Introduction
In order to explore how role play and dialogue in early childhood contexts contribute to our understanding of language and education, we focus on, but are not limited to studies of sociodramatic play, where children pretend in verbal interaction with others. The terms imaginative play, fantasy play and pretend play are also used to describe play that is crucial in children's development, particularly around ages 4–6, beyond which more rule‐governed games and language play take over (see Lytra, Playful Talk, Learners' Play Frames and the Construction of Identities, Volume 3).
Smilansky ( 1968) characterises sociodramatic play as: (a) imitative role play, (b) make‐believe with regard to toys or objects, (c) make‐believe with regard to actions and situations, (d) persistence for at least 10 minutes, (e) interaction between at least two players and (f) verbal communication. In our discussion of role play we are not limited to studies of at least 10 minutes, nor indeed to...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Annica, L.: 2005, ‘The funeral: A study of children's shared meaning‐making and its developmental significance’, Early Years: Journal of International Research and Development 25(1), 5–16.
Aubrey, C., Godfrey, R., and Thompson, L.: 2000, Early Childhood Educational Research: Issues in Methodology and Ethics, Routledge Falmer, London.
Bergen, D.: 2002, ‘The role of pretend play in children's cognitive development’, Early Childhood Research and Practice 4(1).
Bourne, J.: 2002, ‘ ‘Oh, what will Miss say!’: Constructing texts and identities in the discursive processes of classroom writing’, Language and Education 16(4), 242–258.
Danby, S.: 1999, ‘Constituting social membership: Two readings of talk in an early childhood classroom’, Language and Education 10(2), 151–170.
Drummond, M.‐J.: 1999, ‘Another way of seeing: Perceptions of play in a Steiner kindergarten’, in L. Abbott and H. Moylett (eds.), Early Education Transformed, Falmer Press, London.
Drury, R.: 2004, ‘Samia and Sadaqat play school: Early bilingual literacy at home’, in E. Gregory, S. Long, and D. Volk (eds.), Many Pathways to Literacy: Young Children Learning with Siblings, Peers, Grandparents and Communities, Routledge Falmer, London.
Dyson, A.H.: 2003, ‘ “Welcome to the Jam”: Popular culture, school literacy, and the making of childhoods’, Harvard Educational Review 7(3), 328–361.
Fein, G.: 1981, ‘Pretend play in childhood: An integrative review’, Child Development 52(4), 1095–1118.
Gillen, J.: 2000, ‘Recontextualisation: The shaping of telephone discourse in play by three and four year olds’, Language and Education 14(4), 250–265.
Gillen, J. and Hall, N.: 2001, ‘Hiya Mum!: An analysis of pretence telephone play in a nursery setting’, Early Years: Journal of International Research and Development 21(1), 15–24.
Gmitrova, V. and Gmitrov, J.: 2003, ‘The impact of teacher‐directed and child‐directed pretend play on cognitive competence in kindergarten children’, ECEJ 30(4), 241–246.
Gregory, E.: 2004, ‘ ‘Invisible’ teachers of literacy: Collusion between siblings and teachers in creating classroom cultures’, Literacy 38(2), 97–105.
Gregory, E., Long, S., and Volk, D. (eds.): 2004, Many Pathways to Literacy: Early Learning with Siblings, Grandparents, Peers and Communities, Routledge Falmer, London.
Hicks, D. and Kanevsky, R.: 1992, ‘Ninja turtles and other superheros: A case study of one literacy learner’, Linguistics and Education 4(1), 59–105.
Janson, U.: 2001, ‘Togetherness and diversity in pre‐school play’, International Journal of Early Years Education 9(2), 135–143.
Kelly, C.: 2004, ‘Buzz Lightyear in the nursery: Intergenerational literacy learning in a multimedia age’, in E. Gregory, S. Long, and D. Volk (eds.), Many Pathways to Literacy: Early Learning with Siblings, Grandparents, Peers and Communities, Routledge Falmer, London.
Kitson, N.: 1994, ‘ ‘Please Miss Alexander: Will you be the robber?’ Fantasy Play: A case for Adult intervention’, in J. Moyles (ed.), The Excellence of Play, OUP, Buckingham.
Levy, A.K., Wolfgang, C.H., and Koorland, M.A.: 1992, ‘Sociodramatic play as a method for enhancing the language performance of kindergarten age students’, Early Childhood Research Quarterly 7, 245–262.
Marjanovic‐Umek, L. and Musek‐Lesnik, P.: 2001, ‘Symbolic Play: Opportunities for cognitive and language development in preschool settings’, Early Years 21(1), 55–64.
Martin, W. and Dombey, H.: 2002, ‘Finding a voice: Language and play in the home corner’, Language and Education 16(1), 48–61.
McWilliam, D. and Howe, C.: 2004, ‘Enhancing pre‐schoolers’ reasoning skills: An intervention to optimize the use of justificatory speech acts during peer interaction’, Language and Education 18(6), 504–521.
Neeley, P.M., Neeley, R.A., Justen, J.E., and Tipton‐Sumner, C.: 2001, ‘Scripted play as a language intervention strategy for preschoolers with developmental disabilities’, Early Childhood Education Journal 28(4), 243–246.
Neppyl, T.K. and Murray, A.D.: 1997, ‘Social dominance and play patterns among pre‐schoolers: Gender comparisons’, Sex Roles: A Journal of Research 36, 5–6.
Riojas‐Cortez, M.: 2001, ‘Preschoolers’ funds of knowledge displayed through sociodramatic play episodes in a bilingual classroom’, Early Childhood Education Journal 29(1), 35–40.
Sawyer, R.K.: 1996, ‘Role voicing: Gender and age in preschool play discourse’, Discourse Processes 22(3), 289–307.
Siraj‐Blatchford, I. and Whitebread, D.: 2003, Supporting ICT in the Early Years, Open University Press, Maidenhead.
Smilansky, S.: 1968, The Effects of Sociodramatic Play on Disadvantaged Preschool Children, Wiley, New York.
Thornley‐Hall, C.: 1989, Listening to our Children. Project Talk, A Medium for Learning and Change: 1988–91, Peel Board of Education, Ontario.
Williams, A.: 2004, ‘ “Right, get your book bags!”: Siblings playing school in multi‐ethnic London’, in E. Gregory, S. Long, and D. Volk (eds.), Many Pathways to Literacy: Early Learning with Siblings, Grandparents, Peers and Communities, Routledge Falmer, London.
Woods, P., Boyle, M., and Hubbard, N.: 1999, Multicultural Children in the Early Years: Creative Teaching, Meaningful Learning, Multilingual Matters, Clevedon.
Yaacob, A.: 2005, Role Play as a Research Tool in Third Space Framework, Paper presented at the Interrogating Third Spaces Conference, Leicester University, Leicester.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer Science+Business Media LLC
About this entry
Cite this entry
Gardner, S., Yaacob, A. (2008). Role Play and Dialogue in Early Childhood Education. In: Hornberger, N.H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30424-3_79
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30424-3_79
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-32875-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-30424-3
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law