Effectiveness of Wordwall as an Interactive Digital Tool for Teaching Vocabulary to Enhance Writing Skills of First Year Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24256/ideas.v13i2.6423Keywords:
Vocabulary Acquisition, Digital Learning Tools, Vocational Education, Wordwall, Interactive Learning, Writing SkillsAbstract
This study evaluates the effectiveness of Wordwall, a gamified digital platform for vocabulary learning, in improving vocabulary mastery and procedural-writing quality among first-year vocational students in a Karawitan (traditional arts) program. Using a quasi-experimental pre-test–post-test design, two intact classes received different instructional treatments across three meetings held over a two-week period, the experimental class completed Wordwall activities, whereas the control class followed conventional methods. After initial differences were controlled with ANCOVA, the experimental class showed a significantly larger vocabulary gain (partial η² = 0.25) and greater improvements in lexical variety and technical accuracy in writing than the control class. These findings indicate that integrating Wordwall boosts student engagement and successfully transfers technical vocabulary to procedural texts. Therefore, teachers can adopt vocationally themed Wordwall tasks to accelerate language learning, and policy-makers should provide training and digital infrastructure so that interactive tools like Wordwall can be implemented widely in vocational schools.
References
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed). Pearson.
Ellis, R. (2009). Corrective Feedback and Teacher Development. L2 Journal, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.5070/L2.V1I1.9054
Fraenkel, J. R., & Wallen, N. E. (2009). How to design and evaluate research in education (7th ed). McGraw-Hill.
Hidayaty, A., Qurbaniah, M., & Setiadi, A. E. (2022). The Influence of Wordwall on Students Interests and Learning Outcomes. Jurnal Penelitian Ilmu Pendidikan, 15(2). https://doi.org/10.21831/jpipfip.v15i2.51691
Maisarah, S. (n.d.). LEARNING MODEL TO ENCOURAGE STUDENT’S CRITICAL THINKING.
Maisuroh, S., Aisyah, N., & Sanjani, M. A. F. (2024). Connecting Tradition with Innovation: The Impact of WordWall on Learning Outcomes in Fiqh Studies. FONDATIA, 8(3), 715–728. https://doi.org/10.36088/fondatia.v8i3.5294
Masruddin, M., & Nasriandi, N. (2022). Lexical and Syntactical Errors Performed by Junior High School Student in Writing Descriptive Text. IDEAS: Journal on English Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature, 10(1), 1094-1100.
Masruddin, M., Amir, F., Langaji, A., & Rusdiansyah, R. (2023). Conceptualizing linguistic politeness in light of age. International Journal of Society, Culture & Language, 11(3), 41-55.
Mayer, R. E. (2010). Multimedia learning (2. ed., reprint). Cambridge University Press.
Nation, I. S. P. (2013). Learning Vocabulary in Another Language (2nd ed). Cambridge University Press.
Pradini, P. C., & Adnyayanti, N. L. P. E. (2022). Teaching English Vocabulary to Young Learners with Wordwall Application: An Experimental Study. Journal of Educational Study, 2(2), 187–196. https://doi.org/10.36663/joes.v2i2.351
Robin, S. J., & Aziz, A. (2022). The Use of Digital Tools to Improve Vocabulary Acquisition. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 12(1), Pages 2472-2492. https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v12-i1/12198
Rosyada-AS, A., & Apoko, T. W. (2023). Investigating English Vocabulary Difficulties and Its Learning Strategies of Lower Secondary School Students. Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, 11(3), 489. https://doi.org/10.33394/jollt.v11i3.8404
Salmerón, L., Vargas, C., Delgado, P., & Baron, N. (2023). Relation between digital tool practices in the language arts classroom and reading comprehension scores. Reading and Writing, 36(1), 175–194. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10295-1
Shabrina, F. & Wahyu Taufiq. (2023). The Effect of Teaching English Vocabulary on Junior High School Students By Using Wordwall.net. Borneo Educational Journal (Borju), 5(2), 283–295. https://doi.org/10.24903/bej.v5i2.1353
Suci, D., Basthomi, Y., Cahyono, B. Y., & Anugerahwati, M. (2021). EFL TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVES ON THE USE OF DIGITAL MULTIMODAL TECHNOLOGY IN VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS. 7208–7216. https://doi.org/10.21125/iceri.2021.1618
Sukmawati, S., Syam, N. I. S., Jubhari, Y. J., Mardiani, M., Sasabone, L., & Sujarwo, S. (2023). Implementation of Technology on English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Students in Communicative Language Teaching Approach. Ethical Lingua: Journal of Language Teaching and Literature, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.30605/25409190.566
Vivi Alfiana Nuriyah & Moh. Hanafi. (2024). The Effectiveness of Video as Media to Teach Procedure Text Writing at SMKN 1 Rejotangan. International Journal of Sustainable Applied Sciences, 2(7), 709–720. https://doi.org/10.59890/ijsas.v2i7.2250
Yu, Z. (2023). Learning Outcomes, Motivation, and Satisfaction in Gamified English Vocabulary Learning. Sage Open, 13(2), 21582440231158332. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440231158332
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
Citation Check
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Rina Puspitasari Puspitasari, Wahyu Satya Gumelar, M Andriana Gaffar

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See the Effect of Open Access)
