Games in EFL Kindergartens: Jordan as an Example (Published)
To prevent approaching a dull language teaching and learning experience, games utilization in EFL kindergartens embodies a promising innovative tool for EFL teachers and learners to utilize in educational EFL institutions, especially kindergartens. This study aims to find out the extent to which Jordanian EFL kindergarten teachers utilize games in teaching English. Therefore, a self-made checklist was implemented while observing a convenient sample of 15 EFL kindergarten teachers practice in classroom in different kindergartens. 45 classes were observed to fill in the eleven-item checklist representing purposes of games utilization in EFL classes in kindergartens. Purposes include three items in teaching grammar. These are explaining simple structure, helping students to recognize grammatical items, and helping students produce correct forms. Purposes to teach vocabulary include delivering content, helping students recognize different vocabulary and helping students to read English words correctly. Purposes to do warm up activities include using games to make the topic more appealing, to introduce the main topic and to increase their aptitude to learn new material. Finally, purposes to utilize games as a formative assessment tool. These include helping teachers to assess their students and helping students to their tasks smoothly. The manual analysis of the findings showed, first, an absence of games utilization in EFL kindergartens. A second finding is a lack of cognition and awareness of the definition of games per se among EFL teachers. A third finding is teachers’ erroneous perception of games utilization that may lead to a delusional sense of professional development. A fourth finding is that English teachers, generally, tend to utilize games in kindergartens for the purpose of assessing their students’ performance. A fifth finding is a lack of training in kindergarten instruction among English teachers- who are majored in English- in EFL kindergarten, hence, a lack of accountability. The study suggests an urgent need for preparing EFL kindergarten teachers as well as increasing their readiness for such critical age- sensitive profession. The findings of the present study can be of use to pre-school educationalists, kindergartens administrators and English teachers.