Various studies state that quiz games like Kahoot or Quizz foster motivation in foreign language learning and are perceived as effective tools by both instructors and students (e.g.  Degirmenci, 2021; Halim et al., 2020).  Online quiz learning games promote specifically intrinsic motivation and get students involved in educational activities more (Iaremenko, 2017).

However those studies mostly focus on English as a foreign language (e.g. Degirmenci, 2021), handle a specific type of quiz game instead of comparing them (e.g. Dellos, 2015 ), or conducted through quantitative method (e.g. Halim et al., 2020). Therefore, this study will be a qualitative study focusing on German as a foreign language, handling three different quiz games in the same instruction. To variate the sort of games, in addition to the existing games, an online quiz game was also developed by the course instructor considering the language level of students. With this purpose, the following research questions will be examined;

1. How do adult learners of Online DaF (German as Foreign Language) Courses perceive the effects of Gamification on their learning motivation under the conditions of distance education?
   1. How does Gamification affect the learning motivation of adult learners of Online DaF (German as Foreign Language) Courses under the conditions of distance education?

Studies about learning motivation, divide motivation into two categories as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Reiss, 2012). They state that intrinsic motivation does not require any prods or contingencies. Therefore, it causes autonomous or self-determined behaviors (Deci & Ryan, 2013). On the other hand, extrinsic motivation need external factors. It is the practice of activity for purposes other than its intrinsic merits and it comes in a variety of forms, each with varying levels of autonomy or self-determination. External regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, and integrated regulation range from low to high autonomy (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

Deci and Ryan (1993) draw a theoretical framework that relates intrinsic learning motivation with competence, autonomy, and social involvement. Studies about language learning through quiz games also demonstrate a direct relationship between competition and increased motivation (Dellos, 2015; Halim et al., 2020). Therefore, this study is based on the self-determination theory of Deci and Ryan (1993) which is a conceptual framework that contains smaller theories as an umbrella framework (Olson & Jiang, 2004). It supports the idea that all human beings bring autonomous tendencies. However, those tendencies are the sources of motivation and should be supported by the environment for the autonomous continuation of extrinsic motivation. Because of that reason, teachers should support the autonomy of students. To do that three ways were suggested; providing a rationale, acknowledging, and providing choices instead of controlling (Deci & Ryan, 2013).

This is a qualitative phenomenology study through which an intervention was conducted and data were through content analysis and interviews collected. During the research period, students play various quiz games. All sessions including lecturing and game-paly had been recorded throughout the semester. At the end of the semester, interviews were deployed to examine the perceptions of volunteer participants (f:4, m:2), and video records of all sessions will be analyzed to compare gameplay and lecturing sessions. Consent forms were signed to record sessions and interviews. Participants still have the right to withdraw from the study. Convenience sampling was used by collecting data from the researcher's students for time efficiency and participants' confidence concerns. Instruments An observation protocol based on the self-determination theory of Deci and Ryan (1993) was developed. The protocol was reviewed and updated by an adult education expert. The final observation form is composed of 11 parts including time, phases, learning line, learning activity, social form, material and media, teacher activity, didactic-methodological commentary, competence commentary, social integration commentary, and autonomy commentary. Both gameplay sessions and lecturing sessions of video records were watched and the observation protocol was filled by two observers to provide an agreement to increase the reliability of the observation. The first draft of the semi-structured interview protocol was generated in light of the theoretical framework of Deci and Ryan (1993). An education expert reviewed the protocol to strengthen the content validity of the instrument. After the revision, the final interview protocol included 5 parts such as demographic questions and questions related to competence, autonomy, social integration, and feedback about gameplay. One-to-one interviews that took between 15-26 minutes were recorded with the allowance of participants. The whole interview collection process was handled by the researcher who was also the lecturer of the participants so that participants feel more comfortable. Recorded data were transcribed through an automatic transcription tool and the correctness of the transcribed data was controlled by researchers. Data Analysis The observation protocols will be analyzed by two observers following the content analysis method (Fraenkel, Wallen & Hyun, 2015). Both latent and manifest content in the video records will be analyzed. 20% of transcribed interviews will be analyzed by two different coders and the code books of the coders will be compared. After agreeing with more than 80% of analyzed data, one coder will continue to analyze the rest of the data.

Until now, 20% of interviews were analyzed by one coder, and a codebook was generated. Initial results of the interview indicated that students perceive that game-play as a way of determining their language level. Quiz games affected their perception of their language level. One student states that she felt frustrated when she lose the games. On the other hand, she also states that it helps her to understand the topic better. She became more aware of her mistakes and the game helped her to focus more on the vocabulary she could not know. At that point, the effect of the game on autonomy can be interpreted. On the other hand, one participant states that she never compared herself with others. Hence, it can be expected from the initial results that although the quiz games affect self-competence, they did not affect the competence among learners. Further results will be analyzed after the coding comparison between coders will be completed. However, in any case, it is expected that results will guide foreign language teachers in activity selection. Teachers can add or remove quiz games into their learning activities or revise their existing quiz games. The main limitation of the study is the sampling technique. Since a convenience sampling method was used, results are not generalizable; therefore, future studies can reconduct the study under different conditions.

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