to 75 min. Our results showed no significant differences in post-session performance or memory retention between participants regardless of their gaming disorder tendency. Furthermore, working memory capacity did not correlate with the learning outcome. Despite males scoring higher than females in gaming disorder tendency, no significant differences were found in learning performance between genders. These findings suggest that gamification may not necessarily improve learning performance, although many participants expressed, through their qualitative feedback and actual interaction, more engagement in the gamified session as compared to the non-gamified session.