The Heteroglossic World of Preschoolers' Pretend Play

Lynn E. Cohen
2009 Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood  
This inquiry applied Bakhtin's dialogic process to the pretend play of preschool children using an interpretive approach. It used vignettes from videotaped data and Bakhtin's theories of dialogism and heteroglossia to provide an understanding of how children appropriate social roles and rules in pretend play and use a variety of 'voices' in role enactment. The study also demonstrates how role enactment contributes to the development of children's ideological self; and how the relation between
more » ... e self and social/cultural contexts, a perennial issue in the social sciences, is evident within preschool children's pretend play. When applying Bakhtin's dialogic theory to pretend play, three facets became evident. First, children appropriated and assimilated others' words in play. Second, children engaged in a heteroglossic world as they employed different ways of talking to enact play roles. Third, children engaged in a struggle between an authoritative voice and internally persuasive discourse. Bakhtin's dialogic process which are important for this research are: (a) children dialogue to appropriate and assimilate another's words; (b) children's dialogue is in conflict between centripetal and a centrifugal force; and (c) children's dialogue is a struggle between authoritative discourse and internally persuasive discourse. These interpretations are used to analyze preschool children's discourse in pretend play. Pretend Play Much has been written concerning the nature of curriculum appropriate to prepare preschool children for academic success. Research documents how pretend play, a natural feature of early childhood, peaking at the ages of three to five, is an intrinsically motivating modality for engaging preschoolers in activities to enhance a plethora of cognitive, linguistic, socio-emotional, and motor skills. Pretend play contributes to the imaginative thinking of children
doi:10.2304/ciec.2009.10.4.331 fatcat:j475hcl4qrf5vhuie42fzedlga