This research is motivated by the low mastery of English vocabulary in fifth-grade students with intellectual disabilities at Bina Siwi Special Needs School due to limited cognitive abilities in understanding, remembering, and using vocabulary. One learning medium that can be used to overcome this problem is the Duolingo Application, which applies the Gamification Concept so that it can increase student motivation and engagement in learning. This study aims to analyze the effect of using the Duolingo application on improving English vocabulary in fifth-grade students with intellectual disabilities at Bina Siwi Special Needs School. The study used a quantitative method with an experimental approach through a One Group Pretest-Posttest Design. The research subjects were 5 students selected using a saturated sampling technique. Data were collected through objective tests before (pre-test) and after (post-test), then analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test with the help of SPSS. The results showed that the average pre-test score of 38.89 increased to 75.11 in the post- test. The Wilcoxon test results also showed a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores (Asymp. Sig. 2-tailed < 0.05). Thus, it can be concluded that the use of the Duolingo application has a positive and significant effect on improving English language proficiency in fifth-grade students with intellectual disabilities at SLB Bina Siwi.
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