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The potentially counterproductive effects on learning achievement, intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation for ludicization employing Habitica

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Abstract

This study investigated the actual efficiency of ludicization, ludic metaphorization of educational contexts, by identifying whether it exerted counterproductive effects on learning achievement, intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation. Seventy participants were divided into the ludicization and traditional didactic groups. According to the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), CET-4 posttest average score was not lower for the ludicization group (N = 35, M = 65.956, SD = 1.490) than for the traditional didactic pedagogy group (N = 35, M = 61.858, SD = 1.490). According to the t-test, the average score in intrinsic motivation was insignificantly higher for the ludicization group (N = 35, M = 13.6000, SD = 2.48762) than for the traditional didactic pedagogy group (N = 35, M = 13.4571, SD = 2.24057), while the average score in extrinsic motivation was significantly lower for the group (N = 35, M = 12.2857, SD = 2.58470) than for the traditional didactic group (N = 35, M = 13.5714, SD = 2.66001). Thus, ludicization exerted counterproductive effects on extrinsic motivation. Ludicization produced poorly internalized extrinsic motivation that restrained intrinsic motivation and learning achievement. Despite potentially counterproductive effects, ludicization and game-related pedagogies still have promising effects on pedagogical practices if applied appropriately.

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Funding

This work was supported by: The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the Research Funds of Beijing Language and Culture University [grant numbers: 21YCX047].

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Qi Zhang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Writing-Original Draft, Funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Qi Zhang.

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Zhang, Q. The potentially counterproductive effects on learning achievement, intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation for ludicization employing Habitica. Educ Inf Technol 27, 12399–12419 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11130-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11130-4

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