GAMIFICATION AS A STRATEGY TO REDUCE ANXIETY AND INCREASE ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT

Abstract

This research aimed to analyze how gamification can contribute to reducing academic anxiety and increasing student engagement, considering the growing demand for pedagogical strategies that foster more motivating and emotionally supportive learning environments. The study began with the recognition that academic anxiety has intensified due to performance pressures, curricular demands, and the difficulty of adapting to traditional methodologies, highlighting the need to explore innovative approaches capable of mitigating these impacts. In this sense, gamification emerges as a promising alternative by integrating playful and challenging elements that stimulate students' interest, autonomy, and sense of competence. The central objective of the work was to understand, through a literature review, how gamified strategies can promote more engaging educational experiences and, simultaneously, reduce indicators associated with anxiety in the academic context. To this end, a qualitative and exploratory review was conducted based on the analysis of 14 articles published in the last five years, selected from the Google Scholar and SciELO databases. The research corpus included 13 publications in Portuguese and 1 in English, prioritizing studies with scientific foundations and aligned with the theme. The analysis process followed procedures of careful reading and thematic categorization. The results showed that gamification, when applied in a planned way, favors active participation, emotional involvement, and student commitment to academic activities. Furthermore, elements such as continuous feedback, symbolic rewards, progressive challenges, and social interaction contribute to reducing tensions associated with the fear of failure, strengthening self-confidence and emotional self-regulation. The literature also indicated that gamified practices make the learning process more meaningful, collaborative, and dynamic, reducing negative perceptions related to performance. It is concluded that gamification presents effective potential as a pedagogical strategy to reduce academic anxiety and increase student engagement, provided it is applied in a contextualized, ethical manner and aligned with learning objectives. The study contributes by gathering recent evidence and reinforcing the need for further investigation into its emotional impacts, broadening the debate on innovative educational practices.