Learning a foreign language through play

Abstract

A b s t r a c t. Playing comes to children as naturally as breathing and is one of the most predominant forms of activity in a child's life from infancy to adolescence. In fact, the right to engage in developmentally-appropriate play and leisure activities is now recognised internationally as one of the basic human rights of children (UNCRC, Article 31, 1989). Children's playful disposition constitutes a powerful developmental drive whose educational potential cannot be ignored. In order to initiate and maintain meaningful interaction and create developmentallyappropriate learning opportunities, foreign language (FL) teachers of young learners' need to acknowledge play as a central element of early foreign language pedagogy. This paper takes up the issue of learning through play and argues that play-based activities should constitute the core of good classroom practice in young learners' FL instruction. It begins with a definition of play and a discussion of the centrality of play in early and later child development. It then considers the rationale for incorporating elements of play in the FL classroom and presents a range of its benefits and possible applications. Finally, a typology and examples of play-based tasks for very young and young learners are provided followed by some practical guidelines for implementing play in the classroom. The paper concludes with a list of resources for teachers who are willing to integrate play in their curricula.

Students’ English Language Acquisition and their Proficiency Improvement at IPRC Kigali, Rwanda

“…If the pedagogic goals are purely linguistic, teachers will need to specify which language structures and/or skills will be practiced and how. Relevant language resources should be provided and necessary patterns drilled in speech or writing (Guz, 2016).…”