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In this study, various communicative strategies that young children employed to create and develop pretend play with peers in the block center were examined. Two preschools, one in Korea and the other in the United States, were selected. Subjects were children in the 4-year-old classroom in each school. The average age of the children at the time of the investigation was 59 months. For data collection, videotaping, audiotaping, field-note taking, interviews with teachers, and school enrollment records were used. During pretend block play, children created talk and actions in order to deal with challenges related to various aspects of play (e.g., accessory play materials, construction, plot, and enactment). Accordingly, children's communicative strategies were categorized as follows: (a) material communication, (b) construction communication, (c) plot communication, and (d) enactment. Also, subcategories under each category were developed. It was found that, in different phases of play in which they faced different types of challenges, children used certain strategies more often (communication about material selection and construction definition were most frequently used in the initiation phase of play). In terms of cultural aspects of the pretend play, in the Korean setting, the following were noticed: (a) a rigidly formed participant structure in which several positions were available, (b) the use of various comparison strategies, and (c) an overwhelmingly prevalent play theme: "The good guys winning over the bad guys." In the American setting, the following aspects were common: (a) frequent calling for the teachers when conflicts involving the ownership issue arose, (b) negotiable play atmosphere, and (c) consequent ample negotiation. Implications for educators as to how to encourage children to participate more in pretend play with peers in the block center were provided. Recommendations for further research pertained to the following: (a) methodological progress in studying children's play, (b) use of categories developed in this study, and (c) detecting individual differences that could shed light on optimal assistance of child development.

"Why are you researching us?" ... "Are you a spy?"..."Are you taping right now?" asked children at the ‘Community School,' in those first moments of this qualitative study. This thesis contributes to the growing body of social research in the field of early childhood education, viewing children as capable and competent meaning makers, engaging their input as ‘agentive researchers,’ and reconceptualizing research methodology, play theory, and early childhood teaching practice. Changing contexts of 21st century childhoods, as well as new theories regarding literacy and meaning making, prompted this research involving a reconceptualization of play and its value, within the context of multiliteracies theories and holistic education. This process of reconceptualization was informed by observation (playscapes, places, props, plots, partners and practices) of boys at play considering their meaning-making processes. Through participant observation in a full-day Kindergarten, play episodes were documented (i.e., digital videography, photography, audio recording, field notes, collection of artifacts) and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Three broad themes emerged. First, physical and social aspects of the Classroom Play Environment were found to be influential in creating conditions for play, influencing the quality of engagement and learning. Ample time, space, freedom of movement, and access to plentiful creative materials were important in children’s active play and meaning making processes. Common behavourist classroom management techniques were avoided in favour of social constructivist approaches, which promoted children’s self-regulation with an aim to recognize and foster their sense of agency, and support emergent play-literacy practices (Hill & Nichols, 2006). Second, children’s explanations regarding the source and inspiration of play themes and interests prompted a reconsideration of ‘spontaneity’ as foundational to a Definition of Play. Defining play processes as “multiliteracies”, and play episodes as “text”, play ideas were found to be intertextually linked to multiple texts including picture books, multimedia, and iconic texts. Third, Boys' Play was observed to involve much movement combined with rough and tumble, pretend, construction, and word play, prompting a re-consideration of ‘narrative’ within the context of play and literacy research literature. As well, boys inquired about gendered play objects and identities in complex and personal ways. This digital thesis document utilized a multimodal design, embedding visual and audio text, creating a new multimodal thesis form with an aim toward considering all modes of meaning making as equal, rather than emphasizing or privileging print text (Jewitt & Kress, 2003).

"Why are you researching us?" ... "Are you a spy?"..."Are you taping right now?" asked children at the ‘Community School,' in those first moments of this qualitative study. This thesis contributes to the growing body of social research in the field of early childhood education, viewing children as capable and competent meaning makers, engaging their input as ‘agentive researchers,’ and reconceptualizing research methodology, play theory, and early childhood teaching practice. Changing contexts of 21st century childhoods, as well as new theories regarding literacy and meaning making, prompted this research involving a reconceptualization of play and its value, within the context of multiliteracies theories and holistic education. This process of reconceptualization was informed by observation (playscapes, places, props, plots, partners and practices) of boys at play considering their meaning-making processes. Through participant observation in a full-day Kindergarten, play episodes were documented (i.e., digital videography, photography, audio recording, field notes, collection of artifacts) and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Three broad themes emerged. First, physical and social aspects of the Classroom Play Environment were found to be influential in creating conditions for play, influencing the quality of engagement and learning. Ample time, space, freedom of movement, and access to plentiful creative materials were important in children’s active play and meaning making processes. Common behavourist classroom management techniques were avoided in favour of social constructivist approaches, which promoted children’s self-regulation with an aim to recognize and foster their sense of agency, and support emergent play-literacy practices (Hill & Nichols, 2006). Second, children’s explanations regarding the source and inspiration of play themes and interests prompted a reconsideration of ‘spontaneity’ as foundational to a Definition of Play. Defining play processes as “multiliteracies”, and play episodes as “text”, play ideas were found to be intertextually linked to multiple texts including picture books, multimedia, and iconic texts. Third, Boys' Play was observed to involve much movement combined with rough and tumble, pretend, construction, and word play, prompting a re-consideration of ‘narrative’ within the context of play and literacy research literature. As well, boys inquired about gendered play objects and identities in complex and personal ways. This digital thesis document utilized a multimodal design, embedding visual and audio text, creating a new multimodal thesis form with an aim toward considering all modes of meaning making as equal, rather than emphasizing or privileging print text (Jewitt & Kress, 2003).

本篇論文主要在探討漢語幼兒同儕的假裝遊戲中的後設溝通，研究問題如下：1. 孩童在社會性的假裝遊戲(social pretend play)中，會使用哪些後設溝通策略？ 2.當幼兒在建構共享意義(shared meaning)時，哪一個後設溝通策略會是最成功的？參與本研究的兩位女孩同分別為四歲及五歲，總共在她們的托兒所進行兩次錄影。本研究採用Giffin在1984年發表的後設溝通策略架構，總共包含七個分類：(1)直接演出 (enactment), (2) 另有動機的話語 (ulterior conversation), (3) 強調(underscoring), (4) 說故事(storytelling), (5) 提示(prompting), (6) 不言明的建構(implicit pretend structuring), and (7) 直接言明 (overt proposals to pretend)。另外，本研究再加入第八個分類：直接接受 (simple acceptance)。研究發現孩童在他們的社會性假裝遊戲中，最常使用的策略是提示(prompting)，接下來為另有動機的話語 (ulterior conversation)、直接演出 (enactment)、不言明的建構(implicit pretend structuring)。而使用時最可以成功建構分享意義的後設溝通策略已成功率高到低分別為直接接受(Simple acceptance)、強調(underscoring)、另有動機的話語(ulterior conversation)、提示(prompting)以及不言明的建構(implicit pretending structuring)。 / The purpose of the present study was to examine how young children metacommunicate to construct shared meaning in social pretend play. The two research questions were: a) what are the metacommunication strategies used in children’s social pretend play with peers? and b) when children work to construct shared meaning, which metacommunication strategy leads to a higher success rate for shared meaning construction? The study included two female participants, Dora and Sally, who were four and five years old respectively. Two recording sessions were conducted during break times at their day care center. The resulting natural speech data was transcribed for further analysis using the CHILDES format. Analysis was conducted using Giffin’s framework of metacommunication strategies, which defines seven categories: (1) enactment, (2) ulterior conversation, (3) underscoring, (4) storytelling, (5) prompting, (6) implicit pretend structuring, and (7) overt proposals to pretend. An eighth category, simple acceptance, was added for the present study. The results showed that the two participants engaged in a large amount of social pretend play, and metacommunication was found to be an on-going process, with one shared meaning developing gradually into the next. Prompting was the most frequently used metacommunication strategy during the play, followed by ulterior conversation, enactment, and implicit pretend structuring. In respect to the second research question, it was found that the metacommunication strategy with the highest rate of success in constructing shared meaning was simple acceptance (the newly added category), followed by underscoring, ulterior conversation, prompting, and implicit pretend structuring. It could be seen from the children’s social pretend play that the participants were developing their cognitive competence (e.g. symbolic thinking), linguistic competence (e.g. attending to others’ speech, producing logical and coherent responses), and social competence (e.g. taking turns, taking perspectives, trying to understand others’ emotions). Studying peer interactions is crucial for understanding what factors are universal in children’s thinking and development, and future studies with larger samples and with participants from more divergent backgrounds are needed in order to advance systematic research on the issues concerned.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:30:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5952.pdf: 1430380 bytes, checksum: c8ba5e629cc06643244438cb9ada84d7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-21 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / The creation of imaginary companions is a phenomenon that has been timidly explored in the international literature in Psychology and Psychiatry. More specifically, there are still important questions regarding who are the children that create imaginary companions and the role that fantasy plays in emotional and cognitive development. In recent years, several studies investigating symbolic play have been conducted in Brazil, however, according to three different data bases (SciELO-Brasil, Index Psi, PePSIC), there are only two national studies on the topic of imaginary companions, suggesting a yet limited understanding of the manifestation of this phenomenon in Brazilian children. Considering this gap in the literature, as well as the potential contributions of studies on this type of fantasy, the present research aimed, therefore, to investigate this form of pretend play in a sample of Brazilian children, and to be the first study in Brazil to investigate the relationship between the creation of imaginary companions and sociocognitive development. Our hypothesis was that children with imaginary companions would have significantly higher scores than the comparison group in measures of language, social cognition and engagement in fantasy. Forty children between 6 and 7 years of age (M age = 7;1, SD = 5.29), 21 girls and 19 boys, participated in the study and were recruited from an elementary public school in a city located in the state of São Paulo. Eighteen participants were included in the group of children who reported an imaginary companion and 22 in the group of children who did not. To test for possible differences between the two groups, three measures of theory-of-mind, emotional comprehension and language were used, as well as an interview about fantasy orientation and the characteristics of their imaginary companions. In addition, a questionnaire assessing socioeconomic status and an interview about the family and the child s fantasy world were administered to 11 participating caretakers. As predicted, children s reports of imaginary companions were rich and seemed to serve similar functions to the ones found in previous international studies (e.g., company, fun, emotional support). Children with imaginary companions had higher vocabulary scores than children who did not report them, but no significant differences were found between the two groups with regard to theory of mind and emotional comprehension. Such line of research can help to demystify this form of pretend play, to which little attention is given in the media and in the scientific community, as well as to collaborate with the instruction of parents and educators on the creation of imaginary companions, and finally, to contribute to international research by providing data from a specific culture. Moreover, the present study provides evidence that the creation of imaginary companions is not associated with any developmental deficits; on the contrary, it can be a predictor of more sophisticated abilities such as higher vocabulary. / A criação de amigos imaginários é um fenômeno que tem sido explorado de forma tímida na literatura psicológica e psiquiátrica internacional. Mais especificamente, ainda há questões importantes sobre quem são as crianças que criam amigos imaginários e sobre o papel da fantasia no desenvolvimento emocional e cognitivo infantil. Nos últimos anos, diversos estudos brasileiros têm investigado a brincadeira simbólica, no entanto, segundo três diferentes bases de dados (SciELO-Brasil, Index Psi, PePSIC), há apenas dois estudos nacionais voltados especificamente para a criação de amigos imaginários, o que sugere uma compreensão ainda limitada da manifestação desse fenômeno em crianças brasileiras. Diante dessa lacuna na literatura nacional e as potenciais contribuições do estudo sobre esse tipo de fantasia, a presente pesquisa teve como objetivo principal explorar esta forma de faz de conta em uma amostra de crianças brasileiras, sendo a primeira no país a investigar a sua relação com o desenvolvimento sociocognitivo. A hipótese defendida foi a de que as crianças com amigos imaginários apresentariam desempenhos significativamente melhores em medidas de linguagem, cognição social e engajamento em fantasia, em relação ao grupo de comparação. Quarenta crianças, entre 6 e 7 anos (M idade = 7;1, DP = 5,29) participaram do estudo, sendo 21 meninas e 19 meninos, todos recrutados em uma escola de ensino fundamental da rede estadual de uma cidade do interior de São Paulo. Dentre os participantes, 18 foram classificadas no grupo de crianças que possuem um amigo imaginário e 22 no grupo de crianças que não relatam ter amigos imaginários. A fim de testar possíveis diferenças entre os dois grupos de crianças, foram utilizadas três tarefas de teoria da mente, um teste de compreensão emocional e uma medida de vocabulário, bem como uma entrevista sobre engajamento em fantasia e outra sobre amigos imaginários, para explorar as características de tais criações. Um roteiro de entrevista sobre a família e o universo de fantasia da criança foi aplicado com 11 responsáveis de participantes do estudo. Conforme esperado, os relatos de companhias imaginárias recolhidos mostraram-se ricos e apresentaram funções parecidas com aquelas de estudos internacionais (e.g, companhia, diversão, conforto emocional). As crianças com amigos imaginários apresentaram escores mais elevados do que as crianças sem esse tipo de criação na medida de vocabulário receptivo, mas não foram encontradas diferenças significativas entre os dois grupos no que diz respeito à teoria da mente e à compreensão emocional. Pesquisas como esta podem ajudar a desmistificar essa forma de faz de conta, sobre a qual pouco se fala na mídia e na comunidade científica, bem como colaborar com a instrução de pais e educadores sobre a criação de amigos imaginários, e finalmente, contribuir para a pesquisa internacional, ao fornecer dados provenientes de uma cultura específica. Além disso, o presente trabalho oferece evidências de que a criação de amigos imaginários não se associa a déficits em desenvolvimento, e pode inclusive ser um preditor de habilidades mais sofisticadas, como por exemplo, um vocabulário mais desenvolvido.

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