BOOSTING EFL STUDENTS’ READING ABILITY THROUGH KAHOOT! IN HORTATORY TEXT INSTRUCTION

Abstract

This research examined the effect of Kahoot! on the reading achievement of eleventh-grade EFL students at SMAN 3 Tegal. To accomplish the research objective, a quantitative method employing a true experimental approach was employed. This research involved a population of 356 eleventh-grade students enrolled in the 2025/2026 academic year, from which 70 participants were selected and allocated to either the intervention group or the comparison group. Data collection was carried out using a multiple-choice reading test administered before and after the instructional treatment. The resulting data were processed with SPSS version 26 through normality and homogeneity testing, followed by independent-samples and paired-samples t-tests to evaluate the research hypothesis. The analysis demonstrated that students who learned through Kahoot! Experienced a statistically significant improvement in their reading achievement. Both the independent-samples and paired-samples t-test generated significance values of 0.000, which were below the predetermined threshold of 0.05. These findings confirm that incorporating Kahoot! into classroom instruction positively influenced students’ reading achievement and that the intervention group demonstrated substantially superior outcomes compared with the comparison group receiving conventional instruction. Therefore, Kahoot! may be considered an effective digital learning platform for supporting reading instruction in EFL classrooms.