Game technologies in modern education are defined by many as the most effective and most active teaching methods in the sphere of professional education. In this paper, the authors consider the application of game techniques in the process of teaching foreign languages to students of higher educational institutions, as well as consider the question of how this technique affects the formation of learning motivation. Based on their teaching experience, the authors analyze the influence of game methodology on the formation of skills in students and the results obtained, the factors of formation of learning motivation are considered and examples of games used in the learning process are given. The authors of the paper conducted a theoretical analysis of scientific literature on pedagogy and psychology of motivation in order to analyze and identify the influence of game techniques on the formation of learning motivation to consolidate lexical units in students of language specialties of higher educational institutions. As a result of generalizing the pedagogical experience of the researchers, a survey and a series of pedagogical experiments with the application of game techniques in classroom lessons were conducted. The analysis of the results of the conducted experiment allows us to state that students' motivation to use game techniques in classroom lessons to consolidate the learnt lexical material increases. The results of the study showed that after a series of role-playing games, students' motivation to use them increased by 27.7%. Based on the conducted research aimed at increasing the motivation of language students to consolidate vocabulary through role-playing games, it can be concluded that this approach has a positive impact on the learning process. Thus, we can say that the introduction of game methods into educational practice stimulates students' active participation, creates conditions for real application of language skills and increases their motivation for language learning. Games allow students to get into different roles, apply the acquired knowledge in practice and develop communication and interaction skills.