Rolul jocului didactic în dezvoltarea auzului fonematic la vârsta preșcolară
The Role of Educational Games in Developing Phonemic Awareness in Preschool Age
Alexandra-Georgeta CÎCIU
Abstract
Understanding educational games involves combining the traditional learning process with the fun, engaging, and recreational aspects of play. It is an effective and enjoyable way to increase students’ engagement and interest in the educational process. Nowadays, educational games are becoming increasingly popular as an efficient tool for teaching, learning, and reinforcement, as scientific research has validated its effectiveness and benefits in the educational process. It is a captivating and efficient way to enhance children’s engagement and achieve positive learning outcomes.
Phonemic awareness is a unique feature of human hearing, through which language sounds are understood as semantic or phonetic elements. When there is a disorder in phonemic awareness, it indicates a lack of development of this skill and a lack of exercise in the expressive aspect of verbal language.
The development of phonemic awareness in children can be enhanced through fun activities, such as reciting poems with intonation or guessing the voices of invisible people. Using paronymous words is beneficial at all ages as it helps distinguish similar sounds in pronunciation, ensures the correct positioning of the speech organs during their emission, and aids in differentiating letters with similar visual aspects. For preschool children, play represents the majority of their time, so it is important for them to have fun while learning.
In this study, we aim to design a framework that allows the child to develop phonemic awareness through educational games in a familiar and enjoyable environment, such as kindergarten, where, similar to emotional development, language development plays an essential role in the child’s development as a future student.
The research participants are 2 children from the middle group (a girl and a boy) enrolled in the group where they attend, aged between 4 and 5 years old. The children’s parents have been informed about the study’s objectives and procedures and have given their consent for the preschoolers to participate.
The data collection period lasts for 12 weeks, from February 12, 2024, to May 19, 2024.
Results and conclusions: By using educational games, children become more familiar with different communication situations, develop their ability to engage in dialogues as speakers and listeners, and have the opportunity to formulate grammatically correct questions and answers. Thus, language education games have a significant impact on the development of oral communication skills in preschoolers. Auditory memory exercises, auditory attention, and phonemic differentiation improve children’s phonemic hearing.
Based on the analysis of the results obtained, it can be stated that implementing intervention programs based on educational games for the development of phonemic hearing through educational games, within language and communication activities, has a beneficial impact on preschool-aged children.
Keywords: Developmental Phonemic Awareness in Preschool Age, Language Development, Phonemic awareness.

DOI:10.26744/rrttlc.2024.10.2.07
Published on line: 10/31/2024