According to the Estonian National Curriculum for Preschool Childcare Institutions (2008/2011), children mainly learn through playing, which facilitates the development of their cognitive, social-emotional, self-regulation and learning skills. Playing is closely connected to language: through play, a child's speech develops, and in turn, play evolves with the help of the child's speech (Vygotsky, 1933/2016). To support children's development at different levels, teachers must be able to choose educational materials that consider the individuality of children and are age-appropriate for them (Bodrova & Leong, 2010). One way to acquire a second language is by playing language-learning games. These games are defined as games that combine play with learning, with the primary goal of helping children learn a language (Pyle et al., 2020). In addition to traditional games, technology-enhanced games that incorporate various digital technologies are used in preschool (Alotaibi, 2024). For example, touchscreen devices such as tablets (Neumann & Neumann, 2014), mobile phones (Cavus & Ibrahim, 2017), and robotics tools (Canbeldek & Isikoglu, 2023) are used to support early language learning.

All Estonian preschool childcare institutions (hereafter: kindergartens) have recently transitioned to Estonian-language education. Thus, there has been an increasing need for language-learning games that would be suitable for teaching Estonian as a second language to children with different levels of language proficiency. Studies have shown that using language-learning games in second language learning improves children's language skills, increases motivation, is fun for children, and offers opportunities for collaboration (Saleh & Ahmed Althaqafi, 2022). According to Estonian teachers, games suitable for early second-language acquisition are those that consider children's varying language proficiency and interests while also allowing language teaching to be integrated with other subject areas (Leola et al., 2024). However, Peterson et al. (2020) have pointed out that Estonian kindergartens lack suitable tools and games for developing children’s language skills. This may be due to the complexity of creating language-learning games. The family background of children starting to learn a second language vary – some children do not hear Estonian at home at all, while others have a parent who speaks Estonian with them daily (Leola et al., 2024). Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop technology-enhanced language-learning games to support non-native children’s acquisition of Estonian as a second language and to determine teachers’ evaluations of the suitability of the games.

Based on the ADDIE instructional design model, technology-enhanced language-learning games were created in this study. Estonian kindergarten teachers tested the games with two- to seven-year-old children and completed a questionnaire during the implementation (N = 64) and evaluation (N = 99) stages of the games’ development. Teachers evaluated the suitability of language-learning games highly in both of the stages. When comparing the teachers' evaluations based on the non-native children’s Estonian language proficiency groups, there were no differences in the evaluations of the comprehensibility of the games' content and appeal. However, a difference emerged regarding the games' alignment with children's Estonian language levels, but only between two game session groups. According to the teachers’ evaluations, the games’ alignment with Estonian language levels and content clarity were higher for finalized games than in the implementation stage, while children's enjoyment of the games remained similar. The development process resulted in high-quality language-learning games suitable for teaching Estonian as a second language to kindergarten children.

The development of the technology-enhanced language-learning games was based on the ADDIE model, which divides the process of learning materials into a five stages: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation (Branch, 2010). The current research mainly focuses on the stages of implementation and evaluation. Kindergartens were recruited to use the language-learning games and provide feedback in the implementation stage. In this stage, 64 teachers evaluated the games played by the children during 185 game sessions. Next, in-service training was carried out for teachers working in kindergartens. After that, in the evaluation stage, 99 of the teachers who took part in the training evaluated the games based on 202 games session. In the implementation and evaluation stages, a questionnaire was used to collect teachers’ feedback. Teachers evaluated the suitability of the games based on three aspects: alignment with children’s Estonian language level, content comprehensibility and appeal on a 3-point scale (ω ≥ .70). Teachers were asked to mark the age and the Estonian language level of non-native children participating in each session. The data analysis was conducted using Jamovi version 2.4.8 (The jamovi project, 2024). McDonald’s omega was used for reliability statistics (Kalkbrenner, 2023). Next, Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric analysis of variance was used to compare the ratings of teachers based on the Estonian language level of non-native children in the game sessions. The effect size was small (ε2 = .1). Finally, the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test was used to identify the differences between the teachers’ ratings in the implementation and evaluation stages. The effect size was small (r = .1) (Cohen et al., 2007).

In both the implementation and evaluation stages, teachers highly evaluated the appeal and comprehensibility of the games. If games are enjoyable for children, they acquire the intended language skills through play (Hirsh-Pasek & Golinkoff, 2008). Teachers’ evaluations of the alignment of the games with children's Estonian language proficiency was slightly lower as expected as children come from various home backgrounds and start learning Estonian at different ages (Leola et al., 2024). We categorized the game sessions into groups based on the non-native children’s language proficiency and determined the differences between teachers’ evaluations based on these groups. There was a significant, but weak difference in teachers’ evaluations of the alignment with children’s Estonian language level, but only between two groups out of 11. There were no differences in teachers’ evaluations regarding the games’ content comprehensibility and appeal to children. This indicates that the games created during the development process were equally understandable and enjoyable for children with varying language proficiency. We determined the extent to which teachers’ evaluations of the suitability of the games differed between the implementation and evaluation stages. The results showed that teachers’ evaluations of the alignment with the children’s Estonian language level and content comprehensibility were higher for the finalized games, showing the effectiveness of the development process. However, here were no significant differences in teachers’ evaluations of the games’ appeal showing that children greatly enjoyed the language-learning games. In conclusion, high-quality technology-enhanced games suitable for teaching children Estonian as a second language were created and evaluated in the project. It should be noted that different teachers evaluated the games in the implementation and evaluation stages and feedback was gathered with limited number of statements. Future developments of language-learning games could include interventions, which would provide valuable information regarding the effectiveness of technology-enhanced games in language learning.

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