Symbolic play provides a fertile context for language development

Abstract

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Symbolic play as a zone of proximal development: An analysis of informational exchange

“…In pretend play, parents regarded their role as a 'partner in fun' , but during real activities regarded their role as a teacher or monitor. Notably, they also found that parents asked more questions during the pretend activity, consistent with what has been found for the cohort studied in the current study across two longitudinal time points (Creaghe et al, 2021). Taggart et al suggested that the use of questioning may indicate the provision of learning opportunities for the child, and also 'scaffold the construction of shared meanings in pretend play' (p. 779).…”

“…Such styles are categorised by the use of distinct linguistic frames that, in the case of pretence, serve to draw children into conversation or, in the case of real activities, direct behaviour. Creaghe et al (2021) analysed the conversational dynamics of the dyads studied by Quinn and Kidd (2019). Consistent with Reissland (1998), they found that in symbolic play caregivers used language with their infants that drew them into the interaction significantly more than in functional play; specifically, questions (e.g., would you like some tea?)…”

“…The current study investigated informational exchange in the infant-caregiver dyads reported in Creaghe et al (2021), when the infants were aged 24-months (and thus when they had productive language). Thus, we investigated informational exchange between infant-caregiver dyads in symbolic and functional play.…”

“…This long and successful exchange demonstrates a key feature of symbolic play -caregivers' frequent use of questions as a discursive device to scaffold children's creation of the pretend scenario, consistent with Reissland's (1998) proposal that pretence induces an interactive communicative style. InCreaghe et al's (2021) analysis of care-…”

Maternal passives addressed to Japanese-speaking children: A usage-based approach

“…The relationship between symbolic play and language development has been frequently discussed (Bergen & Mauer, 2000; Hirsh-Pasek et al, 2004, 2008; Quinn et al, 2018). In English, symbolic play naturally elicits caregivers’ use of the linguistic and communicative behaviors that assist children’s essential language development, such as conversational turn-takings, interrogatives, and mimetics (Creaghe et al, 2021). Our results have shown that the passives in symbolic play have discrete reference to the actions and the scene, assisting children to map thematic roles in the actions and events.…”