The Role of Learning Through Play in Developing Language Skills in Kindergarten Children from the Perspective of Teachers A Comparative Field Study in the Kindergartens of Koya City

Abstract

From the beginning until now, the early stages of human life are an important basis for human development, especially linguistic development, and early age is the basis for personality formation and learning and...etc. Play has become a reliable way to teach children in educational institutions, especially in kindergartens. Nowadays, play is so important for teaching that play is not seen as a leisure or entertainment, but as a way to build children's personalities and skills. There is no doubt that language skills are well developed by children using toys by expressing their opinions about the toys and being forced to interact with their peers, or asking questions about how to use toys, etc The objective of this study is to determine the role of learning through play in the development of language skills in kindergarten children in Koya city, as well as to determine the role of learning through play on each of the language skills (listening, speaking, reading). The researcher used the descriptive method. The study population consisted of all kindergarten teachers in the center of Koya city for the academic year (2024-2025), numbering (13) kindergartens and (173) teachers, who were selected by simple random sampling. The instrument used was a measure for diagnosing language skills. Due to the scarcity of studies in the Kurdish language, the researcher prepared the measure and, for this purpose, relied on educational literature and previous studies. The most important statistical tools used were (Alpha Cronbach, Correlation Coefficient, One-sample T-test). The results showed that:

•         Learning through play has a high-level role in the language skills of kindergarten children in the center of Koya city.

•         Speaking skill develops more significantly compared to listening and reading skills when using learning through play among kindergarten children in the center of Koya city.

Finally, the researcher presented several recommendations and suggestions in light of the findings.