Integration of Augmented Reality in the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language in Early Childhood Education

Technology is ubiquitous in the educational field nowadays. Augmented Reality is one of the emerging technologies with more potential in educational contexts in the mid-term. The purpose of this study is to evaluate if the use of Augmented Reality in early childhood education improves the learning of English as a foreign language, increases pupils’ motivation and helps children at this age to establish more positive socio-affective relationships. A quasi-experimental study with an experimental and a control group was carried out with 52 and 50 early childhood education pupils, respectively. The results show a significant improvement in motivation, learning and socio-affective relationships in the experimental group, who completed instruction where AR was employed as a teaching tool, in comparison with the control group.