The Correlation Between Dramatic
Play and Oral Language
Development
Alicia Decker
MJ Fair
Review of Literature
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The use of materials from books has been a vital aspect to students’ oral language development through dramatic play. Three different areas this is visible in: –
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Characters
Sequencing
Phrasing
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C
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Students act like the characters directly
They choose characters like themselves
Proof of mental representation ability
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Describe and explain the scenarios orally to others playing
Creating their own parts allows an increase in language use during play
Replaying/creating their own scenarios shows
Replaying/creating their own scenarios shows the ability to verbalize actions into a timeline. 2
P
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The students use actual phrasing from the story.
The students could also create their own phrasing based off of the context of the story.
Play with literature materials allows for a higher level of language development in the future
level of language development in the future.
Research
• Participants
• Procedure
• Prop Boxes
• Results
• Characters
• Sequences
• Phrasing
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Participants
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Susquehanna
Children’s Center
23 children in a
preschool classroom
Age range: three to five
years old
Diverse learners with
IEP’s
Procedure
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A book was chosen, and a prop box was
coordinated with the book
The book was read to the class in the morning
The prop box was introduced to the class
The students used the prop box during free
play following circle time
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Prop Boxes
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Prop Box 1
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Book: The Grouchy Ladybug
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Prop Box 2
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Book: The Little Old Ladyy Who Was Not
Afraid of Anything
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Book: Stone Soup
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by Heather Forest
Prop Box 4
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Book: Dolores on Her Toes
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by Linda Williams
Prop Box 3
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by Eric Carle
by: Barbara Samuels
Prop Box 5
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Book: Knuffle Bunny
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by: Mo Willems
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Results
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Characters
Sequencing
Phrasing
Characters
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Students interacted with others as the
characters.
They dressed up like the characters.
They took on the personalities and conflicts
the characters had
had.
Examples from Prop Boxes
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Characters
The Grouchy Ladybug
Stone Soup
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The Little Old Lady Who Was
Not Afraid of Anything
Dolores on Her Toes
Knuffle Bunny
Sequencing
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The students ordered
the events from the
stories
They would use the
book to order the
materials in the prop
box
Prop Box examples
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Phrasing
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Students used words
from different parts of
the story to create
conversation.
They also used specific
phrases to
communicate.
Prop Box examples
Applying for Further Study
Preschool Setting
z Primary Level
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8