The effect of traditional games in pre-school education on language development of pre-school children

In this research, the affect of Traditional Game Education Program on language development of pre-school children was examined. The dependent variable was determined as "children's language development scores" and the independent variable was determined as "traditional game education program". The focus group of the study was selected from four primary schools affiliated to Diyarbakır District National Education Directorate of Eğil. These schools are Kalkan Primary School, Selman Primary School, Dere Neighbourhood Primary School, and Çalıbulan Primary School. It consisted of 72 children, 36 experimental groups, and 36 control groups, from the kindergartens of these schools by using "typical case sampling", which is one of the purposive sampling methods. The "Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT)" was used as a data collection tool in the research. This test was prepared by L. Loyd and M. Dunn in the United States of America, and it was adapted to Turkish by Katz, Önen, Demir, Uzunkaya, and Uludağin 1974. The PPVT form was applied to both the experiment and the control group before and after the experiment. Independent Groups t-Test and Dependent Groups t-Test are used while performing the analysis obtained from the PPVT form. The results obtained from the research are as follows; • PPVT pre-test scores of the experimental and of control group children difference statistically. When we evaluate the pre-test average scores, we conclude that the children in the experimental group are higher than the average scores of the children in the control group. However, the effect size of this differentiation is quite small (η2 = .01). • It was found that there was a statistically significant difference between the PPVT pre-test and post-test scores of the experimental group children. • It was found that there was a statistically significant difference between the PPVT pre-test and post-test scores of the control group children. • There is a statistically significant difference in PPVT post-test scores of the experimental and control groups children. When we evaluate the post-test average scores, we conclude that the children in the experimental group have higher than the average scores of the children in the control group. According to these results, it can be said that the "Traditional Game Education Program" improves the language development of preschool children positively.