Abstract:
While there is widespread agreement that guided play is good for children’s
development in general, the research base is less secure about the role of guided play
in children’s learning specifically. This urged the researcher to investigate the role of
facilitators in using guided play activities to improve kindergarten (KG) learners
listening and speaking skills in the preschools within the Fosu Municipality.
Sequential explanatory mixed method design was employed for the study. Convenient
sampling was used to obtain the sample of 70. Adapted questionnaires from Kekesi
(2019) were used as the instrument for quantitative data whiles the semi-structured
interviews were used to gather the qualitative data. The data collected on quantitative
aspect were analyzed using descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations,
frequencies and percentages). The qualitative data were analyzed in themes to
complement the quantitative data. It was found that generally most of the preschool
facilitators within the Fosu Municipality have a positive perception on the usage of
guided play activities as a teaching technique in the preschools. It was found that most
of the preschool facilitators within the Fosu Municipality use guided play activities to
improve KG learners listening and speaking skills of learners. It was recommended
that school managers and head facilitators within the Fosu Municipality should
cultivate a conducive social environment that could promote and motivate facilitators’
behaviour to embrace the use of play as a teaching strategy.
Description:
A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Early Childhood Education,
Faculty of Educational Studies, submitted to the school of Graduate Studies,
in partial fulfillment
of the requirement for the award of degree of
Master of Education
(Early Childhood Education)
In the University of Education, Winneba
