Iakshina A.N., Smirnova V.N. Indirect play support: the influence of storytelling on pretend play development in preschool age
This work is licensed under a Сreative Commons Atribiution - NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Abstract
Relevance. Currently, in most preschool groups there is a minimum level of quality conditions for supporting play. The task is to improve the quality of play support. The article examines the developing potential of regular practice of storytelling as a part of indirect play support in preschool setting.
The aim of the study: to analyze the influence of regular storytelling experience on the development of pretend play.
Methods. 38 children aged 6-7 years from two preschool groups took part in a pedagogical experiment (duration – 7 months). For the initial and repeated assessment of the level of play development we used E.O. Smirnova’s diagnostic tool and the “challenge-response” parameter (L.I. Elkoninova); to assess the level of imagination development – the tool “Where is whose place?” (E.E. Kravtsova). In the experimental group, conditions were created for regular practice of storytelling based on children’s drawings. The results of the pedagogical experiment were assessed by the presence of a shift in the level of development of play and imagination in the experimental and control groups before and after the pedagogical experiment.
Results. Based on the analysis of more than 600 children’s stories, 3 types of children’s stories were identified and 5 trajectories of development of children’s storytelling were described. During the experiment, children moved from a description and sequence of actions to more complex structure with culmination. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences in the level of development of play and imagination before and after the pedagogical experiment (p<0.01) only in the experimental group.
Conclusions. Regular storytelling is a significant condition for the development of the cognitive aspect of the play associated with substitution, symbolic actions of the child, plot features, as well as the affective side of play associated with the creation of a situation of challenge and response. Storytelling can be seen not as the only necessary condition for the development of play, but as an additional condition (part of indirect support) that expands the capabilities of children playing. The results can be used in developing a strategy for complex play support in preschool organizations.
References
Benson, M.S. (1993). The structure of four- and five-year-olds’ narratives in pretend play and storytelling. First Language, 13, 203-223.
Bodrova, E., Leong, D. (2003). Adult’s influence on play. Vygotskian theory. Moscow. Pragmatika kul’tury, 249-260. (In Russ.).
Bredikyte, M. (2011). The zones of proximal development in children’s play, 215.
Bredikyte, M. (2022). Adult participation in the creation of narrative playworlds: challenges and contradictions. International Journal of Early Years Education, 30, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669760.2022.2107895
Currin, F.H., Diederich, K., Pantoja, L.S., Cargo, H., Franzone, N., Geiger-Lee, J., Hourcade, J.P. (2023). Designing stories to inspire preschoolers’ creative, collaborative role play. In Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on Information Technology for Social Good (GoodIT ‘23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 40–47. DOI:10.1145/3582515.3609516
Elkoninova, L.I. (2008). Psychology of games and fairy tales. Moscow. Psihologicheskaja jelektronnaja biblioteka, 85. (In Russ.).
Elkoninova, L.I. (2016). The unity of affect and intelligence in a role-playing game. Kul’turno-Istoricheskaja Psihologija [Cultural-Historical Psychology], 12, 3, 247–254. DOI:10.17759/chp.2016120314 (In Russ.).
Fleer, M. (2002). Sociocultural Assessment in Early Years Education - myth or reality? International Journal of Early Years Education, 10(2), 105–120. doi:10.1080/09669760220141999
Iakshina, A.N. (2015). Psychological conditions for preschool central neoformation development. Sovremennoe Doshkol’noe Obrazovanie: Teorija i Praktika [Preschool Education Today. Theory and Practice], 10, 32–39. (In Russ.).
Iakshina, A.N., Le-van, T.N. (2023). Play support strategies of teachers with different perspectives on play and its role in child development. Kul’turno-Istoricheskaja Psihologija [Cultural-Historical Psychology], 2, 99–106. DOI: 10.17759/chp.2023190213 (In Russ.).
Iakshina, A.N., Smirnova, V.N. (2024). The relationship between pretend play and storytelling in preschool age. Sovremennoe Doshkol’noe Obrazovanie: Teorija i Praktika [Preschool Education Today. Theory and Practice], 1(121), 42–53. DOI: 10.24412/2782-4519-2024-6114-42-53 (In Russ.).
Kravcov, G.G., Kravcova, E.E. (2017). Psychology of play. Cultural-historical approach. Moscow. Lev Publishing, 331. (In Russ.).
Kravcova, E.E. (2019). Upbringing of magicians. Moscow. Lev Publishing, 300. (In Russ.).
Kudrjavcev, V.T. (2023). Child’s play and imagination. Game of a child of early and preschool age. Ed. I.N. Galasjuk, A.A. Shvedovskaja, E.V. Bodrova, O.V. Rubcova. Moscow. MGPPU, 675. (In Russ.).
Mottweiler, C. M., & Taylor, M. (2014). Elaborated role play and creativity in preschool age children. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 8(3), 277–286. DOI:10.1037/a0036083
Nicolopoulou, A. (2015). Young children’s pretend play and storytelling as modes of narrative activity: From complementarity to cross-fertilization? In S. Douglas & L. Stirling (Eds.), Children’s Play, Pretense, and Story: Studies in Culture, Context, and Autism Spectrum Disorder, New York: Routledge, 7-28.
Pramling, N., Wallerstedt, C., Lagerlöf, P., Björklund, C., Kultti, A., Palmér, H., Magnusson, M., Thulin, S., Jonsson, A., Pramling Samuelsson, I. (2019). Play-responsive teaching in early childhood education. Springer, 183. DOI:10.1007/978-3-030-15958-0
Ramamurthy, C., Zuo, P., Armstrong, G., Andriessen, K. (2023). The impact of storytelling on building resilience in children: A systematic review. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. 00, 1–18.
Seale, P.J., Seale, D.M., Pande, Y., Lewis, T.M., Manda, W., Kasanga, L., Gibson, E.B., Hadfield, K., Ogoh, T., McGrath, R.E., Harris, S.K. (2022). GROW Zambia: A pilot cluster-randomized trial of a spiritually-based character strengths training curriculum to enhance resilience among Zambian youth. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 17(4), 596–609. DOI:10.1080/17439760. 2021.1913640
Shiyan, O.A., Baranova, A.A. (2022). Child narratives as the way to assess preschooler’s creative abilities. Kul’turno-Istoricheskaja Psihologija [Cultural-Historical Psychology], 18, 1, 50–59. DOI:10.17759/chp.2022180105 (In Russ.).
Singer, E., DeHaan, D. (2019). Play, wonder, learn. Theory of development, education and training of children. Moscow. MOZAIKA-SINTEZ Publishing, 312. (In Russ.).
Smirnova, E.O., Veraksa, A.N., Buhalenkova, D.A., Rjabkova, I.A. (2018). Connection between play activities of preschoolers and indicators of cognitive development. Kul’turno-Istoricheskaja Psihologija [Cultural-Historical Psychology], 14 (1), 4–14. https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2018140101 (In Russ.).
Trifonova, E.V. (2006). Director’s picture-related play as the tool for cognitive development assessment in preschool age. Abstract of thesis. diss. ...Cand. Psychol. Sci. Moscow, 27. (In Russ.).
Vygotsky, L.S. (2011). Lectures on pedology. Izhevsk: Izdatel’skij dom «Udmurtskij universitet» Publishing, 304. (In Russ.).
Zhuravleva, L.V., Bykova, E.V., Kopylova, I.P., Shijan, O.A. (2023). Tale of tales in Tubelsky kindergarten. Sovremennoe Doshkol’noe Obrazovanie: Teorija i Praktika [Preschool Education Today. Theory and Practice],.17, 2–19. (In Russ.).