Supporting Oral Language Skills in Preschool Children Through Digital Art Making in the Classroom

 

Mengyun Xiao¹*, Fadzilah Amzah²

¹Ms. Ph.D. Candidate, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia, mengyun@student.usm.my

²Dr, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia, fadzilahamzah@usm.my

*Corresponding Author

 

Abstract

Digital art-making blends traditional visual arts with a series of information technologies and has the potential to create new opportunities for children's expressive arts practices. While a significant amount of research has been completed to examine the effectiveness of early childhood visual arts production on children's language development and further research has focused on the availability of digital technology in the arts curriculum, there is little focus on digital art creation as a teaching method and learning resource to support children's oral language development. The aim of this study is to explore the ways in which digital art creation is used and its role in preschool education. Using a case study design under a qualitative approach, this study was conducted through a case study of a public rural kindergarten early childhood teacher's digital art creation classroom in China, through in-depth interviews with five teachers, analysis of teaching diaries, and observations of children aged 5–6 during two art creation sessions. The data collected was analysed using content analysis. The results showed that the kindergarten teachers declared that teaching art-making using digital technology was more entertaining, engaged the children's attention, created opportunities for independent learning, and increased opportunities to share experiences with peers and teachers. The study recommends that teachers' traditional perceptions of digital teaching should be modified and their ability to use digital technology for teaching should be improved. In addition, kindergartens should be equipped with modern communication technology equipment. Furthermore, the government could invest more money in modern devices for kindergartens. The creative arts curriculum ought to be adapted to technological developments and provide opportunities for children to learn how to make the best use of technology.

Keywords: Digital art-making, preschool children, oral language skills, teaching strategy