A Correlation Analysis Between Gamification Design of Online

Learning Resources and Foreign Language Enjoyment: Take the

Duolingo App as An Example

Yuting Xu

School of Chinese Language and Literature, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei, China

Keywords: Online Learning, Positive Emotion, Gamification Design.

Abstract: With the development of Internet technology, the influence of gamification learning design on the learning

effect has been widely noticed, but there is a lack of in-depth exploration of its relationship with foreign

language enjoyment. Therefore, this paper takes Duolingo APP as an example to explore the relationship

between the two. This paper finds that gamification design has a significant positive correlation and influence

on enhancing learners' foreign language enjoyment, but also has obvious individual differences. Based on

this, this paper proposes some suggestions for designing foreign language learning materials, closely integrat-

ing gamification elements with learning content while paying attention to learners' differences.

1 INTRODUCTION

In recent years, applying Positive Psychology (PP) in

the field of Foreign Language Acquisition (FLA) has

attracted extensive attention from scholars. One of the

most popular positive emotions is foreign language

enjoyment, which is regarded as a key factor in

improving learners' overall cognitive level and

increasing learners' communicative willingness in the

process of foreign language acquisition (Dong, 2022).

Existing studies have proved that, through classroom

games, teachers can create a relaxing atmosphere,

reduce tension and pressure, and trigger students'

pleasure emotions.

However, current research mainly focuses on the

design of teaching games in traditional physical

classrooms and pays insufficient attention to the

learning resources of online platforms. With the

development of modern network technology, it is

more and more common for language learners to use

online learning platforms for self-study, therefore, the

game-based learning design of learning resources on

online learning platforms has also become a concern.

Based on this, this study, from the perspective of PP,

takes Duolingo APP as an example to explore the

relationship between game-based learning design of

learning resources and foreign language enjoyment,

to provide suggestions for the design of materials or

learning methods of other foreign language learning.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Foreign Language Acquisition from

a Positive Psychology Perspective

In 2012, PP was introduced into the field of foreign

language acquisition, and its key emotion theory,

Broaden-and-Build Theory, was first introduced

(Fredrickson, 2001; MacIntyre & Gregersen, 2012).

The theory discusses the effects of positive emotions

on individual psychology and behavior, suggesting

that positive emotions have two core functions:

instantaneous broaden function and long-term build

function. Through the two functions, positive

emotions can promote the accumulation of resources

while further enhancing the positive emotions, and

ultimately increase the overall sense of well-being. In

addition, the introduction of the Control-Value

Theory in the field of educational psychology has also

played a theoretical guiding role in the field of foreign

language acquisition (Pekrun, 2006). The theory

discusses emotions from three dimensions: titer

(positivity and negativity), activeness (arousal level),

and definite object (arousal object). It argues that

pleasure is a positive high-arousal emotion, which is

closely related to an individual's sense of control over

the learning activity or outcome and value

recognition. In recent years, many scholars have

conducted empirical studies, and the results generally

show that there is a significant positive correlation

548

Xu, Y.

A Correlation Analysis Between Gamiﬁcation Design of Online Learning Resources and Foreign Language Enjoyment: Take the Duolingo App as An Example.

DOI: 10.5220/0014003100004912

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Innovative Education and Social Development (IESD 2025), pages 548-553

ISBN: 978-989-758-779-5

between foreign language enjoyment and the learning

effectiveness of language learners (Li & Han, 2022).

2.2 Game-Based Learning

Gamification refers to the application of game

elements to non-game scenarios. Most Gamification

systems include three elements: points, badges, and

leaderboards (PBL), which are the three standard

features of gamification (Kevin & Dan, 2014).

Richard Landers proposed the game-based learning

theory in 2014, which explores how gamified features

can improve learning effect by influencing learners'

behaviors and attitudes. The theory suggests that

gamified features can improve the learning effect

through two kinds of processes: mediation and

regulation, with learners' learning attitude as the

intermediary or by the method of improving their

learning attitude. In addition, the flow theory is also

applied to gamified learning. Gamification features

can encourage learners to enter the "flow state", that

is the psychological state of being fully immersed,

feeling excited, happy, and focused, which will

stimulate learners' positive emotions and lead to a

new state of mind-flow, so that the flow experience

runs through the whole process, and ultimately

produce better learning results. Empirical studies

have found that the game elements and feedback

mechanisms integrated into the learning environment

can trigger learners' emotional experiences such as

pleasure, tension, or immersion, which can further

stimulate learners' intrinsic motivation (Zhang &

Shang, 2018).

However, most of the existing studies focus on the

effect of gamified learning, and pleasant emotions are

only involved as part of the effect, and the

relationship between the two has not been discussed

in depth. Moreover, most of the existing empirical

studies focus on the gamification design of the

physical classroom and pay less attention to the

game-based design of the learning resources of the

online learning platform. Based on this, this study

chooses Duolingo, an online learning platform with

the core concept of the combination of gamification

and learning, as an example to explore the

relationship between the gamification design of

Duolingo's learning resources and the sense of

pleasure in foreign language acquisition.

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Study Design

The purpose of this study is to collect and analyze the

data through the online questionnaire to explore the

relationship between the gamification design of

learning resources in the Duolingo app and the

pleasure of foreign language learning, and thus

provide new methods and suggestions for foreign

language learning.

Game-based learning is the application of game

elements in learning situations. This theory has been

applied to the teaching of foreign language

acquisition with the development of Internet

technology. Garris et al. proposed an input-

processing-output model for teaching games and

foreign language acquisition, which illustrated the

acceptance process of the gamification of foreign

language acquisition (Garris et al., 2002). Previous

studies have also proved that game-based learning has

a significant positive influence on foreign language

subjects, which can stimulate students' interest and

enthusiasm for learning, and promote the

improvement of the learning effect (Li et al., 2019).

Combined with existing research, gamification

system theory, and the actual situation of the

gamification design of APP learning resources in

Duolingo, this study selected the typical gamification

elements therein and analyzed them in the following

four dimensions: points, badges, leaderboards, and

friends quest.

3.1.1 Points

Duolingo's point design is a core component of its

gamification learning mechanism. The basic point

system awards experience points (XP) based on the

user's performance in completing courses, missions,

and other activities, and maintaining a winning streak

provides additional points to bind users for long-term

use. In addition to the basic system, users can earn

points by participating in time-limited activities and

challenges, improving their leaderboard rankings,

and completing missions of friend quests. The

acquisition of points is an intuitive reflection of the

user's learning progress and provides instant feedback

on the user's learning outcomes quantitatively. The

clear task objectives make users feel controllable so

can reduce their anxiety during learning. Interesting

game design and instant feedback can make learners

feel a sense of achievement and improve their

individual value evaluation, which in turn can

A Correlation Analysis Between Gamiﬁcation Design of Online Learning Resources and Foreign Language Enjoyment: Take the Duolingo

App as An Example

549

encourage users to have pleasant emotions.

Accordingly, the following assumptions are

proposed:

H1: The point design will positively promote

learners' pleasure.

3.1.2 Badges

Duolingo provides users with a wide variety of

reward badges. The badges are awarded based on the

learner's achievements and performance. For

example, learners can earn "Winning Streak" badges

for completing learning tasks for several days in a

row, or "Diligence" badges for completing a specific

number of lessons, and so on. In addition to mainline

learning, Duolingo also offers a special daily task

function, and students can get the monthly badge after

they insist on completing it.

From the perspective of Control-Value Theory,

badges, as a visual sign of achievement, enable users

to feel their progress and ability enhancement. At the

same time, they are also combined with social

functions, which can be shown to friends in their

profiles to gain recognition and appreciation from

others, to increase the users' recognition of the value

of the learning activities, thus providing motivation

for continuous learning. Accordingly, the following

assumptions are proposed:

H2: Badge design will positively promote

learners' pleasure.

3.1.3 Leaderboards

Duolingo motivates users to learn and compete with

each other through the Leaderboard system. The

system is open once a week for seven days, users are

ranked with 30 people of the same level by points, and

they can improve their ranking by completing

learning tasks and gaining experience value. The

leaderboard is updated every day, which enables

users to see their progress and others' scores in time.

After the weekly settlement, users at the top of the list

will be promoted to a higher level, while those at the

bottom of the list will be relegated to a lower level,

ranging from bronze to diamond. This design also

makes users feel that they are part of a learning

community in Duolingo, which enhances their sense

of belonging and identity, thus increasing their

participation and activity and making them enjoy the

learning process more. Accordingly, the following

assumptions are proposed:

H3: The leaderboard design will positively

promote learners' pleasure

3.1.4 Friends Quest

In addition to the three main game elements, the

community features of Duolingo--Friends Quest,

Classes, etc., also have significant gamification

features. The Friends Quest sets clear tasks for users,

as well as interactive reminders, achievement sharing,

and other functions. Through this, users can

encourage and urge each other with their friends to

complete the task goals together. The class system

allows users to join or create a class, and the organizer

will help class members set common learning goals

so that the users can feel the collective atmosphere of

learning through completing the class tasks and

sharing progress. The design of community function

can stimulate users' social motivation and

achievement motivation, to enhance their sense of

self-worth and obtain a pleasant emotional

experience. Accordingly, the following assumptions

are proposed:

H4: The Friends Quest design will positively

promote learners' pleasure.

In summary, this study proposes the above four

assumptions based on PP's Control-Value Theory,

combined with gamification elements and gamified

learning theory, and will test and revise the

assumptions through quantitative research.

3.2 Issuance and Recovery

3.2.1 Research Tools

This study conducted a quantitative study through a

combined questionnaire with the following

measurement tools:

First, this study refers to the Game User

Experience Satisfaction Scale (GUESS) and

combines the theory of the gamification system and

the actual situation of the gamification design of APP

learning resources in Duolingo to prepare the scale. It

is divided into 4 dimensions, including points,

badges, leaderboards, and friends' quests with a total

of 8 measurement items, which is a 5-level Likert

Scale. The scale has high reliability (Cronbach's

α=0.869) and validity, proving to be a reliable and

valid scale for the sense of experience of gamification

design.

In addition, this study was compiled concerning

the Chinese version of the Foreign Language

Enjoyment Scale (CFLES). The original scale was a

5-level Likert scale, which was adapted by Li et al.

based on a sample of Chinese high school students

from the Foreign Language Enjoyment Scale. To

meet the needs of this study, the original question

IESD 2025 - International Conference on Innovative Education and Social Development

550

Table 1: Gamification design of learning resources and foreign language enjoyment.

Variant Mean ± standard

deviation

Variance Median Minimum

value

Maximum

values

Kurtosis Skewness Coefficient

of Variation

(CV)

point 3.745±0.969 0.940 4.000 1.000 5.000 0.409 -1.048 25.884%

badges 3.775±0.939 0.881 4.000 1.000 5.000 0.784 -1.091 24.868%

leaderboards 3.688±1.038 1.076 4.000 1.000 5.000 0.186 -0.968 28.137%

Friends quest 3.737±0.996 0.992 4.000 1.000 5.000 0.211 -1.037 26.653%

item scenario was set to the Duolingo online platform,

and the questions were adapted to form three

dimensions, including personal foreign language

pleasure, Duolingo's gamification-design-related

foreign language pleasure, and Duolingo's

community-interaction-related foreign language

pleasure, with a total of eleven measurement items.

The adapted scale has high reliability (Cronbach's

α=0.888) and validity and proved to be a reliable and

valid foreign language pleasure scale.

3.2.2 Distribution and Collection of

Questionnaires

This study was conducted by distributing the

questionnaires through the online platform. In this

study, 20 questionnaires were firstly distributed for

pre-survey, the reliability and validity of the

questionnaire were tested according to the collected

data, and the questionnaire was formally distributed

after some of the items were reasonably adjusted

according to the feedback from the subjects. In this

study, convenient sampling was used to select non-

English major undergraduates who use the Duolingo

App for online English learning as the research

subjects. Finally, a total of 200 valid questionnaires

were obtained. After the questionnaires were

collected, with the help of SPSS 22.0, the data were

analyzed by descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation

test, and linear regression analysis.

4 RESULTS

4.1 Overall Sense of Gamification

Design Experience in Duolingo

This study first used SPSS 22.0 to make descriptive

statistics on each variable. The results are shown in

Table 1.

Table 1 shows that foreign language learners'

experience of gamification design is at a medium-

high level with individual differences. The average

values of all variables are between 3.688 and 3.796,

and the median is 4, indicating that their central trends

are similar and tend to be high, which suggests that

the overall performance of foreign language learners'

sense of experience with gamification design is

relatively positive, and generally at a high level. At

the same time, the skewness of all variables is

negative and the data distribution is skewed to the

left, indicating that there are extremely low values in

the data, and the data distribution is skewed to the left,

suggesting that a few subjects have different

experiences in the game design of learning resources

and foreign language pleasure.

On the whole, learners' overall acceptance of

game design is high, but there was individual

variability in the learners' sense of experience and the

resulting pleasurable emotions. For example, among

the four important elements, each variable has a high

average value and a low coefficient of variation, but

the variability of the leaderboard is the largest,

indicating that learners' acceptance and experience of

this element are significantly different, making its

impact more complex. This reflects that the design of

the leaderboard should be more careful, fully

considering the individual differences and

psychological needs of users to further optimize the

design

4.2 Correlation Between Gamification

Design of Learning Resources and

Foreign Language Enjoyment

Based on the descriptive statistics results in Table 1,

this study used SPSS 22.0 for Pearson correlation

analysis and linear regression analysis. Table 2 shows

that there is a significant positive correlation between

foreign language pleasure and the four gamification

elements: points, badges, leaderboards, and friends

quest. The correlation analysis data all showed a

significant level of 0.01, and the correlation values

were high, showing a significant positive correlation.

This suggests that in the context of foreign language

learning, learners are more likely to feel more

A Correlation Analysis Between Gamiﬁcation Design of Online Learning Resources and Foreign Language Enjoyment: Take the Duolingo

App as An Example

551

Table 2: Correlation matrix between gamification design of learning resources and foreign language enjoyment.

Foreign Language

Pleasure

Check Numbers Coat of Arms

Charts

(

of best-sellers

)

Friendly Alliance

Foreign Language

Pleasure

Point 0.778** 1

Badges 0.748** 0.631** 1

Leaderboards 0.755** 0.657** 0.629** 1

Friends

uest 0.763** 0.652** 0.634** 0.592** 1

* p<0.05 ** p<0.01

Table 3: The role of gamification design of learning resources on foreign language enjoyment.

Variant R R² Adjusted

R²

F (4,195)

Non-Standardized

Coefficient

Standardized

Coefficient

t VIF

B standard

erro

Beta

Implicit

Variable

Foreign

Language

Pleasure

0.894 0.800 0.796 195.044

Independen

t Variable

Point 0.230** 0.040 0.278 5.734 2.292

Badges 0.196** 0.040 0.229 4.922 2.118

Leaderboards 0.202** 0.036 0.261 5.639 2.096

Friends quest 0.226** 0.037 0.282 6.077 2.092

* p<0.05 ** p<0.01

pleasure and enjoyment in the process of language

learning if they obtain higher points, more badges,

higher leaderboard rankings, and more active

performances in their friend's quest on the game-

based learning platform.

Based on Table 2, taking points, badges,

leaderboards, and friends' League as independent

variables and foreign language pleasure as dependent

variables, linear regression analysis shows that all

four gamification elements have a significant positive

effect on foreign language enjoyment and that the

model was well fitted. Table 3 shows that the

regression coefficients are good, in addition, the

multilinear test found that the model does not have a

covariance problem (VIF<5) and the D-W value is

around the number 2, which indicates that the model

is not autocorrelated and the model is significant. This

indicates that the gamification design can effectively

enhance the foreign language pleasure of foreign

language learners and have a positive impact on them.

Among them, the regression coefficients of points

and friends quest are slightly higher than those of

badges and leaderboards, indicating that points and

friends quest are more influential on foreign language

pleasure.

It can be seen that the gamification design of

learning resources in Duolingo has a significant

positive correlation and impact on enhancing learners'

foreign language enjoyment. However, due to the

significant differences in users' experience of

different elements, the existing design still needs to

be optimized.

5 DISCUSSION

5.1 Overall Sense of Gamification

Design Experience in Duolingo

The average value of the four dimensions (Table 1)

reflects the foreign language learners' experience of

the game learning elements of Duolingo. On the

whole, foreign language learners can obtain a sense

of foreign language enjoyment through game-based

learning, which improves the learning effect. But at

the same time, this sense of experience has individual

variability, and some elements may put pressure on

some learners, especially the element of leaderboards

with the greatest variability. Therefore, when

designing the leaderboard, students can set a variety

of ranking methods, such as single skill ranking, as

well as privacy options, allowing learners to choose

whether to disclose their ranking information or not,

to reduce learners' anxiety and pressure.

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5.2 Correlation Between Gamification

Design of Learning Resources and

Foreign Language Enjoyment

As shown in Tables 2 and 3, the gamification design

elements have a positive effect on enhancing learners'

foreign language pleasure. When designing other

foreign language learning materials, it can learn from

the design ideas of Duolingo, and closely combine

gamification elements with learning content to

improve students' learning pleasure. At the same

time, it should pay attention to individual differences,

provide diversified learning paths, meet the needs of

different learners by setting up different learning

modules, intelligent recommendation functions, etc.,

and dynamically optimize and improve them

according to the progress and feedback of the

learners, to achieve the purpose of promoting

continuous learning (Landers & Landers, 2014; Jiang,

2020).

6 CONCLUSION

Taking the Duolingo App as an example, this study

explores the relationship between the gamification

design of learning resources and foreign language

enjoyment from four dimensions: points, badges,

leaderboards, and friend quests. Overall, the

gamification elements have a strong positive effect on

foreign language pleasure, which can promote the

generation of foreign language pleasure emotions and

thus improve the learning effect, which provides an

empirical basis for future foreign language teaching

and learning design. Meanwhile, this study also

reminds designers to fully consider learners'

individual differences and psychological needs, and

make targeted improvements and optimization of

gamification strategies to provide language learners

with a better learning experience.

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A Correlation Analysis Between Gamiﬁcation Design of Online Learning Resources and Foreign Language Enjoyment: Take the Duolingo

App as An Example

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