Children's language and sociodramatic play with multicultural materials

The purpose of this study was to examine children's play and language when a variety of unfamiliar multicultural pretend foods and cooking utensils not typically found in dramatic play centers were introduced. The study was conducted in a laboratory preschool setting with three multiage heterogeneous groups of children over a period of 7 weeks.Three methods of data collection were employed: (a) videotapes of children in the dramatic play center, (b) a notebook of observations made by the teachers when the researcher was not present, and (c) interviews with 18 children. The children who chose to play in the dramatic play center were videotaped daily during indoor play time for 1 week prior to the introduction of new materials. The new multicultural pretend foods and cooking utensils were introduced during the second week of the study. The children were then videotaped daily for 2 more weeks and then once each week for the next 4 weeks.The data collected from the videotapes and teacher notes were used to develop coding categories. Categories of children's play were: (a) time spent playing with unfamiliar materials, (b) conventional use of materials, and (c) unconventional use of materials. Categories of children's language were: (a) labeling, (b) other conversation in dramatic play, (c) questions, and (d) conversation about the materials outside of the dramatic play center.The data were interpreted to discover how children interacted with and talked about the multicultural pretend foods and cooking utensils. It was concluded that children interacted with the unfamiliar multicultural pretend foods and cooking utensils in much the same manner as familiar materials. Labeling items or being able to put words with the foods and cooking utensils appeared to be important to the children. Children used unfamiliar materials unconventionally more often than they used familiar materials unconventionally. Furthermore, children did not see a relationship between the items in the dramatic play center and materials in other parts of the preschool.Department of Elementary EducationThesis (D. Ed.