The purposes of this study were to examine the early pretend play and language development of toddlers and to identify the relations between the level of pretend play and language development. The subjects were 7 toddlers aged 27 to 34 months at a non...
The purposes of this study were to examine the early pretend play and language development of toddlers and to identify the relations between the level of pretend play and language development. The subjects were 7 toddlers aged 27 to 34 months at a non-profit daycare center located in Seoul. The subjects` play was videotaped in the natural classroom setting and was measured by means of pretend play stage level, average semantic unit, and semantic functions. Results revealed that the pretend play stages shown by the toddlers were broad ranging from the 3rd to the 8th stages. However, the 5th stage was the most frequently observed. The average semantic unit was around two units. The subjects demonstrated more utterances in pretend play than in non-pretend play. In addition, the toddlers with low stage level of pretend play tend to show low average semantic unit.