Which is Better for Motivation, Quizlet or Quizizz?

The purpose of this study was to gain insight about students’ motivations on vocabulary study between two educational online applications: Quizlet and Quizizz. Quizlet is known as an effective vocabulary study tool as students can study vocabulary whenever and wherever they desire. Quizizz offers a similar feature in which the instructor provides the quiz set as an assignment, and students can learn vocabulary by playing games whenever and wherever they desire. The students were given the Quizlet study set links or the Quizizz assignment links each week to help them learn new vocabulary. We (teachers) used the full paid versions of both types of software, which provide different types of study activities for the students. We used each software tool for a total of six weeks (3 Quizlet, 3 Quizizz, 3 Quizlet, 3 Quizizz) with first year students at universities in Yamaguchi and Yokohama. The data on their motivation was collected using two surveys (pre-semester and post-semester). This is because we were concerned with students’ motivation and willingness to study, not only about the statistical results of vocabulary gains. We also discuss which types of activities when using the software (multiple choice, matching, flashcards) the students preferred. Although there were limited numbers of previous studies addressing multiple-choice vocabulary learning, a few talked about its efficacy. In this paper, after a brief review of the literature, we will present our results.