Developing students' language competences in a game-based project with research activities: restoring school engagement

Abstract

Background. School engagement is closely connected to students' active use of language and their participation in classroom communication. In language lessons, engagement depends on opportunities to speak, discuss, and write about topics aligned with students' academic interests. Post-pandemic disruptions and the ongoing full-scale war in Ukraine have intensified emotional, social, and motivational challenges for secondary school students, reducing opportunities for sustained oral and written interaction. Recent international reports indicate that interactive tasks, collaborative projects, and research-oriented learning formats support emotional recovery and school engagement after periods of disrupted schooling (Global Education Cluster, 2024; OECD, 2023). In Ukrainian language education, this calls for learning designs that prioritise meaningful communication over purely formal academic outcomes. For students with strong interests in natural sciences, engagement increases when language lessons enable them to describe, explain, and discuss subject-related phenomena, collaborate in teams, and use Ukrainian as a tool for inquiry and socially relevant project work.

The aim of the article is to present and empirically test a project-based learning design in Ukrainian language classes that combines research tasks with elements of educational play to foster students' language competences and school engagement. The objectives are: (1) to describe the structure of a multi-stage project supporting disciplinary and language literacy; (2) to examine its impact on students' terminological competence and descriptive language skills; (3) to identify language-related difficulties experienced during project work; and (4) to analyse students' subjective perceptions of engagement and collaboration.

Method. The study is grounded in principles of project-based learning with an emphasis on research-oriented and interactive classroom activities. The project was piloted with 22 ninth-grade students from a Ukrainian secondary school who reported sustained interest in natural science subjects. Data collection included pre- and post-project written tests assessing descriptive and terminological competence, analysis of student-created glossaries and texts, an online questionnaire, and a guided reflective discussion. The project design comprised four stages: motivationalpreparatory, research-analytical, creative-language, and reflective-evaluative.

Results and discussion. The findings demonstrate measurable progress in students' ability to use and interpret subject-specific terminology, produce coherent descriptive texts, and apply language as a tool for explaining scientific and environmental phenomena. These outcomes indicate the development of both language literacy and disciplinary literacy, as students used Ukrainian to work with concepts, terminology, and modes of explanation typical of natural science contexts. Role-based collaboration and team competition enhanced emotional and social engagement, while research tasks stimulated purposeful oral and written language use. Students identified terminological interpretation as the most challenging, yet also the most valuable, component of the project. Motivation was driven primarily by task relevance, interdisciplinary connections, and teamwork rather than by grades. Overall, the study confirms that research-based project work enriched with interactive elements supports disciplinary and language literacy and strengthens school engagement in crisis-affected educational settings.