Kahoot! for Enhancing Students’ Motivation: EFL Teachers’ Perceptions

Kahoot! is a student response system that effectively engages students in the classroom through gamification. It is a powerful tool to introduce new concepts or assess learners’ mastery of a subject. This study aimed to investigate EFL teachers’ perceptions toward using Kahoot! as a motivational tool in their classrooms. The study was restricted to EFL teachers (male and female) in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarh, who taught elementary levels in public schools during the second semester. A questionnaire for EFL teachers was constructed as the main instrument for the study. Descriptive statistics (frequencies, means, and standard deviations) were used to analyze the data. The results show that Kahoot! influences students’ motivation positively. More specifically, based on the teachers’ perceptions, Kahoot! motivates students to be attentive, engaged, and collaborative in the classroom. The results also show that teachers’ perceptions were not affected by the variables of gender and years of experience. All teachers, regardless of their gender or years of experience, had positive perceptions toward Kahoot! Based on these findings, it is recommended that Kahoot! be regarded as a teaching tool that is beneficial for teaching English as a foreign language. Moreover, Kahoot! is recommended for use as a motivational tool to enhance EFL learners’ motivation. Teachers should also receive professional training for incorporating game-based learning platforms into their daily instruction to help students to remain engaged, motivated, and attentive in the EFL classroom