Dramatic play and print.

Professional views of reading instruction have changed significantly during the last decade. Educators in the early 20th century believed that children should be prepared for literacy learning only during a fixed time period. Consequently, "experts" warned preschool teachers not to provide any print material in the classroom. Now, much evidence suggests that learning to read is a process that takes years, beginning at an early age. The concept of "emerging literacy" refers to children's early experiences with reading and writing, which begin to shape their view of print in the home and the neighborhood (Smith, 1989). Teachers now surround young children with books, meaningful print and storytelling. Educators are exploring how preschool teachers can provide experiences that encourage children to notice written language in their environment and increase their interest in print.

Since play has been shown to be such an important part of the preschool curriculum, a number of researchers have explored the relationship between dramatic play and literacy development. Pellegrini and Galda's (1993) review of research on the interrelations between symbolic play and literacy consistently shows that the language surrounding young children's symbolic play is important for early literacy, because children practice and extend emergent literacy during play. Furthermore, when examining the relationship between play and kindergartners' literacy skills, Pellegrini (1980) found that skills used in higher modes of play were also needed for reading and writing.

Likewise, Wolfang and Sanders (1981) revealed that children use the same process when using symbols in play as they do in reading, indicating that children practice using symbols and abstract thought during play. The researchers further argued that children have to be able to use symbols in play if they are to use and understand them in reading. Roskos (1988) found that 4- and 5-year-olds make up stories while they engage in dramatic play. Therefore, it seems likely that children extend their storytelling abilities during dramatic play. The work of these (and other) researchers suggests that literacy development in young children can occur within the context of play.

Icelandic Preschool Education 

Approximately 75 percent of children ages 3 to 6 attend preschools in Iceland. Most children start preschool when they are 2 or 3, and they do not attend primary school until autumn of the year when they turn 6.

Icelandic preschools house activities in separate rooms, in contrast to American preschools, where activities are usually found in one classroom. One room, for example, contains all the necessary materials for art activities, while another holds manipulatives and games. Most of these rooms are open, permitting a free flow of movement among rooms and activities.

Icelandic preschools sometimes arrange 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds together in groups, or 2- and 3-year-olds may be placed in one group while 4- and 5-year-olds are in another group. The school day may last from four to six hours if it is partial day, or nine hours for a whole day. Although parents decide on the number of hours their child attends preschool, children from single parent families or whose parents are students receive priority for full-day placement.

Classroom Research Project

The author conducted a classroom research project in two Reykjavik preschools. The project focused on the Icelandic philosophy that play should be not only the nucleus of education in all preschools, but also its ends and means (Educational Plan for Play Schools, 1993).

Dramatic play is the main activity of preschool children in Iceland. Areas for dramatic play typically include cloth, clothing for dress up, dolls, beds, stoves, a table and chairs. Children also have access to a great variety of arts and craft activities, manipulatives, water play, unit blocks and an area for movement and large motor activity. All pre-schools have fully equipped outdoor areas for daily use.

The emerging literacy concept (i.e., the notion that children's oral and written language experience in the early years influences their reading ability) inspired this study. Assuming that preschoolers would show increasing interest in signs and print, teachers made written language visible as a natural part of the classroom environment. In addition, children were given opportunities to use print in their dramatic play, and they could choose from among other print-related activities.

Many preschool teachers have expressed concern about the oldest children, some of whom are bored their last year in preschool and often cannot wait to leave. After up to four years of preschool, these children are ready for new and challenging activities. Some preschools addressed this problem by incorporating primary school material into the preschool curriculum, attempting to be more academic. In this project, however, teachers introduced the oldest children to new activities that emphasized a play-centered curriculum. These activities combined literacy development with play.

The main goals for this project were:

* To give the preschool's oldest children an opportunity to work with challenging and stimulating activities

* To make printed material more visible in the pre-school

* To explore the importance of play for literacy development.

Participants

Two classes from two preschools participated in the project. While the two schools are both located in the center of Reykjavik in old, established neighborhoods, they are different in many ways. Most of the children in one school attend for the entire day and live with one parent or with parents who are students. Children in the other school attend class for only 4 to 6 hours each day. Most of these children live with both parents. Each preschool had the same proportion of boys and girls. Four preschool teachers participated in the project; the project leader is on the faculty of Iceland's College for Preschool Education.

The project began in September 1993 with a seminar for the teachers, where they learned new ideas and read articles and books on play and emergent literacy. The seminar continued through May 1994 as teachers developed new curriculum plans and made necessary changes in the schools' environments. Data were collected in the period October 1994 to May 1995.

Curriculum Plan--Intervention

Project participants made various changes in the pre-schools' physical layout before implementing the new curriculum ideas. Teachers emphasized making print visible. Where appropriate, for example, items were labeled, including children's drawers and storage boxes and cases. Posting a daily schedule and a helper chart also made print visible for the children. The rooms were divided into smaller spaces and labeled, creating better-defined play spaces. Shelves and partitions in activity centers also received labels.

Books in the classroom library were reshelved so that their covers would be displayed. Rugs and pillows were placed in the center of the library area, and posters of children's books decorated the wall. A variety of reading materials was available. Before placing new books in the library center, teachers introduced them to the children. Children were given ample time and opportunities to explore the library on their own.

The redesigned classroom space included a writing center, complete with a table, paper, pencils, crayons, pens, staples and other materials stored in labeled boxes. The teachers also encouraged the children to tell their own stories and helped the children write them down. In addition, they encouraged the children to write letters or stories and put them in the classroom mailbox.

Both preschools had specific dramatic play areas (housekeeping and dress-up clothes) located in spacious rooms with no area boundaries. A grocery store included literacy props such as a phone book, Icelandic magazines and books, notebooks, cookbooks, paper and pencils.

Prop boxes in the dramatic play area contained items related to certain themes, including "post office," "bakery," "bank" and "school." The teachers hoped the prop boxes would enhance dramatic play (Myhre, 1993). The boxes also contained appropriate literacy props to help integrate reading and writing into dramatic play. Other activities involved print, as well. When the children were baking, for instance, they were encouraged to use recipes with words and pictures.

The preschool teachers played a crucial role. Preparatory sessions for the teachers placed an emphasis on their attitude toward and knowledge of emerging literacy. They were taught to recognize that listening, speaking, reading and writing are interactive and are all parts of the language development process. They learned to recognize and respect the children's efforts when playing with print. When teachers observe children's literacy behavior carefully, they can find out what the children already know and what interests them. Teachers should encourage children to pretend read and pretend write and play with print in other ways. In this way, reading and writing become a natural part of the preschool's environment and curriculum without direct teaching.

Evaluation

The preschool teachers assessed the children's literacy development at regular intervals during the period, using a rating scale adapted from the High/Scope Child Observation Record (High/Scope, 1992). The scale was divided into four categories: children's interest in reading activities, children's knowledge about books, beginning reading and beginning writing. Each category was rated on a five-point scale, and the observer marked one item in each category. Children's literacy behavior was observed regularly during play. A checklist itemized literacy behaviors, such as use of paper and writing or reading in dramatic play.

At the end of the school year, project leaders conducted open-ended interviews with parents about their reactions to the project. The parents were asked how their child liked school, and if their child was interested in written language. Subsequently, the four preschool teachers who had participated in the project were also interviewed in a group meeting. During the meeting they discussed what they had learned from this project, what they had liked and disliked about it, what they thought was difficult, what the children showed most interest in, whether they had noticed anything new with this group of children, and whether they believed that the oldest children had grown bored as the school year progressed. The preschool teachers' diaries and anecdotal records, minutes and memos from meetings and portfolios of the children's work were also useful evaluation data.

In addition, a project coordinator compared the children's literacy behavior during dramatic play to that of children in ten other Reykjavik preschools. Availability of literacy props in the dramatic play area and the frequency of literacy behavior in the children's play in these other preschools was a factor.

Findings

The children who participated in the project demonstrated greater literacy proficiency at the end of the school year. Most of the children knew the letters of the alphabet and were able to read simple words or phrases. Half of the children could write some words or short phrases. Figure 1 shows that the children's interest in reading activities increased substantially during the year.

[Figure 1 ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Children's interest levels were divided into five categories: 1) child does not yet show interest in reading activities, 2) child shows interest when stories are read, 3) child asks people to read stories, songs or notes, 4) child answers questions about a story that has been read or repeats part of the story and 5) child often reads a book or tells the story while turning the pages. No child displayed stage 5 interest in October, but more than half of the children reached that stage by April. Although almost half of the children had not progressed beyond stage 2 activities in October, only one child remained in this stage by April.

We cannot be sure whether intervention or maturation caused this change, absent a comparison group. Observations of children's literacy behavior during play showed that they used print in play more often as the year passed. Given the opportunity to use literacy materials, the children reacted differently. The literacy material was popular with some children, but others showed little interest in using it. Figure 2 shows the mean increase in literacy behavior during the year, based on four random observations of children's use of literacy props. The first observation, made in October, coincided with the placement of the literacy props in the dramatic play area.

[Figure 2 ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

This project indicates that some of the preschool children pursued play with literacy material, once given the opportunity. The last year in preschool was not a waiting period for these children; they were engaged in activities that interested them. Other children, however, showed little interest in literacy materials and chose to engage in other activities. Preschools should meet all children's needs and interests. We found that the oldest children's needs could be met by providing a literacy-rich environment and offering literacy activities.

Interviews with the parents of children who had participated in the project indicated that their children enjoyed preschool that year. The parents believed that their children were not bored because they were able to work with meaningful and appropriate activities. The pre-school teachers confirmed that the children's interest had remained high. Some of the children who scored high in literacy development used print in their dramatic play, whereas others did not. Conversely, some of the children who scored low in literacy development also used print extensively.

Icelandic preschools do not commonly feature literacy activities. The comparison between the project's experimental schools and the 10 other preschools illustrated that the children who participated in the project showed much more literacy behavior during play. The author observed dramatic play for 30 minutes to see if the children used print in their play, and used a checklist to record, every two minutes, all incidences of literacy behavior. Table 1 shows the frequency of literacy prop use and literacy behavior. The obvious differences can partly be explained by the lack of literacy materials in the comparison schools. This situation could easily be changed by making books, paper and writing materials available.

Frequency of Use of Literacy Props and Literacy Behavior

Preschool 1           0
Preschool 2           0
Preschool 3           0
Preschool 4           0
Preschool 5           3
Preschool 6           0
Preschool 7           0
Preschool 8           0
Preschool 9           0
Preschool 10          0
Hlioaborg Preschool  18
Laugaborg Preschool   8

Conclusion

Research studies indicate that certain program features, as well as classroom design features, affect children's literacy behavior. Neuman and Roskos (1990) studied how a specially designed print environment influenced children's literacy activities in play. They concluded that well-planned design changes can allow play to become an important context for reading and writing exploration. Morrow and Rand (1991) studied how environmental changes in preschool classrooms and patterns of teacher guidance affect children's literacy behavior. They concluded that changing preschool classrooms' physical design can greatly affect children's literacy behavior. They also found that the teacher's role was extremely important in guiding and modeling literacy behavior.

Literacy materials must be available to engage children in literacy activities. The results of the author's project suggest that the oldest children in Icelandic preschools will benefit from working with print. Icelandic preschool teachers should enrich their dramatic play areas with literacy props and integrate print into their curriculum. Presenting print in connection with dramatic play is not only a natural extension of children's preschool work, but also gives the oldest children an opportunity to work with challenging and stimulating activities.

References

High/Scope Press. (1992). High/Scope observation records for ages 2 1/2 - 6. Ypsilanti, MI: Author.

Morrow, L. M., & Rand, M. (1991). Promoting literacy during play by designing early childhood classroom environments. The Reading Teacher, 44, 396-402.

Myhre, S.M. (1993). Enhancing your dramatic-play area through the use of prop boxes. Young Children, 48, 6-11.

Neuman, S. B., & Roskos, K. (1990). Play, print and purpose: Enriching play environments for literacy development. The Reading Teacher, 44, 214-221.

Pellegrini, A. D. (1980). The relationship between kindergartners' play and achievement in prereading, language and writing. Psychology in the Schools, 17, 530-535.

Pellegrini, A. D., & Galda, L. (1993). Ten years after: A reexamination of symbolic play and literacy research. Reading Research Quarterly, 28, 163-175.

Roskos, K. (1988). Literacy at work in play. The Reading Teacher, 41, 562-566.

Smith, C. (1989). Emergent literacy--an environmental concept. The Reading Teacher, 42, 528.

Uppeldisaetlun fyrir leikskola. Markmio og leioir. (Educational plan for Playschools: Aims and ways.) (1993). Reykjavik, Iceland: Menntamalaraouneytio.

Wolfgang, C., & Sanders, T. (1981). Defending young children's play as the ladder to literacy. Theory into Practice, 20, 116-120.

Johanna Einarsdottir is Director, Post Graduate Program, College of Preschool Teachers, Reykjavik, Iceland.