Teachers as designers of gamified pedagogical infrastructure: ClassPoint use in language classrooms

Gamified classroom response systems (CRSs) have been studied for student engagement and assessment; however, little attention has been paid to how teachers of Culturally Located Arabic Language and Islamic Studies design, negotiate, and legitimize gamified interaction in discipline- and culture-specific classrooms. This interpretive qualitative study examined the implementation of gamification by 15 Grade 9 teachers of Arabic Language and Islamic Studies in Abu Dhabi public schools through the adoption of a ClassPoint-based process comprising professional development workshops over a 4-month implementation period. Informed by the theory of reflexive thematic analysis, semi-structured interviews conducted with teachers were analyzed. The findings revealed that teachers enacted ClassPoint-supported gamification as a form of pedagogical infrastructure by designing participation routines, embedding formative feedback cycles, and aligning gamified activities with curriculum goals and cultural values. Teachers also reported broader participation opportunities, iterative professional learning, and implementation challenges related to infrastructure, time, and institutional support in the context of pedagogical infrastructure and teacher design agency theories, this paper offers an innovative conceptualization of CRSs as tools for engaging students and as designed interactions between teachers and students. This study provides insights into the dynamic interactions among facilitating conditions, teacher design agency, and classroom enactment in the design, implementation, and sustainment of gamified lessons in culturally oriented contexts.