Designing Gamified CLIL Tasks in EFL Classrooms: Challenges and Models

Abstract Book of the 11th International Conference on Social Sciences in the 21st Century

Year: 2026

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Designing Gamified CLIL Tasks in EFL Classrooms: Challenges and Models

Laura-Elena Oniga

ABSTRACT:

The use of games in teaching EFL has been of great interest for teachers, as it represents a valuable means of boosting learner’s motivation and engagement. However, there is not enough research on how to gamify CLIL lessons, which focus both on content and language. More than this, designing gamified CLIL tasks represents a challenge for teachers, who must harmonize language development, content and the mechanics of the games. In addition, this can be hard to achieve due to institutional and curricular limitations. Although there is extensive research on CLIL and gamification separately, there is a notable gap regarding their combined application. Therefore, we can observe the need for clear guidelines on how to effectively integrate gamification into CLIL tasks.
This article proposes a theoretical framework and pedagogical discussion on designing gamified CLIL tasks based on the 4Cs model put forward by David Marsh and Do Coyle together with M. Kapp’s gamification theory. Drawing on the literature presented, the discussion outlines and defines a set of pedagogical principles to use when gamifying CLIL tasks. Moreover, the paper presents recurrent challenges reported in the literature, such as the lack of teacher training, lack of CLIL materials, time limitations and evaluation requirements. The paper concludes by emphasizing the implication for classroom practice and teacher training, while also suggesting directions for future research on gamified CLIL task design.

Keywords: Content; Gamification; Language; Teaching; Task Design