Using Kahoot! to Teach English Vocabulary: Benefits, Drawbacks, and Actual Impacts from Students’ Perspective

Abstract

Kahoot! is a popular Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tool, which has attracted the usership of approximately eight million teachers worldwide (Kahoot!, 2024). In English language teaching, Kahoot! has been widely used in vocabulary lessons because of its potential in improving students’ motivation, collaboration, engagement, classroom atmosphere and learning outcomes. Empirical evidence from students’ perspectives, however, is scant and contextualized mostly in developed countries. Collecting data from 49 Vietnamese university students via questionnaires and follow-up interviews, this sequential explanatory mixed-methods study aims to fill these gaps by examining (i) what students generally think are the benefits and drawbacks and (ii) what they perceive as the actual impacts of Kahoot! use in English vocabulary teaching. The results show that Kahoot! was both expected and found to facilitate students’ learning despite its heavy dependence on technology and limited capacity in encouraging higher-order thinking. The findings also highlight the importance of interactions and the balance between ease of use and room for technology proficiency development in ICT-enhanced classrooms. Future researchers are encouraged to duplicate this study in other contexts or employ a longitudinal or experimental research design to confirm the impacts of Kahoot! on learning reported in this study.