Student engagement in traditional learning environments is in decline resulting in decreased learning results and lack of engagement. Gamification is one option to trigger interest and enhance engagement in learning activities. Aim of this study was to investigate the potential of gamified course design in language learning from students’ perspective. Particularly, we explored students’ experiences of engagement, enjoyability and language learning. Theoretical framework consists of process of interest and engagement, and gamification in language learning. Language learning is understood through socio-cultural and ecological approaches. The research was conducted and data were collected at a 3-credit field-specific English course. The participants (N = 23) were 1st-year healthcare students conducting their studies with a blended learning approach. The used applications were Seppo, Kahoot, Padlet and Quizlet. The data includes students’ learning diaries and a post-course on-line questionnaire. The diaries and the open questions of the questionnaire were analysed according to content analysis method. The results suggest that gamified course design and related applications can enhance student engagement, foster language learning, and offer positive learning experiences.  However, there are differences between gamified applications. Supporting collaboration and creating positive atmosphere are important in gamified learning process. Implications for teachers are discussed.

The aim of this research is to gain a comprehensive understanding on the aspects that contribute to higher education students' engagement when language studies are implemented with blended learning or online method. The theoretical frame comprises the ecological language learning approach and the notion of engagement.This research includes three sub-studies, each of which focuses on one language course in a university of applied sciences. In sub-study I, the participants were first-year health care students in a professional English course. The course implementation was based on gamification and a background storyline in which the students were on their practical training period in Spain. The main platform was Seppo-educational game platform. Sub-study II explores the opportunities a telecollaboration project between Finland and New Zealand provides for student engagement. The participants were Finnish business administration students and higher education students of various fields in New Zealand. The target language in the project was German and the main platform for collaboration was a closed Facebook group. Sub-study III investigates a Business English course with different kind individual and collaborative tasks. All course designs deployed multimodality and various digital tools and they were implemented with the blended learning approach.The data comprises reflective learning diaries in sub-studies I and III, and face-to-face interviews in substudy II. In addition, pre-and post-course online questionnaires provided secondary data in all substudies. The qualitative data were analysed with content analysis methods and the quantitative data with basic statistic methods.The results indicate that for student engagement, the teacher has an essential impact. The teacher is responsible for the implementation prior, during and after the course. In addition, the teachers need timely knowledge on digital tools, but they also need to master the traditional teacher competences such as subject content, pedagogy, guidance, facilitating and interaction. Teacher is also in the key role in establishing the learning atmosphere which in turn contributes to student engagement. Secondly, students' own activities affect immensely on their engagement. Similarly, collaboration with peers is beneficial for engagement, provided that the students have prepared themselves properly before the collaborative work. Carefully created course design with meaningful, authentic learning activities and relevant digital tools enhance student engagement and offers students enjoyable and purposeful learning experiences.

student engagement is essential in online language courses where the risk of suspending studies is higher than in face-to-face teaching. Furthermore, oral language rehearsal is challenging in such a course; therefore providing sufficient assignments to rehearse oral interaction is central. This study investigates how student engagement and oral language skills rehearsal are perceived in a blended learning language course. The course design was based on multimodality and the applied theoretical frameworks were ecological language learning and the notion of engagement. The study was conducted, and the data were collected in a 5-credit course for 1st-year business administration students (n=22). The qualitative data include students' learning diaries and open-ended questions of a post-course online questionnaire; the data were analysed according to the qualitative content analysis method. The findings suggest that meaningful course design with authentic assignments and course material enhanced students' academic engagement; students' own activity was perceived to foster academic engagement equally. social engagement was reinforced mainly by successful collaboration, but students' own actions had a great impact as well. in terms of oral interaction, collaborative, meaningful assignments and student's own investment in practicing had a positive impact on students' oral interaction. This study contributes to earlier research since it provides an insight into student academic and social engagement in a blended learning context and Korkealehto, Lakkala & Toom: Engagement and oral interaction in blended learning The JALT CALL Journal vol. 17 no.1 the findings can guide educators to design more engaging language learning courses in higher education.

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This research presents a virtual exchange project between two tertiary institutions in New Zealand and Finland with 26 participants who were intermediate German language students. During the project, the students used a closed Facebook group to post about given topics; the posts combined video, audio, and text that adhered to multimodal meaning-making theory. The theoretical framework was task-based language teaching underpinned by the notion of engagement, social media in language learning, and telecollaboration. Language learning was viewed through a socio-cultural lens. A mixed-methods approach was used to collect data including questionnaires, interviews, and FB-logs. The qualitative data was analysed by content analysis method. The results indicate that the students perceived FB as an applicable tool for community building and they enjoyed the variation it brought to the course. Collaboration, use of communication tools, authenticity, and teachers' support fostered student engagement.