Teachers’ perspectives on using realia to teach english vocabulary to children

Abstract

The incorporation of real elements in the teaching of English provides effective opportunities for vocabulary learning, seeking to provide visual and tangible tools that stimulate the comprehension and retention of new words especially in children, so this st udy aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Realia in elementary level students and analyze its impact on motivation, participation, and acquisition of new words. In addition, this research aims to explore the perspectives, opinions, and experiences on the use of this technique, so a qualitative approach was adopted, and it was given through interviews to a group of 5 teachers where 2 belong to the Escuela de Educación Básica José Mejía Lequerica and the other 3 belong to other different institutions. The results of this study revealed that the use of real objects in the classroom not only improves vocabulary comprehension but also fosters more meaningful and contextualized learning, increasing children's connection, interest, and active participation. Thus, the research concludes that incorporating real-life objects in the classroom is effective as it enhances vocabulary learning and facilitates a multisensory experience which facilitates the connection between the language and the real environment.