Impact of ELSE Game-based English Vocabulary Learning App on Iranian EFL Exceptional Students’ Vocabulary Learning: EFL Professionals and Computer Experts’ Evaluation in Focus

This research study aimed to develop a mobile app to enhance exceptional students’ English vocabulary learning and to evaluate the Exceptional Student Learning English (ESLE) app, mainly from exceptional students’ perspectives and different experts’ perspectives. The ESLE app, an interactive mobile game, was developed using multiplatform and the digital game-based learning instructional design model. In the first stage of the study, 40 exceptional students with intellectual and physical disabilities were selected and assigned non-randomly to an experimental and a control group (20 in each group); they were all grade 7th to 9th junior high school students. The experimental group received vocabulary instruction through the ELSE app, and the control group was taught conventionally. The groups were compared both before and after the treatment.  The app was then analyzed according to the analytical framework of Hubbard (2011). To this end, 12 English teachers and computer experts were selected purposefully. Open-ended questionnaires were sent to 12 participants to collect the experts’ feedback on the developed app. The study results showed that all exceptional students improved their vocabulary skills after engaging with the game-based app. The experts’ feedbacks showed their positive attitudes towards using the ESLE app for exceptional students’ English vocabulary learning. Findings have illuminative implications for many EFL teachers in applying an effective method in teaching new words to exceptional EFL learners. The study also offers implications for EFL material developers and application designers.