The Effectiveness of Using Toys in Developing Palestinian Students’ Communication Skills and Vocabulary Retention

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of using toys in developing Palestinians students communication skills. . It also examined the long-term effect of the toys on the retention of the vocabulary. The researcher chose 60 third grade students from Quziba School for girls and boys in Hebron area. He chose two classes from the third grade classes randomly . The sample of the study was 60 students, 30 students in each one. Toys were used in teaching the experimental group, while the traditional way was used with the control one in the first semester of the academic year (2013-2014).The experiment lasted for six weeks. After two weeks, a delayed test was administrated to the experimental group to measure retention. The results of the study revealed that there were statistically significant differences in the total mean score in communication skills achievement between the pupils who learned through toys (experimental group) and those who learned through the traditional method (control group) in the post test. It also showed that there were statistically significant differences at (α ≤0.05) in the total mean score in vocabulary achievement between the pupils who learned through toys (experimental group) and those who learned through the traditional method (control group). And this was due to the method of using toys in teaching vocabulary. In the light of those findings the study recommended the necessity of using toys in teaching English language to make better outcomes in students’ achievement and to shed light on techniques that emphasize organizing information for long learning (retention).