The effects of teacher participation and probing on language production during sociodramatic play of Head Start students

An experimental comparison was made of the effects of teacher participation, teacher probing behavior, and nonparticipation by teachers during the sociodramatic play sessions of three groups of Head Start preschool students (twelve subjects). A combination of the multiple baseline and multielement single-subject designs was employed to study the effects of teacher participation in sociodramatic play on the amount of language production exhibited by Head Start students. A Placheck method was utilized to record student language production at the end of each 10-second interval throughout each 10-minute session. Thirty play sessions were observed and recorded by both the researcher and a videocamera. Students were selected by their teachers, and all play sessions took place within the children's own classroom. Subjects included six males and six females.The study was divided into three phases. The Baseline phase included the alternation of the conditions of teacher participation and nonparticipation. At the end of this phase, teachers were trained in the use of probes, or questions to which the answer is not known by the teacher. During the Probe phase, teachers participated in play sessions daily and utilized frequent probes. During the Multielement Manipulation phase, the conditions of teacher participation alone and teacher participation emphasizing the use of probes were randomly alternated. Graphic representations of subject performance data were used to portray intersubject and intrasubject variability.Results indicated that rates of student language production increased for 10 out of 12 students (83%) when exposed to the condition of teacher probing during the Probe phase of the study. When the effects of teacher participation and teacher participation emphasizing probing were compared, it was found that 11 out of 12 students (92%) exhibited higher rates of language production during the condition of teacher probing.It was concluded that the use of teacher participation in the sociodramatic play of Head Start students, particularly with an emphasis on probing behavior, proved to be most beneficial in enhancing the amount of language production of the students. The findings of the present study lend support to the concept that teacher participation in the sociodramatic play of low-income preschool children can result in increased student language development.Thesis (D. Ed.