An Examination of Pre-School Children's Interaction Levels and Motivation in Learning English with AR-Supported Educational Toys

Abstract

In this study, the interactions of children in the English learning process with AR-supported educational toys were examined and the factors affecting their motivation were revealed. Based on the case study research design, this study included 15 volunteer children (10 girls, 5 boys) aged 5–6 years old. Children used AR-supported flashcards, match-cards, and puzzles to learn the English equivalents of vehicle names over the course of four weeks. At the end of the process, a total of 5 groups in groups of 3 were taken into the activity class separately, and their interactions while using AR applications were recorded with the camera. From the recordings, the interaction of the students with the material, their friends and their teachers, and their duration of occupation were noted on the observation form and analyzed descriptively. At the end of the implementation, interviews were conducted with 6 selected students. According to the results of the interaction, it was determined that the highest level of interaction was in the dimension of student-material interaction, and the lowest level of interaction was in the dimension of student-student interaction. In addition, the results related to motivation showed that there are many factors positively or negatively affecting preschool children's motivation in terms of attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction themes in the process of learning English vocabulary with AR-supported materials. It is thought that these detailed research results provide rich data for future research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was conducted as part of project number [218K291] entitled “Teaching English with Educational Toys Developed with Augmented Reality in Pre-School Education” supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK).

Notes on contributors

Fatma Burcu Topu

Fatma Burcu Topu has completed her PhD degree in Department of Computer Education from Ataturk University in Turkey. Her research interests are in the computer-based instruction, 3D virtual worlds (PhD thesis subject), augmented reality in education, and use of robotics in programming.

Rabia Meryem Yılmaz

Rabia Meryem Yılmaz is currently an Associate Professor at the Department Software Engineering. She has completed her PhD degree in Department of Computer Education from Ataturk University in Turkey. Her research interests are in augmented reality in education (PhD thesis subject), 3D virtual worlds, instructional design, research methods, e-learning.

Ayşegül Takkaç Tulgar

Ayşegül Takkaç Tulgar is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of English Language Teaching. She has completed her PhD degree in Department of English Language Teaching at Ataturk University, Turkey. Her research interests are cross-cultural pragmatics, glocal issues in language education, and augmented reality in foreign language education.