Development of communication skills of older preschool children through information technology

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to get the opinions of preschool teachers to improve the communication skills of preschool children through information technology. The phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research approaches, was used in the research. The participant group of the research consists of 62 preschool teachers who teach in various preschool educational institutions in the city of Nursultan, Kazakhstan. Research data were collected with a semi-structured interview form. As a result of the research, it has been determined that the majority of preschool teachers have a very high tendency to use information technologies. On the other hand, it has been determined that the majority of preschool teachers participating in the research have a medium level of competence in using information technologies. The majority of preschool teachers participating in the research stated that they sometimes use information technologies to develop children's communication skills. Preschool teachers participating in the research offered suggestions for teachers and schools about using information technologies in the development of children's communication skills. The majority of teachers suggested the creation of information technology-supported lesson programmes, the design of group projects and the creation of educational games. As for schools, the majority of teachers suggested creating classrooms with technological equipment in schools.

Keywords: Communication skills of preschool children, information technologies, teacher opinions;