Abstract

The expression "the sooner, the better" is ideal for early childhood education. Early
childhood education is a potent tool for promoting sustained success in school, the job, as
well as in the social and civic domains. The psychological and sociological benefits of play-
based learning in early childhood have received very little attention. 'Play,' according to
education and psychology researchers, is a strong mediator of learning numerous abilities
throughout a person's life. This is in line with Piagetian theory, which has affected
developmentally appropriate practice greatly. It involves the belief that children learn
'naturally' through play, with teachers promoting opportunities for play in the environments in
which they are immersed. This action research study investigated if students can make
appropriate academic growth in a play based language learning in elementary level
classroom. A comparison study of four to six years old children attending a school with a
play based curriculum and a school with traditionally structured classroom in XYZ School. In
this research proposal answered the question: “Can students make appropriate academic
growth in a play based language learning in classroom”? Also the findings discuss analyses
of what and how play materials influence elementary level students’ interest, engagement and
language learning development. They illustrate factors affecting choices of play materials.
Most important thing is I added some findings which show essential implications on both
learner’s and teachers’ roles and mindset towards alternative instructions.
Acknowledgement

I would like to acknowledge and give my warmest thanks to my supervisor Dr. Hashini
Abeysena who made this work possible. Her guidance and advice carried me through all the
stages of writing my thesis. I grateful for the organization which I selected for my research.

I would also like to give specially thanks to my loved once as a whole for their continuous
support and understanding when undertaking my research.
Table of contents

Page

Declaration of originally form……………………………………………...

Abstract……………………………………………………………………..

Acknowledgment……………………………………………………………

Table of content……………………………………………………………..

Chapter I – INTRODUCTION………………………………………………
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION
1. 1 Background of the study.
Defining play: Although children engage in play naturally, not all their activity can be
subsumed under the concept of play. Doing peek a boo, hide and seek or jumping up and
down are not necessarily examples of play, unless they are perfumed in a specific way
indicative of the child’s involvement, attractive and motivation. (1)Isenberg (2002) provides
a range of unique characteristics which underpin playful behaviour. In her paradigm, play
includes all actions which are: 1) intrinsically motivated and self-initiated, 2) process rather
than product oriented, 3) non-literal and pleasurable, 4) exploratory and active, 5) rule-
governed, 6) meaningful, 7) episodic i.e. shift spontaneously and flexibly. In play, the child
chooses to perform and sustain an activity on his/her own and focuses on performing rather
that completing it. The activity creates opportunities for active exploration which stimulates
positive emotions (joy, satisfaction, pleasure, interest, pride). This study is purposed to
investigate attitudes of elementary level kids towards their learning inside the English
language classroom employing play based language learning materials and activities and
opinions and reflection of the parents of learners outside the play based language learning
classroom.

Social Importance of Play

We know that children who are able to sustain pretend play roles are able to work better with
their peers and solve social problems (Bodrova, Germeroth, and Leong, 2011 )
This can extend beyond school years into working years, benefiting the entire community.
We are raising the next generation of citizens, and we can do so more effectively by
involving children in play.Vygotskian play at a higher level, in which youngsters construct
and act out fictional scenarios positions, as well as the norms that govern those roles and
situations. These rules are applicable in real life and can help you achieve your goals.Self-
control through teaching children the ability to wait for turns and control through play their
compulsions.When a child is acting as a patient at a doctor's office, a stethoscope is not
required. Regardless of how thrilling it is to use, it should not be used because it is not a
realistic element of the function.
1.2 Aims and Scope

I'm concerned about our youngest students' lack of play and the focus we place on direct
instruction. Through this literature review, I hope to demonstrate that guided free play in
preschool and kindergarten has both academic and social benefits. My research hopes to
impact teaching practices and educate school administrators about young children's
developmental requirements. I intend to demonstrate that play has a place in every early
childhood classroom, and that the benefits of play are too enormous to ignore, by reviewing
current research on the benefits of play to social and literacy outcomes for young children.
The goal of this study was to look into the views of elementary school students toward the
English language.

Play based language learning can foster effective communication for children They can
develop their speech and language skills as well as listening skills. Play develops cognitive,
critical thinking and motor skills because critical thinking has an ability to analyse and sift
through information in order to make sense of it and apply it in the context of the
environment .This skill involves the part of the front part of the brain that manages attention,
memory , control and flexibility

1.3 Research Questions

In the literature review of a next chapter review explores the relationship between free play
and a child’s growth in the areas of literacy and social development. The objective of the
review was to answer the following questions:

1. What effect does a play based curriculum have on an elementary child’s ability to interact
positively with their peers?

2. How are primary level literacy skills affected by kindergarten exposure to language and
vocabulary in play?
1.4 Definitions of terms

PBLL – Play based Language Learning

WBL- Work Based Learning

KS1 – Key Stage 1

EC- Early Childhood

PW – Play Worker

KG – Kindergarten

ASC – Affective Social Competence

SDQ- Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

RFID - Radio-Frequency Identification Devices

EIVP- Explicit Instructional Vocabulary Protocol

 CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW
In developing a review ofresearch on the effects of free play on social and academic
outcomes for young children I hope to provide early childhood educators with the tools they
need to keep play in the curriculum in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. This review of
research will explain how free play is an integral part of both social and academic growth. In
this chapter, I address these research questions:

1. What effect does a play based curriculum have on an elementary child’s ability to interact
positively with their peers?
2. How are primary level literacy skills affected by kindergarten exposure to language and
vocabulary in play?
Play-based pre-kindergarten programs stress the importance of social skill development
which includes working well with peers and self-regulation. The findings in this literature
review examine the relationships between free play, social skills, and academic outcomes in
the early years of school. Lynch (2015) conducted a netnographic study of kindergarten
teachers to ascertain how the diminishing time afforded to free play in pre-kindergarten and
kindergarten classrooms has affected the children they teach . Netnography is a relatively
new field in which a researcher uses the internet to conduct research. One benefit is that the
subjects may feel more comfortable to openly share their beliefs due to the relative
anonymity of the method; thus the researcher can get more authentic results. According to
Lynch (2015) nearly all the teachers in her study believed that children benefit socially from
free play. One teacher noted, "I am a big proponent of free play in 9 kindergarten. From my
observations, they are learning while they are playing and demonstrating what they have
learned through play" (p. 356). Lynch postulates that because children have an intrinsic
motivation for play, robbing them of that outlet will lead to a decrease in social
competencies. Another teacher in Lynch's study shared that her students were given no time
for social development with the push for academics. According to this teacher, the children
are failing when there is nothing wrong other than a need for play. The curriculum is failing
the children (Lynch, 2015). In addition, Lynch refers to research that shows a change in the
brain during play; a change that enables children to acquire new skills (both academic and
social) more easily and remember them for longer. She also cites research showing that play
promotes social competencies in addition to academic skill development. Lynch concludes
that in order for critical free play time to be allowed to continue in kindergarten classrooms,
not only must the teachers be educated on the importance of play, but the administrators need
to be knowledgeable and sympathetic towards the goal as well. She acknowledges that we
have far to go (Lynch, 2015). ln this literature review I summarize articles relevant to my
research questions. The first section of the review focuses on articles related to the effects of
play on peer interactions. The second section focuses on articles related to the effects of play
on literacy development.

2.1 Effects of play on Affective Social Competence Skills.

Children develop ASC skills primarily through pretend and physical play. Researchers do not
all define ASC the same way. Some take a broad view, defining it as a concept that involves
the social, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral skills a child needs to develop in order to be
successful in life. These skills include sending and receiving affective messages, perspective
taking, processing skills, conversational skills, and prosocial behavior (Semrud-Clikeman,
(2007). Others define it more narrowly, as the ability to send and receive affective messages,
and the ability to feel affect (Lindsey and Colwell, 2013). Regardless of how it is defined,
ASC is a useful concept for understanding how children adjust socially and emotionally to
their environments. Lindsey and Colwell (2013) identified ways in which play contributes to
the development of ASC skills. Building on the work of developmental theorists Piaget and
Vygotsky, they hypothesized that children who participate in pretend play have more
opportunities to practice perspective-taking and can better understand the emotions of others.
In other words, children who have ample time for play learn to send and receive affective
messages and experience affect. Lindsey & Colwell (2013) conducted a twoyear study of 122
preschool-age children (57 boys, 65 girls; from mostly middle- and uppermiddle class
families) to ascertain how different types of play affect children's ASC skills. Researchers
collected data in a number of ways: naturalistic observations to observe children's play
behavior; interviews with the children to determine emotional knowledge; and 11
questionnaires filled out by parents to determine emotion regulation. Researchers videotaped
children during naturally occurring play and coded the play behavior based on social
involvement and form of play. Proportion scores were created for each child based on time
spent in social, interactive play with peers, and the type of play involved in (fantasy,
sociodramatic, exercise, or rough and tumble). Each child was given a score for emotional
expressiveness, both positive (happiness, excitement, or joy) and negative (frustration, anger,
or sadness), based on the duration and intensity of emotion displayed during the observations.
They were also scored on emotion knowledge (ability to identify feelings of others), using
interviews conducted with the children where they were presented with photos of various
expressions and asked to identify them correctly, and emotion regulation (emotional
intensity, and mood changes, as reported by mothers) which was used to rate ASC. The
researchers define ASC as the ability to send and receive affective messages and to feel
affect. Using regression analyses, the data, collected over a period of two years, showed a
correlation between emotion knowledge, emotion regulation, and emotion expression and
ASC skills. The researchers found that engaging in pretend play, especially sociodramatic
play, increases a child's ASC. The authors suggest that sociodramatic play has an advantage
over other types of pretend play, such as fantasy play, because during sociodramatic play
children often take on other roles, and can practice imagining and acting out the emotions of
another person. The children practice expressing emotions they may not be feeling in order to
play the part, which also requires emotional regulation. In contrast, fantasy play allows
children to be themselves, but they are using objects in place of other objects (Lindsey &
Colwell, 2013). The children in this study all attended the same child care facility. The
teachers all had the same views on play, and the toys available were similar for all students,
therefore the children were all likely to interact in similar ways with each other and their play
12 environments. Future research is warranted in a broader context with children who may
not have had the same play experiences. In contrast to Lindsey and Colwell's findings, Veiga
et al., (2017) conducted a study of 73 Portuguese preschoolers (44 boys, 29 girls) in order to
determine whether one type of play is more important than others in developing social
competence. Veiga et al. (2017) recorded children's play for three minutes at a time. The
recordings were coded by type of activity, for example talking, or play. Then the play was
subcategorized into one of five types: I. Fantasy play: the child is using pretend objects
symbolically as other things. 2. Role play: the child is assuming a symbolic role. 3. Exercise
play: the child is jumping or running. 4. Rough-and-tumble play: the child is engaged in an
activity which appears to be aggressive, but is done in a playful manner. 5. Other: the child is
engaging in an activity that does not fit in the above, for example, constructing a model
(Veiga et al., 2017). Children also wore radio-frequency identification devices (RFID) to aid
researchers in identifying the number of interactions each child had, the number of children
per interaction, and how long each interaction lasted. Teachers rated children's ASC on a 3-
point Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).

2.2 Effects of play on literacy development.

In the following sections I review the research on free play and the effects on vocabulary, and
language and literacy. Effects of Play on Vocabulary Acquisition A child 's preschool
vocabulary is a strong predictor of future reading success. Unfortunately, many children,
particularly children from low income homes, start school with a significant vocabulary
deficit (Hart and Risley, 1995). Early childhood educators know that early language exposure
is critical to building vocabulary, and also that vocabulary mastery is an important component
of future academic success in literacy. When children start school with poor vocabularies
they are already at a disadvantage compared to their peers who have had those early language
and literacy experiences. Han, Moore, Vukelich, and Buell (2010) set out to explore the best
way to make up for those lost experiences in children who come to school at a disadvantage.
In a study of 49 children in a Head Start pre-kindergarten program, Han, Moore, Vukelich,
and Buell (2010) tested two vocabulary-teaching interventions: Explicit Instructional 24
Vocabulary Protocol (EIVP), and EIVP and a play session (EIVP + play). Children were
randomly assigned to one of the two groups (EIVP or EIVP + play). Throughout the school
year the children were tested three times using the Individual Growth & Development
Indicators (IGDis) picture naming task, which assesses children's oral language skills, and the
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III (PPVT-lll). The researchers chose to use EIVP because
it had a history of success in increasing both expressive and receptive language skills,
however they felt it needed an additional piece. They added the play component because they
felt that time for play is dwindling in early childhood programs; in addition, the research in
favor ofleaming through play supported their belief that adding a play component would be
successful (Han, Moore, Vukelich, & Buell, 2010).
2.3 Effects on play on vocabulary acquisition

A child 's preschool vocabulary is a strong predictor of future reading success. Unfortunately,
many children, particularly children from low income homes, start school with a significant
vocabulary deficit (Hart and Risley, 1995). Early childhood educators know that early
language exposure is critical to building vocabulary, and also that vocabulary mastery is an
important component of future academic success in literacy. When children start school with
poor vocabularies they are already at a disadvantage compared to their peers who have had
those early language and literacy experiences. Han, Moore, Vukelich, and Buell (2010) set
out to explore the best way to make up for those lost experiences in children who come to
school at a disadvantage. In a study of 49 children in a Head Start pre-kindergarten program,
Han, Moore, Vukelich, and Buell (2010) tested two vocabulary-teaching interventions:
Explicit Instructional 24 Vocabulary Protocol (EIVP), and EIVP and a play session (EIVP +
play). Children were randomly assigned to one of the two groups (EIVP or EIVP + play).
Throughout the school year the children were tested three times using the Individual Growth
& Development Indicators (IGDis) picture naming task, which assesses children's oral
language skills, and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III (PPVT-lll). The researchers
chose to use EIVP because it had a history of success in increasing both expressive and
receptive language skills, however they felt it needed an additional piece. They added the
play component because they felt that time for play is dwindling in early childhood programs;
in addition, the research in favor ofleaming through play supported their belief that adding a
play component would be successful (Han, Moore, Vukelich, & Buell, 2010).

2.4 Effects of play on language and literacy

Early language experiences are a critical component of future reading and literacy success.
Pre-kindergarten teachers spend much of their time reading books that introduce new
vocabulary, and providing rich and varied language experiences for the students in their
classrooms. Researchers are studying how early language experiences shape future academic
success. In order to determine how high-level language experiences shape our students' future
academic endeavors, Dickinson and Porche (2011) conducted a longitudinal study to
determine how the quantity and content of preschool child-teacher interactions predicts
language and reading outcomes in kindergarten and grade 4. The participants were 83 four-
year-old children from low-income homes who were recruited from 65 different classrooms.
Researchers used observations, teacher interviews, and audiotapes of teacher-child
interactions during free play, large groups, and shared reading time. The quality of the
teacher utterances was measured by the variety of words spoken, as well as the nature of the
words. For example, when a teacher was reading a book to the class, the only utterances
coded were those not in the text. The Dale-Chall 27 list of 3,000 words recognized by fourth
graders was used to screen out the words most commonly heard or used by preschoolers.
Further analysis was done to filter out common nouns and slang like "mommy", or "honey",
and a final list of almost 8,000 words was used to analyze the teacher talk across the
classrooms, looking for sophisticated vocabulary. Children were tested on growth in literacy
and language skills in kindergarten and fourth grade. Emergent literacy was tested in
kindergarten using the Early Childhood Diagnostic Instrument, including writing, letter
recognition, story and print concepts, and rhyming subtests. Receptive vocabulary was tested
in kindergarten and fourth grade using the PPVT-Revised. Comprehension was tested in
fourth grade using The Reading Comprehension measure from the California Achievement
Test (Dickinson & Porche, 2011 ).
 CHAPTER 3

The Research Methodology

3.1 Participants of the study

The participants of this study were 10 people. They enrolled to attend the PLL course
according to their parents’ beliefs and interests in English language learning course known as
activity-based course. All of them were combination of primary levels grades KG to Grade
one whose ages were in the range of 4-6 years old. They were grouped into two groups
according to their grade levels. All of them were studying in upper KG and lower Primary.
There were two main leading teachers for each group .English was the main medium of
instructions which was used throughout the whole course during class hours and recesses.
PLL was designed based on sociocultural and play theories. It is characterized by mental and
physical activities that have purposes and/or situations to make play and language learning
meaningful, joyful, spontaneous, and absent from fear or punishment. The content was
arranged into eight themes. Each theme took three to four hours that lasted 30 hours of
learning in total.

3.2 Development of data collection instruments

Semi structured interviews and focus group interviews were the primary research tools. To
gather children's views regarding PLL materials and activities, a semi structured interview
was used. Children were asked to share how much they acquired through direct
observation.PLL classroom experience as well as to compare it to their normal school
classrooms In addition, three Parents' perspectives were explored through focus group
interviews.
 3.3 Research Schedule

Research Pase Nov 28 Dec 5 Dec 12 Dec 19 Dec Jan 1 Jan 8 Jan 15
2021 2021 2021 2021 26 2022 2022 2022
2021
Background research and
review of literature.
Planning the setting of
research

Data collection

Analysing the data

Composing and structuring

the information
Reviewing

Table I
 CHAPTER 4

The raw research results

4.1 Play materials of elementary and primary learners’ preferences.

In PLL classrooms, there were numerous play objects, children's toys, and teaching
equipment meant for language development. Children naturally reacted positively to play
toys since they had previously engaged with a variety of toys at home before starting school.
PLL materials included various features, layouts, forms, and usage instructions for each play
style.

Table II

Play materials according to the each play type.

Play type Boy Girl Both

Language play Ball Unscramble word Colorful flashcards
cards - Song - Story
books
Physical play Balls Picture cards for I-spy Human-size clock
Jigsaw
puzzles
Creative play Miniature 3-D paper Colored pencils, Playdough
house and decoration markers, stampers Cootie catcher
Small decorations like
flowers, buttons,
stickers
Games with rules Bingo - Sports
equipment - Food toys
- Scavenger hunting
mission
Pretend play Fake money Dolls Detective clothing and
Food toys tools - Puppets
Cooking tools
Toys and playthings are typically purchased based on the gender of the child. They anticipate
that guys would get automobiles and exotic animals, while girls will get dolls, make-up, and
clothing.girls. In addition, a variation in hue denotes the presence of play toys gender.
Different genders are represented in Table II of this study.In play, they demonstrated their
various interest materials. Boys expressed their preferences for balls and jigsaw
puzzles.Puzzles, a three-dimensional paper mansion, and phony money On the other
hand,Girls, on the other hand, enjoyed playing with music, tale books, and word games.Tiny
and delicate decorations, cards, image cards, stationery.Puppets and dolls are two types of
puppets. Some play items, on the other hand, were not.Gender-neutral toys have been
recorded. Among them were Cootie, cootie, cootie, cootie, cootie, cootie, cootie, cootie
catcher, bingo, sporting goods, snack toys, and scavenger hunt Puppets, a hunting
assignment, and detective attire and tools. Because it is strongly tied to phases of child
development, the age gap between 2 and 7 is recognized as a crucial factor when choosing
play items for young learners. Table iii in this study showed that children of various ages
expressed their preferences for different types of play materials.

Table iii

Play type Lower Upper Both

Language play Ball Word cards for Colorful flashcards
Song unscramble activity Story books

Physical play Balls Picture cards for I-spy Jigsaw puzzles

Human-size clocks
Creative play Small decorations like Miniature 3- D paper Colored pencils,
flowers, buttons, house and decoration markers, stampers
stickers Playdough
Cootie catcher
Games with rules Bingo Scavenger hunting Sports equipment
mission Food toys
Pretend play Dolls Detective clothing and Food toys
tools. Cooking tools
Fake money puppets
The more mature the youngsters become, the more realistic the play materials should be.
Furthermore, when older children are involved, they are more likely to give more difficult
rules  playing. Table Iii shows that younger people are more likely to be successful. Learners
preferred items with a clear meaning and the functions that have been attributed to their
appearance. As an example,balls were thrown or passed, and songs were sung.Human-size
clocks were used to tell time, as well as dancing clocks.Small handmade ornaments were
used for adornment, and dolls were used for imaginary play. The elder, on the other hand
learners in the higher primary grades expressed an interest in unscrambled word cards, image
cards, and 3-D objects a paper home, a scavenger quest, and a detective clothing and tools, as
well as phony money In the final column.

4.2 Play Materials and Other Influences on Language Learning and Engagement

When children play, they spend time playing and learning the same way as adults do to their
serious work. As for learning, play can be applied to promote both first and second language
development. When learning in PLL, children were informed the purpose of the language
use. This study revealed important findings to show play materials that enhanced children’s
language learning and engagement. Firstly, realia such as cooking tools and 3-D paper house
and decorations influenced children to use the English language purposefully and in their
real-life situations. “We can visit a mall to buy real food in English and come back to cook
for real. I get such an authentic experience of learning” (S1)“I can go out to the real situation
and use the learned vocabulary in my real life.” (S2)

4.3 Comparison to Regular Language Classrooms

This question item asked young children’s attitudes toward the PLL classroom in comparison
with their direct experiences learning in regular language classrooms. All young participants
agreed that they preferred the PLL classroom because of several reasons including playmates,
plausible contexts of learning, and English language use as the main medium of instructions.
“I can play with friends in the classroom and learn English in the same time.” .“It is a fun
environment and there are fun teachers. I got to practice English all the time.” When
comparing to the regular classrooms, all young participants mentioned the same classroom
rules and activities that demotivated their interests and engagement. school never allow us to
play. I feel shy so I only sit and am afraid of expressing or acting out.”. “I don’t learn a lot of
vocabulary.” “I’m forced to write such as a report and no other activity.” On the contrary,
young children’s attitudes toward PLL classroom showed positive experiences. They
signified the differences of PLL classroom from their regular language classrooms in aspects
of fun and active learning, improvement of vocabulary and language structure, and more
confidence. “It’s more fun than at school because there is more to play.” “It makes the lesson
easier to understand for me.” “I speak English better.”

4.4 Implications from the findings

Materials in PLL classrooms were collected from various sources including the real toys from
home, the merchandise from the shops, in-house production specifically for the planned
lessons, as well as authentic goods in real-life use. To investigate what play materials should
be effectively employed in the language classrooms for young learners, the important
findings showed some play materials that were in favor of both genders and age groups. They
included colorful flashcards, playdough, food toys, cooking tools, sport equipment, and
puppets. One explanation is that young learners respond well with big-sized pictures and
colorful objects. Also, it can be seen that the above play materials are considered minimally
structured toys. They allow children to use imagination more than highly structured toys.
Specifically to the play materials for different ages, they should be chosen according to
familiarity and complexity. The findings showed that younger children tended to play with
what they were familiar with. It is possible to explain that children have been exposed to
these materials before. They can identify what and how to handle these familiar objects
easily. On the contrary, older children felt bored of the familiar objects. The possible
explanation is that older-age children have developed more cognition. They are at the age of
getting interested and excited with challenging and unfamiliar situations. To elaborate from
this study, older children enjoy hunting mission, 3-D paper house, and detective clothing and
tools. It is possible that older children are intrigued to think more critically when
manipulating of more complex materials. Also, they are developed more world knowledge
than younger children and more closely to adult ages, which can explain the reasons they like
to use realia to imitate real-life situations of adults. In terms of authenticity, the play materials
that were incorporated with this feature attracted young learners the most.It is supported by
several studies that authentic materials increase opportunities for learners to apply it in
everyday life. It is possible to view that in this study, lower primary play and learn with upper
primary friends. Older children tend to help teach younger friends to use the realia they are
familiar with at home. Another type of minimally structured toys are those created by
children themselves. Children tend to enjoy, engage in the activities, and be enthusiastic
when they are assigned to create their own materials such as creative movie posters,
storybooks of their own stories, funny menu of their restaurants, and their scripts of their
fantasy movie scenes.It is supported that children can use imagination well for stories or
situations they create. With this finding, it is recommended that adults should look for play
materials that are minimally structured and those created by themselves. Additionally, not
only should children at the same age learn together, but also the mix of different ages is
suggested to scaffold children’s cooperative, social, and cognitive development. In the
classroom for young learners, teachers should consider prepare gender-neutral materials,
which children can learn to play with other friends in different gender. It also promotes mixed
abilities in the classroom. To elaborate, boys tend to play materials related to physical
strengths, while girls like to play with soft and small objects. In this way, children may
develop understandings and caring for others. Grouping boys and girls together is one way
that teachers may take it into account to promote paying respect of different others. Apart
from materials, language use as the medium of instruction in the class showed influence on
children’s second language development. In the PLL class, the findings illustrated that young
participants used English almost all the time. It can be explained that they are informed
directly about the purpose of PLL class and of the English language use. Also, children are
commonly influenced by peers and teachers. Once, few people are using English, everyone
else tend to follow. Another important explanation is that they do not feel fear to make
mistakes when playing and learning in the PLL class. Therefore, it is recommended that
primary teachers use the English language as the medium of instructions as much as possible.
Young participants can perform beyond teacher’s expectation when their mental stage is not
blocked. Besides, play materials and activities can provide context clues for children to
comprehend and achieve language learning goal. The findings demonstrated how English
language was developed in PLL classroom and it had influenced children’s learning outside
the classroom as evidenced from focus group interviews. It can be explained that young
learners have freedom to control their own learning and playing in the facilitating
environment. Thus, they learn to find contexts to use the language to meet their own purpose
and desire in their time and pace. In the same way, playing games allowed players to make
decision, which led to learner’s autonomy. Therefore, it is suggested that parents can be
crucial stakeholders who provide continuous language learning environment and support.
Parents can employ any play toys or materials at home to play with their children using the
language focus.
 CHAPTER 5

Discussion on the results of research

5.1 Recommendations for Further Study

It is suggested that further study conduct with different contexts such as integrating PBLL
activities into regular English classrooms in order to shed more light on the impact of PBLL.
Besides, English is important language for international communication. Thus, it is
recommended to conduct a study that applies play-based English language learning into
different content areas. It will be beneficial for young learners to extend more purposes of
language learning. Moreover, it may provide more insightful information when developing
other courses. In addition, PBLL should be studied with other age groups to acquire
information in depth and breadth.

In the end I realize that I am fortunate to work with a team of teachers that values the
importance of play. We will continue to advocate for play, and to fight to keep free play in
our classrooms. We know that spending more time in direct instruction will lead to
disconnected young students who are not engaged in their learning. We also know that by
continuing to guide them as they explore their world through play we are creating young
learners who have a passion for learning, creating and investigating. We are teaching the next
generation of 21st century learners, and we will continue to fight for what we know is
developmentally appropriate practice.

5.2 Conclusion

Play is an integral part of every child’s life and a precondition of healthy and optimal
maturation. It enhances holistic development and facilitates learning. School occupies a
central role in every child’s life. With an increasing number of FL lessons added to the
curricula and the progressive lowering of the starting age of FL education (Cameron 2003),
the need has arisen for delivering age-appropriate, pleasurable and effective FL instruction. If
education is to create genuine, learning opportunities, children’s natural instinct for play
needs to be recognised and cultivated by stakeholders an policy makers. Play constitutes a
natural and motivating context for language practice and creates numerous learning
opportunities. A number of useful resource books can be recommended for teachers looking
for photocopiable materials and guidelines for using play-based learning. Reilly and Ward
(1997/2003) is a collection of didactic materials intended specifically for preschool learners.
Games constitute the majority of activities in this book, but there are also other age-
appropriate tasks intended for pre-schoolers such as songs and stories. Lewis and Bedson
(1999)

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