Developing an Electronic Device to Teach English as a Foreign Language: Educational Toy for Pre-Kindergarten Children

Abstract

This Educational toys are important in early child development and motivate children to learn language. Numerous digital toys are now available in the children’s educational toys market to help children learn foreign languages. However, a number of such technologies are expensive and the quality of usability is not at an acceptable level. The aim of the study is to develop a cost-effective, sustainable and danger-free educational toy for pre-kindergarten children aged between 4-5 years old to teach English as a second language in developing countries. This toy has been developed with Raspberry Pi and makes use of the RFID technology. The experiment in this research was conducted with 20 pre-kindergarten children for four weeks under the supervision of 14 teachers, using five games of the developed toy testing the pre-kindergarten children’s learning of alphabet, words, colors, shapes, and numbers. A design-based research model with an innovation design method utilized during the development stage of the toy. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to evaluate the developed toy. The results of the experiment showed that the developed toy is user-friendly, and the pre-kindergarten children were enthusiastic about playing with it and learning was enjoyable. Also, the results showed that the developed toy can be suitable for use as an educational toy for pre-kindergarten children to teach English as a second language. The educational toy developed by the researchers will be beneficial for those who wish to teach English to pre-kindergarten children such as administrators, teachers and parents in developing countries.

The Cultivation of Critical Thinking Ability in Academic Reading Based on Questionnaires and Interviews

“…A series of comparative studies by Wen Qi fang were conducted on the critical thinking ability between college students majoring in foreign languages and other college students majoring in art and science [5][6]. Some scholars studied the reasons for the lack of critical thinking ability of current college students and the training program, and involved the cultivating the critical thinking ability of foreign language teachers in colleges and universities [7][8].…”

Exploration and Exploitation of Mobile Apps for English Language Teaching: A Critical Review

“…Hişmanoğlu et al (2017) such as qualitative research methodology, while Gangaiamaran & Pasupathi (2017) used a systematic literature review. Quantitative and qualitative methods were identified in two research articles (Abdi & Cavus, 2019;Rezaei et al, 2014). However, several studies did not identify the research design used Jin, 2017;Kukulska-Hulme, Norris, & Donohue, 2017)…”

“…Some studies showed that both students and teachers preferred mobile applications to teach and learn English (Mirzaei et al, 2018). Mobile-assisted teaching helps learner improve their vocabulary and increase confidence in participating in the classroom (Rezaei et al, 2014), and they make learning enjoyable (Abdi & Cavus, 2019;Gangaiamaran & Pasupathi, 2017). However, some research showed that weak learners are reluctant to use mobile apps to learn English (Wu, 2019).…”

Egyptian Instructors and Massive Open Online Courses: An Attitudinal Intentional Study

“…To test the research reliability (i.e., the consistency of the research measure), the Cronbach's Alpha value of ≤ 0.60 is regarded not reliable, whereas that of ≥ 0.70 is considered totally acceptable. The reliability test for this research study is summarized and shown in Tables (1) and (2). Seeking the external validity and representativeness, the researcher randomly selected the participants.…”

“…Six of the twenty-three shifts proclaimed in the Egyptian Education Strategic Blueprint from 2019 to 2030 concentrate on technology-enhanced renewal in making the educational process more attainable and supporting lifelong continuous learning [1,3,5]. One of the basic and substantial strategies for these transformations is via promoting universities to reinforce Massive Open Online Courses, usually abbreviated as MOOCs.…”