Keyword: «gamification»

The issue of teaching foreign language business communication to IT students is a quite challenging task due to a lack of organizational and methodological resources allocated to minor disciplines within curricula, as well as current educational trends: digitalization and the evolution of student-centered approaches. The purpose of the study is to test the effectiveness of the visual novel as a tool for teaching business communication in the context of the previously noted current trends. The research method is experimental learning based on gamification. Visual novels can be a useful tool for developing communication skills. Compared to conventional interactive classes, visual novels have a number of advantages in terms of educational process organization. They do not have such restrictions as the complex and time-consuming preparation of lessons, limited classroom time, the need for a certain number of participants, etc. Responding to modern education trends and social demand they not only productively implement the ideas of alternative teaching methods, but also create environment that evokes an emotional response in a certain target group, stimulates learning motivation, and makes it possible to demonstrate the importance and continuity of business communication in a time perspective. Since IT training in most cases does not include business communication course, it can be included as a part of other discipline and/or a module, and it was decided to conduct the training within a basic EFL course. At the current stage of the experiment, there is generally positive dynamics. The prospect for further development of such educational resources can extend to specialties for which business communication is not one of the core activities, as well as transferring into a public format.

Gamification is one of the innovative approaches, which is the use of game elements in the educational process in order to increase motivation and learning effectiveness. It is important to note that in addition to mastering a foreign language, modern teaching methods also focus on the development of creative thinking and flexible skills that can improve students’ ability to adapt to a variety of language situations. This article is devoted to the analysis of the concept of gamification in education and the influence of gamification as a means of developing soft skills and creative thinking when teaching a foreign language. As part of the work, the methodology and approaches to conducting the research were determined. The relevance of the study lies in the need to use gamification in modern education, which sets itself the task of preparing students to solve complex, non-standard problems and requires the development of soft skills and creative thinking. The purpose of our study was to analyze tasks on the potential to develop soft skills in students. During the results analysis phase, a comprehensive analysis of the participants' progress was carried out, including both quantitative and qualitative aspects of their language skills. It was found out that the use of gamification has a positive effect on the development of soft skills and the ability to think creatively. Participants in the experimental group who studied using gamification demonstrated a higher level of creativity and flexibility of thinking compared to traditional teaching methods. Gamification has been considered as a foreign language teaching approach to improve the quality and level of foreign language proficiency and student motivation. The results of the study demonstrate the potential of gamification as an effective tool for stimulating student interest and activity in the educational process. The analysis also highlights the importance of soft skills and creative thinking for learning a foreign language, making gamification a valuable tool for their development. The article has theoretical and practical significance; it has been found that gamification in teaching a foreign language expands the theoretical framework of the psychological aspects of learning. Gamification contributes to the development of creative thinking and flexible skills through the use of game tasks and solving non-standard problems, which allows you to develop professional skills and create effective communications. The introduction of gamification into the educational process is an effective educational element for educational institutions and teachers. Thus, the use of gamification not only enriches the educational experience, but also provides a fruitful impact on the formation of key competences necessary for successful learning of a foreign language.

The relevance of the study is due to the need to introduce new technological solutions into educational practice that ensure increased students’ motivation to learn, development of competences, as well as teamwork skills. The problem is the insufficient methodological support for reliable assessment of competences as the main results of learning disciplines and practices. The purpose of the study is to reveal the potential of game methods in educational activities, including those for assessing deeply latent results in the form of competences and skills that are manifested and identified only in the situation of activity, which a game provides. The article presents the results of analysis of scientific works of domestic and foreign authors on the issues of the current state of the theory and practice of gamification in education, and gives a brief description of this method and its history. The fundamental differences between the organization and implementation of gaming techniques in the form of gamification from traditional games are shown. The novelty of the research lies in the systemic presentation of the algorithm for designing and modeling gamification technology as both a training and an assessment procedure. In order to provide conditions for increasing students' learning motivation and enthusiasm for solving important educational problems, it is necessary to carefully select situational tasks that reflect the problems of future professional activity. The system of incentives used to provide motivation when completing a task, the principles of an immersive game and the opportunity of its use for assessing educational achievements during group work are considered in the article. The author notes the importance of working out interesting game content, its design and a clear scheme of interaction between game participants when working for a common result in small group competition. The theoretical and practical significance of the research materials can be manifested in the development of new approaches to the use of gamification not only for learning, but also for assessing its results. The proposed gameplay algorithm can be used at all levels of education from general to professional.

Gamification is a rapidly developing direction of using game mechanics in a non-gaming context, for example, in the work and educational process, in sales. The purpose of writing this article was to consider such a modern gaming approach as gamification. Of interest is the analysis of this approach in personnel management, because gamification involves the use of game techniques to increase employee motivation, increase their involvement in the labor process and increase productivity. The article reveals the concept of gamification, provides data on the development of the gamification market, determines the prospects for the development of gamification in personnel management.

The relevance of the work lies in the research and application of gamification techniques for the development of foreign language spontaneous speech among higher school students. The purpose of the research is to determine the effect of using gamification on the linguistic aspects of the development of foreign language spontaneous speech among higher school students. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were set: to analyze the literature on the research topic, to develop training programs using gamification techniques, to test their effectiveness in practice, to compare the results with traditional teaching methods. The article includes the description of an experiment with the participation of Economics majors. There are two main approaches aimed at developing spontaneous foreign language speech of students, focusing on linguistic aspects using gamification and traditional methods. Based on the results of the study, the following conclusions can be drawn. Firstly, gamification has proven its effectiveness in developing foreign language spontaneous speech of higher school students. Training sessions using game elements allowed students to interact with the material more actively and show interest in learning a foreign language. The theoretical significance of this study lies in the important contribution to the field of gamification use in foreign language teaching. The practical significance lies in the use of the research results by teachers to improve methods of teaching foreign languages. The use of gamification can help make the learning process more interesting and attractive for students, which, in turn, can contribute to more successful development of their spontaneous speech in a foreign language. Gamification seems to be a promising tool for diversifying the educational process, increasing students’ motivation, and effectively developing spontaneous foreign language speech.