<![CDATA[Vocabulary knowledge underpins EFL learners' ability to understand and produce texts, yet Indonesian junior high school students continue to struggle with the action verbs and sequencing expressions required by procedure texts in the Merdeka Curriculum. GoNoodle, a digital platform that combines videos, music, narration and physical movement, has been studied mainly as a tool for classroom activity breaks rather than for language learning. This quasi-experimental study examined GoNoodle-based learning media for vocabulary instruction within procedure text learning. Two intact ninth-grade classes at SMP Negeri 10 Cimahi, West Java (n = 25 each), were assigned to an experimental group, which learned with GoNoodle across three sessions, and a control group, which learned the same content through conventional instruction. Both groups took the same vocabulary pre-test and post-test, and the experimental group completed a perception questionnaire. Both groups improved: the experimental group from 68.16 to 83.20 and the control group from 63.68 to 78.24. A Mann–Whitney U test found no significant pre-test difference (p = .053) and a significant post-test difference (p = .006) in favour of the experimental group. However, gains were nearly identical (15.04 vs. 14.56 points), and the experimental group began with higher scores, so the post-test difference cannot be attributed to the intervention with confidence. Students responded positively to GoNoodle in terms of engagement, motivation, ease of use, interaction and vocabulary support. GoNoodle appears to be an engaging and well-accepted medium that supports vocabulary learning at least as well as conventional instruction; studies with longer interventions and analyses that control for initial differences are needed to establish its relative effectiveness.]]>
