The Relations Between Symbolic Play and Literate Behavior: A Review and Critique of the Empirical Literature

Abstract

Recent theoretical and empirical evidence for relations between children’s symbolic play and literate behavior are reviewed. Symbolic play and literate behaviors are said to involve similar mental processes: the production and comprehension of decontextualized language and narrative competence. Studies are classified and discussed according to these similarities. Results of the studies are reviewed and critiqued in terms of methodological and theoretical issues. Observational results suggest that decontextualized language and narrative skills are involved in both symbolic play and school-based literacy events. Experimental results, however, raise a number of problems with the theory that symbolic play is related causally to literate behavior. Suggestions for future research are made

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