Fostering motivation through Gamification: Understanding the impact of different kind of rewards on learners' motivation in the framework of Self-Determination Theory

The implementation of gamification in educational contexts has experienced steady growth over the last few years. This may be due to many factors, including that teachers are increasingly familiar with video games and their students and are more willing to experiment with different game-inspired learning approaches in the classroom. However, designing an effective gamified system is a challenging task. Therefore, this paper aims to provide teachers with more guidance in the gamification design process, especially concerning the difficult task of planning a motivating reward system. To do so, the authors conducted a qualitative study of the gamified learning app Duolingo. The study focused on understanding how users respond to the different kinds of rewards the app provides and how rewards affect their motivation to learn by fulfilling their need for competence, relatedness, and autonomy in the framework of self-determination theory.