ENHANCING BASIC ENGLISH COMMUNICATION SKILLS THROUGH GAMMIFICATIONT : A STUDY OF CLASS 9A AT SMP MAARIF DARUL HIDAYAH LAREN

Keywords: gamification, basic communication, English, junior high school
students, pre-experimental

This study aims to improve the basic communication skills in English of students
in class 9A at SMP Ma’arif Darul Hidayah Laren through the application of
gamification. The background of this research is the low speaking and listening
skills of students, which results in low participation in English learning. This study
used a quantitative approach with a pre-experimental design of one-group pretest￾posttest. The subjects of the study consisted of 28 students. Data collection was
conducted using tests to assess speaking and listening skills. Data were analyzed
using the Paired Sample t-Test through SPSS version 22. The results of the study
showed that the average pre-test score of students was 58.72, while the post-test
score increased to 80.56. The Paired Sample t-Test produced a significance value
of 0.000 (p < 0.05), indicating a significant improvement between the pre-test and
post-test after the application of gamification. Therefore, gamification can be used
as an effective and engaging learning strategy to improve students' basic
communication skills in English. This research raises the gamification approach
through Kahoot media in basic English learning, which is still rarely applied at the
junior high school level in a religious-based school environment such as Ma'arif
Darul Hidayah Laren Junior High School. The uniqueness of the research lies in the
integration of modern game-based technology in a local context and limited
facilities, providing a new perspective in the development of interesting and
effective teaching methods. The results showed that the use of Kahoot can
significantly improve students' basic English communication skills. This has an
impact on increasing learning motivation, active student engagement in the
classroom, and strengthening 21st century skills such as collaboration and critical
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thinking. The broader implication is the opportunity for the adoption of
gamification methods in pesantren-based education systems or schools in rural
areas. The main strength of this study lies in its systematic experimental design and
focus on practical skills relevant to students' needs, namely English speaking and
responding. The study also presents strong quantitative data and is supported by
direct classroom observations, thus providing valid and reliable results. This study
is feasible to implement because it uses an easily accessible tool, the Kahoot
application that can be run through a mobile device or laptop, and does not require
a large amount of money. In addition, teachers can easily learn and adapt this media,
thus enabling continuous implementation in the learning process in various school
environments.