Analyzing the effect of cognitive game-based language development programme on the second language (Turkish) acquisition of preschool children whose native language is Non-Turkish

This research was conducted to examine the effect of the "Cognitive Game-Based Language Development Program" (CGBLDP) on the second language (Turkish) acquisition of preschool children whose mother tongue was not Turkish. The dependent variable of the study was the second language (Turkish) acquisition of preschool children, and the independent variable, whose effect on the aforesaid variable was examined, was the CGBLDP. A quasi-experimental design with a pre-test/post-test control group was employed in the research. The study population was comprised of preschool children who received preschool education in schools affiliated with the Mardin Provincial Directorate of National Education in the 2022-2023 academic year and whose mother tongue was not Turkish. The study sample consisted of 44 children, 22 in the experimental group and 22 in the control group, who received preschool education in two village schools affiliated with the Mardin Dargeçit District Directorate of National Education. They were selected using the criterion sampling technique based on convenience sampling, one of the non-random sampling methods. In the study, the "Personal Information Form" was used to collect data, and the "Peabody Picture-Word Test" was used to measure the receptive language ages of children. During the intervention process, the CGBLDP which was prepared by the researcher, was applied to 22 children in the experimental group four days a week, 30 minutes a day, for 10 weeks, 20 hours in total. In the control group, only the activities prepared in compliance with the Preschool Education Program were applied. The data collected in relation to the children and parents with the Personal Information Form were presented using frequency and percentage values. The data acquired with the Peabody Picture-Word Test were analyzed with the SPPS packaged software. When the experimental and control groups were sufficient for parametric tests, the independent samples t-test was used for pairwise comparisons, and the paired samples t-test was used for intra-group pretest-posttest comparisons. When the experimental and control groups were not sufficient for parametric tests, the Mann-Whitney U test was used for pairwise comparisons, and Pearson's correlation analysis was applied to investigate the correlations between the subscales. The significance level was found to be p < .05 for all results. When the data were analyzed, it was revealed that there was no significant difference between the language skills pre-test mean scores of the children in the experimental group and the control group before the implementation of the CGBLDP. No significant difference was found between the language skills post-test mean scores of the children in the experimental group and the language skills post-test mean scores of the children in the control group. A significant difference was observed both between the language skills pre-test/post-test mean scores of the children in the experimental group, to whom the CGBLDP was applied, and between the language skills pre-test/post-test mean scores of the children in the control group, who did not receive any training in addition to the Preschool Education Program. It was elucidated that there was no significant difference in the language skills post-test mean scores of the children in the experimental group, who underwent the CGBLDP, according to their preschool education status, gender, parents' education level, economic level of the family, and parents' status of reading in daily routine, and the correlation between the language skills post-test mean scores of the children and the frequency of parents' reading to their children was insignificant. As a result of the study, the fact that the pre-test/post-test mean scores of the children in the experimental group were higher than the language skills pre-test/post-test mean scores of the children in the control group was explained by the "Cognitive Game-Based Language Development Program," but it was concluded that the program did not have a statistically significant impact on the second language (Turkish) acquisition of children whose mother tongue was not Turkish. Keywords: Cognitive Game, Second Language, Mother Tongue, Language Development, Language Acquisition.