Abstract—Thailand’s primary education has encountered a major problem of inadequate teachers. The common temporary solutions in each school are to have one teacher teaching all subjects and to teach to a textbook. Consequently, enhancing motivation has long been the continuing challenge for Thai learners in traditional English language classrooms. This study aims at exploring attitudes of young learners who participated in the 30-hour play-based language learning activities course. They were interviewed individually toward their direct experiences in manipulating of materials and activities designed for the course. Moreover, focus group interviews were conducted to investigate parents’ opinions on their children’s behaviors outside classrooms. Findings from the study present materials children like to play with in each play type grounded on the play and sociocultural theories. Also, the findings discuss analyses of what and how play materials influence children’s interests, engagement, and language learning. They illustrate factors affecting choices of play materials including age, gender, and types of play objects. More importantly, the findings show essential implications on both learner’s motivation and autonomous learning and teachers’ roles and mindset toward alternative instructions.
 

Index Terms—play-based language learning, young learners, materials development, EFL

Cite: Rin Cheep-Aranai and Orawan Chukaeo, "Young Learners’ Attitudes towards Classroom Materials Design in Play-based Language Learning Course," International Journal of Learning and Teaching, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 195-202, September 2018. doi: 10.18178/ijlt.4.3.195-202