Teachers’ Perceptions toward Using Communicative Language Games in Teaching Young EFL Learners

Abstract

More and more parents all over the world are sending their children to English as a foreign language classes (EFL) hoping that these young learners will gain good language competences at the early age. These parents believe that with good English competence their children will have competitive benefits over other children when they grow up in the era of globalization. However, EFL teachers must be aware of the fact that young children have distinctive characteristics and one of which is that they cannot concentrate for more than 20 minutes in the classroom. Therefore, communicative language games are considered as useful tools to help young learners learn when playing. Up to now, few studies have been conducted to explore what EFL teachers think or believe about the use of communicative language games for young learners. Within that context, the current study was conducted with 93 Vietnamese EFL teachers to explore their perceptions toward the roles, the benefits and the challenges of using communicative language games to teach English to young learners. The study results reveal useful insights into the issue and provide useful recommendations for EFL teachers on how to deal with the challenges originated from the implementation of communicative language games in young learner classrooms.