The effect of traditional children's games on developing speaking skills in third-grade students

Speech is a fundamental element of communication. Acquiring the skill of speaking, which is one of the components of communication, in a conscious and meticulous manner is of great importance. To develop speaking skills, traditional children's games that actively encourage students to speak can be utilized. With the rapid development of technology and the rise of technology addiction, traditional children's games have started to fade into oblivion. These games can also help children establish better interactions with one another. This study aims to examine the impact of traditional children's games on the development of speaking skills among third grade primary school students. In this study, a pretest-posttest control group experimental design, one of the quantitative research methods, was employed. The study group consisted of third grade students attending a private school in İzmir. Data were collected using the "Speaking Skill Assessment Rubric" (Muradoğlu, 2021) and the "Speaking Skill Attitude Scale" (Güvey-Aktay and Mermi, 2022). A pilot study was conducted at the beginning of the research, followed by the administration of a pre-test to the participants. At the end of the eight-week intervention period, the same measurement tool was applied as a post-test. The findings revealed that traditional children's games had a significant positive effect on improving the speaking skills of third grade students in Turkish lessons in favor of the experimental group. It was concluded that the experimental group, where traditional children's games were applied, was more effective in improving speaking skills compared to the control group, where the 2019 Turkish language curriculum was implemented. No significant difference was found in the attitude levels toward speaking skills between the experimental and control groups. Students demonstrated progress in sub-dimensions of speaking skills, including articulation, meaning, content and presentation. Considering the positive impact of traditional children's games on the development of speaking skills, it is recommended that these games be incorporated into the Turkish language curriculum, be associated with other language skills, and that further studies be conducted on their use in other subjects.