A Study of Metacommunication Signals in the Initiation of Pretend Play of 3-6 year-old Children

Hongzhi Long; Mengqi Wei

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11

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A Study of Metacommunication Signals in the Initiation of Pretend Play of 3-6 year-old Children

Hongzhi Long, Mengqi Wei

Published in International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences (Volume 4, Issue 5)

Received: 22 September 2019 Accepted: 28 October 2019 Published: 6 December 2019

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Abstract

Pretend play is the most typical play among children aged 3-6 years old, the initiation of which needs children’s matecommunication ability. In turn, the temecommunication ability of children can be enhanced and strengthened during the play. And thus the topic of how children initiate matecommunication signals in the pretend play is worthy to research. Using observation as research method, the researchers analyzed the metacommunication signals in the initiation of pretend play of 60 children aged 3-6. The results are as follows: (1) the metacommunication signals used by children aged 3-6 on pretend play show a tendency of transition from non-verbal signals to verbal signals with the increase of age. (2) Metacommunication signals used in regional activities show a feature of borrowing special materials and being limited by material exploring ability, and metacommunication signals used in life activities show a feature of using spontaneous physical actions. (3) The signals used by familiar peers are identifiable and changed frequently, and signals used by unfamiliar peers are repeatedly explained and are controlled. Some suggestions are provided. Reachers propose responding suggestions for teachers in the kindergarten: (1) Properly place regional material (2) Support children’s spontaneous communicative activities. (3) Promote the development of the psychological theory of children in junior class.

Published in	International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences (Volume 4, Issue 5)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11
Page(s)	50-55
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Pretend Play, Metacommunication Signals, Children Aged 3-6

References

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[2]	Yan Liu. (2004). General theory of children's play. Beijing: Beijing normal university press, 133.
[3]	Sheng HSI L (1994). Gender differences in initiation and maintenance of pretend play with Taiwanese children. Austin: The university of texas at Austin.
[4]	C. Garvey. (1990). Play enlarged edition. Harvard University Press.
[5]	Helen B. Schwartzman. (1978). Transformations: The Anthropology of Children’s Play. New York: Plenum Press. 1978.
[6]	Holly Lynne N. Giffin. (1982). The Metacommunicative Process in Collective Make-believe Play. Ph D. Dissertation, University of Colorado at Boulder. Abstract.
[7]	L. Frost; S. C. Wortham; S. Reifel. translated by Ying Zhang, Xiaojuan Tang. (2011). Play and children’s development. Jiangsu educational press, 125-126.
[8]	Brenda-Joyce. Boyd (1991). Metacommunication in Young Children’s Pretend Play: An Instrument Development Study. PhD. Dissertation, The University of Georgia.
[9]	Sheng-hsi Lin. (1994). Gender Differences in initiation and Maintenance of Prete-nd Play With Taiwanese Children. PhD. Dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin. 1994.
[10]	Sheng-Hsi Lin (1994). Gender Differences in initiation and Maintenance of Pretend Play With Taiwanese Children. Ph D. Dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin, 27, 58.
[11]	Sheng-Hsi Lin. (1994). Gender Differences in initiation and Maintenance of Pretend Play With Taiwanese Children. Ph D. Dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin, 213; 26.
[12]	Anna-Beth Doyle, Jennifer Connolly. (1987). Negotiation and Enactment in Social Pretend Play: Relations to Social Acce-ptance and Social Cognition [C]. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Social Science and Humanities Rearch Council of Canada. Abstract.
[13]	Linhui Li. (2008). The metecommunication development research of the cooperative play of children aged from 3-6 year- old. Paper of master’s degree of East China Normal University.
[14]	Yujiao Huang. (2013, Feb). The theory of metacommunication of play to the revelation children's social viewpoint selection. Journal of current preschool education.
[15]	Xiuling Xu, Shan Liu. (2015, Jan). The influence of metacommuncative ability to the children play. Journal of Education/Development. 2015. 01.
[16]	Ziyu Meng. (2016, Dec). Types, characteristics and influences of metacommunication in children’s play. Journal of Earlychildhood Education.
[17]	W. A. Corsaro. (2016). translated by Lanyu Zhang. Sociology of childhood. Heilongjiang education press, 121-133.
[18]	Shanze Li, Chuanying Li. (2007, Feb). The theory on symbolic value of the pretend play of children. Preschool Educational Research.

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APA Style

Hongzhi Long, Mengqi Wei. (2019). A Study of Metacommunication Signals in the Initiation of Pretend Play of 3-6 year-old Children. International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 4(5), 50-55. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11

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ACS Style

Hongzhi Long; Mengqi Wei. A Study of Metacommunication Signals in the Initiation of Pretend Play of 3-6 year-old Children. Int. J. Psychol. Brain Sci. 2019, 4(5), 50-55. doi: 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11

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AMA Style

Hongzhi Long, Mengqi Wei. A Study of Metacommunication Signals in the Initiation of Pretend Play of 3-6 year-old Children. Int J Psychol Brain Sci. 2019;4(5):50-55. doi: 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11,
  author = {Hongzhi Long and Mengqi Wei},
  title = {A Study of Metacommunication Signals in the Initiation of Pretend Play of 3-6 year-old Children},
  journal = {International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences},
  volume = {4},
  number = {5},
  pages = {50-55},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijpbs.20190405.11},
  abstract = {Pretend play is the most typical play among children aged 3-6 years old, the initiation of which needs children’s matecommunication ability. In turn, the temecommunication ability of children can be enhanced and strengthened during the play. And thus the topic of how children initiate matecommunication signals in the pretend play is worthy to research. Using observation as research method, the researchers analyzed the metacommunication signals in the initiation of pretend play of 60 children aged 3-6. The results are as follows: (1) the metacommunication signals used by children aged 3-6 on pretend play show a tendency of transition from non-verbal signals to verbal signals with the increase of age. (2) Metacommunication signals used in regional activities show a feature of borrowing special materials and being limited by material exploring ability, and metacommunication signals used in life activities show a feature of using spontaneous physical actions. (3) The signals used by familiar peers are identifiable and changed frequently, and signals used by unfamiliar peers are repeatedly explained and are controlled. Some suggestions are provided. Reachers propose responding suggestions for teachers in the kindergarten: (1) Properly place regional material (2) Support children’s spontaneous communicative activities. (3) Promote the development of the psychological theory of children in junior class.},
 year = {2019}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - A Study of Metacommunication Signals in the Initiation of Pretend Play of 3-6 year-old Children
AU  - Hongzhi Long
AU  - Mengqi Wei
Y1  - 2019/12/06
PY  - 2019
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11
T2  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
JF  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
JO  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
SP  - 50
EP  - 55
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-1573
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11
AB  - Pretend play is the most typical play among children aged 3-6 years old, the initiation of which needs children’s matecommunication ability. In turn, the temecommunication ability of children can be enhanced and strengthened during the play. And thus the topic of how children initiate matecommunication signals in the pretend play is worthy to research. Using observation as research method, the researchers analyzed the metacommunication signals in the initiation of pretend play of 60 children aged 3-6. The results are as follows: (1) the metacommunication signals used by children aged 3-6 on pretend play show a tendency of transition from non-verbal signals to verbal signals with the increase of age. (2) Metacommunication signals used in regional activities show a feature of borrowing special materials and being limited by material exploring ability, and metacommunication signals used in life activities show a feature of using spontaneous physical actions. (3) The signals used by familiar peers are identifiable and changed frequently, and signals used by unfamiliar peers are repeatedly explained and are controlled. Some suggestions are provided. Reachers propose responding suggestions for teachers in the kindergarten: (1) Properly place regional material (2) Support children’s spontaneous communicative activities. (3) Promote the development of the psychological theory of children in junior class.
VL  - 4
IS  - 5
ER  -

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Author Information

Hongzhi Long

Research Center for the Educational Development of Minorities, College of Education, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, China
Mengqi Wei

College of Educational Science, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang, China

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APA Style

Hongzhi Long, Mengqi Wei. (2019). A Study of Metacommunication Signals in the Initiation of Pretend Play of 3-6 year-old Children. International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 4(5), 50-55. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11

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ACS Style

Hongzhi Long; Mengqi Wei. A Study of Metacommunication Signals in the Initiation of Pretend Play of 3-6 year-old Children. Int. J. Psychol. Brain Sci. 2019, 4(5), 50-55. doi: 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11

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AMA Style

Hongzhi Long, Mengqi Wei. A Study of Metacommunication Signals in the Initiation of Pretend Play of 3-6 year-old Children. Int J Psychol Brain Sci. 2019;4(5):50-55. doi: 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11,
  author = {Hongzhi Long and Mengqi Wei},
  title = {A Study of Metacommunication Signals in the Initiation of Pretend Play of 3-6 year-old Children},
  journal = {International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences},
  volume = {4},
  number = {5},
  pages = {50-55},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijpbs.20190405.11},
  abstract = {Pretend play is the most typical play among children aged 3-6 years old, the initiation of which needs children’s matecommunication ability. In turn, the temecommunication ability of children can be enhanced and strengthened during the play. And thus the topic of how children initiate matecommunication signals in the pretend play is worthy to research. Using observation as research method, the researchers analyzed the metacommunication signals in the initiation of pretend play of 60 children aged 3-6. The results are as follows: (1) the metacommunication signals used by children aged 3-6 on pretend play show a tendency of transition from non-verbal signals to verbal signals with the increase of age. (2) Metacommunication signals used in regional activities show a feature of borrowing special materials and being limited by material exploring ability, and metacommunication signals used in life activities show a feature of using spontaneous physical actions. (3) The signals used by familiar peers are identifiable and changed frequently, and signals used by unfamiliar peers are repeatedly explained and are controlled. Some suggestions are provided. Reachers propose responding suggestions for teachers in the kindergarten: (1) Properly place regional material (2) Support children’s spontaneous communicative activities. (3) Promote the development of the psychological theory of children in junior class.},
 year = {2019}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - A Study of Metacommunication Signals in the Initiation of Pretend Play of 3-6 year-old Children
AU  - Hongzhi Long
AU  - Mengqi Wei
Y1  - 2019/12/06
PY  - 2019
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11
T2  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
JF  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
JO  - International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences
SP  - 50
EP  - 55
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-1573
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijpbs.20190405.11
AB  - Pretend play is the most typical play among children aged 3-6 years old, the initiation of which needs children’s matecommunication ability. In turn, the temecommunication ability of children can be enhanced and strengthened during the play. And thus the topic of how children initiate matecommunication signals in the pretend play is worthy to research. Using observation as research method, the researchers analyzed the metacommunication signals in the initiation of pretend play of 60 children aged 3-6. The results are as follows: (1) the metacommunication signals used by children aged 3-6 on pretend play show a tendency of transition from non-verbal signals to verbal signals with the increase of age. (2) Metacommunication signals used in regional activities show a feature of borrowing special materials and being limited by material exploring ability, and metacommunication signals used in life activities show a feature of using spontaneous physical actions. (3) The signals used by familiar peers are identifiable and changed frequently, and signals used by unfamiliar peers are repeatedly explained and are controlled. Some suggestions are provided. Reachers propose responding suggestions for teachers in the kindergarten: (1) Properly place regional material (2) Support children’s spontaneous communicative activities. (3) Promote the development of the psychological theory of children in junior class.
VL  - 4
IS  - 5
ER  -

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