The effect of imaginative play actions on language development in five-year-old children

Abstract

The study, using 60 five-year-olds, investigated forms of play: (a) self-action, (b) puppet-action, and (c) control treatments and differences between the sexes on aural language recall scores using semantic, absolute, and syntactic criteria. The results of the preliminary analyses between treatment groups and sex differences on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Harris-Goodenough Draw-A-Man Test indicated no significant main or interaction effects. The subjects in treatment groups and boys and girls were relatively homogeneous on receptive language IQ and motor coordination, respectively. With 3x2 factorial analysis of variance experiments run on aural language recall for each of the three criteria, several significant results were noted: (a) Using the semantic criteria for scoring aural language recall, self-action play yielded significantly higher mean scores than either puppet-action or control groups. (b) Using the semantic criteria to score aural language recall, girls yielded significantly higher scores than boys. (c) Using either the absolute or syntactic scoring criteria, the results of the analysis indicated no significant main or interaction effects on aural language recall.

Prosocial and creative play: Effects of a programme on the verbal and nonverbal intelligence of children aged 10–11 years

“…Thus, there was confirmation of Hypothesis 1, which proposed that the programme would stimulate an increase in verbal intelligence, and of Hypothesis 3, which proposed an increase in the capacity for verbal associative thinking. Moreover, these results are in the same line as those of other studies, which have confirmed a positive effect of play in the development of verbal intelligence-of language (Dansky, 1980a(Dansky, , 1980bFisher, 1992;Garaigordobil, 1992Garaigordobil, , 1995aGaraigordobil, , 1996aGaraigordobil, , 2003aLevy et al, 1992;Marbach & Yawkey, 1980;McCune-Nicolich, 1981;Price-Coffee, 1995;Saltz et al, 1977;Udwin, 1983;Vedeler, 1997;Yawkey, 1986). Thus, the present study supports the positive effect of interventions that stimulate cooperative and creative play-that promote prosocial behaviour-on intellectual factors.…”

“…A difference between this work and other studies that have shown the effectiveness of play in the development of language (Dansky, 1980a;Dockett, 1998;Levy et al, 1992;Marbach & Yawkey, 1980;McCune-Nicolich, 1981;Price-Coffee, 1995;Saltz et al, 1977;Udwin, 1983) lies in its showing that play not only has this effect during the preschool stage, but also throughout childhood. Moreover, the majority of studies have demonstrated these effects through the study of sociodramatic play, and in this work not only sociodramatic play, but also cooperative games in general, with or without representative activity, promote the development of verbal intelligence.…”

“…A pioneering work was that of Saltz et al (1977), who found that fantasy activities produced an increase in IQ, in the ability to distinguish fantasy from reality, and in language. In a similar direction, Marbach and Yawkey (1980) found evidence that an increase in linguistic aptitudes was one of the effects of imaginative play or fantasy, while the work of McCune‐Nicolich (1981) confirmed a positive effect of early simulation play on the development of language. Dansky's (1980a) work supported the positive consequences of sociodramatic play for cognitive development and associative fluidity.…”

“…This line of intervention has its theoretical basis in the conclusions of studies on children's play, which have confirmed that play, the childhood activity par excellence, is vital and indispensable for human development. Research on the contribution of play to child development has confirmed its important role in intellectual development (Bruner, 1986;Dansky, 1980aDansky, , 1980bDockett, 1998;Fisher, 1992;Garaigordobil, 1992Garaigordobil, , 1995aGaraigordobil, , 1995bGaraigordobil, , 1995cGaraigordobil, , 1996bGaraigordobil, , 2003aGaraigordobil, , 2003bLevy, Wolfgang, & Koorland, 1992;Marbach & Yawkey, 1980;McCune-Nicolich, 1981;Piaget, 1945Piaget, /1979Price-Coffee, 1995;Saltz, Dixon, & Johnson, 1977;Udwin, 1983;Vedeler, 1997;Vygotsky, 1933Vygotsky, /1982Yawkey, 1986). A pioneering work was that of Saltz et al (1977), who found that fantasy activities produced an increase in IQ, in the ability to distinguish fantasy from reality, and in language.…”

Pretend Play as a Context for Learning New Information

“…This active experience could have benefited children's detection of the possibility for analogy and their extrapolation of the solution to the target problem. Having previously enacted the solution would make it cognitively available to them when confronted with the analogous problem; both children and adults show better memory when they have enacted something with their bodies (Marbach & Yawkey, 1980;Scott, Harris, & Rothe, 2001). Future work could vary whether children have the opportunity to enact a solution or only observe it during a play period to test this prediction.…”