Musdalifah. 2025. The Effectiveness of Blooket in Teaching Reading Comprehension to Eighth-Grade Students at SMPN 1 Banjarmasin. Sarjana’s Thesis. English Language Education Study Program, Faculty of Teachers’ Training and Education, Lambung Mangkurat University, Banjarmasin. The first advisor: Dr. Rina Listia, M.Pd., and the second advisor: Dr. Moh. Yamin, M.Pd.

Keywords: Blooket, Kahoot, reading comprehension, gamification, quasi-experimental design, narrative texts.

Reading comprehension is a foundational skill for academic success, yet Indonesian junior high school students, particularly at SMPN 1 Banjarmasin, consistently face significant challenges with narrative texts. Traditional teaching methods often contribute to reduced student engagement and comprehension, necessitating innovative pedagogical approaches. Gamified learning platforms, such as Blooket and Kahoot, have emerged as promising solutions to enhance engagement and improve learning outcomes in digital educational environments. This study specifically investigates the comparative effectiveness of Blooket and Kahoot in fostering narrative text comprehension among eighth-grade students.

A quantitative quasi-experimental design was implemented, involving two intact classes of eighth-grade students at SMPN 1 Banjarmasin. The experimental group (VIII-B) received instruction integrating the Blooket application, while the control group (VIII-A) utilized the Kahoot application. Both groups participated in four instructional sessions focused on narrative texts, with reading comprehension assessed via pre-tests and post-tests. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, normality and homogeneity testing, and an independent samples t-test to evaluate the statistical significance of observed differences.

Descriptive statistics indicated that both the Blooket and Kahoot groups demonstrated improvements in their reading comprehension scores from pre-test to post-test. The experimental group's average score increased from 70.02 to 76.92, while the control group's average score rose from 70.57 to 74.83. However, the independent samples t-test yielded a significance (2-tailed) value of 0.579. As this value is greater than the conventional alpha level of 0.05, the null hypothesis was not rejected, indicating no statistically significant difference in reading comprehension achievement between the two groups.

In conclusion, while both Blooket and Kahoot applications contributed positively to the improvement of reading comprehension skills among eighth-grade students at SMPN 1 Banjarmasin, neither platform proved statistically superior to the other in this study. These findings suggest that Blooket and Kahoot as gamified learning tools are similarly effective in enhancing reading comprehension within this context. Future research could explore the long-term impacts of these platforms, investigate specific game modes or features that might yield differential effects, or examine their efficacy across diverse narrative text types.