Bima Mhd Ghaluh
Although artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming language education, its application in early childhood oral language curricula remains underexplored. This design-based research developed and evaluated a teacher-mediated, AI-enhanced oral language curriculum and blended professional development programme for kindergarten teachers in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Six play-based modules integrate Google Gemini for real-time story generation and NotebookLM for preparing structured materials; all AI interaction is teacher-mediated, with children engaging through guided play rather than direct screen use. A mixed-methods design involved 94 teachers and 186 children aged 4 to 6 across six schools over 16 weeks. Following intervention, teachers demonstrated significant self-efficacy gains (d = 0.87), implementation fidelity averaged 81.3%, and children showed significant oral language improvement (d = 0.46), with notable gains in narrative production (d = 0.43) and vocabulary (d = 0.38). These findings provide empirical evidence for a teacher-mediated AI curriculum in early childhood oral language education, offering a replicable, developmentally appropriate model for integrating generative AI into play-based curricula without direct child–screen interaction. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2026.
Department of Indonesian Language and Literature Education, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, 55281, Indonesia
