The Digital Book-Play Paradigm in Early Literacy Teaching: A Research Review

• In Event: Learning about Literacy through Multimedia

Abstract

Combining storybook reading in print and play is a traditional teaching practice in early literacy, rooted in Smilansky’s work (1968) on the effects of sociodramatic play on children’s language use. The practice involves using storybook content as the stimulus for play—role taking and acting out scenarios---that includes adult scaffolding toward learning objectives while remaining child-directed (Weisberg, et al, 2013). I refer to this as the book-play paradigm, and in this presentation trace its history and describe converging evidence of its effects on children’s story comprehension and vocabulary.
Historically, the paradigm’s origins are in Smilansky’s research, which theorized that sociodramatic play, as complex play, provides a lens on cognitive functioning, distinguishing more from less skilled children, particularly in relation to their language use. She implemented two play training procedures that prompted role play, make believe, interaction, play talk, and persistence: (a) guiding play flow from outside the play and (b) modeling by participating in the play to up the ante. Results showed that play training significantly improved play quality, hence language use – a result upheld in subsequent studies, but when scrutinized credited to adult engagement over play as the marker variable of change (Smith & Sydall, 1978). Drawing on this work, Saltz & Johnson (1974) proposed thematic fantasy play (TFP) as a mechanism for influencing cognitive skills, structuring play more deliberately around a story plot (folk tales; favorite books). Tests of TFP training, comparing it to alternatives (sociodramatic play, oral discussion; crafts), demonstrated its superiority in developing language skills, attributed to the higher cognitive demand on children’s memory and language use. The TFP’s shift to early literacy skills can be traced to Pellegrini’s studies of its effects on story comprehension (e.g., 1984), later linked to Rowe’s concept of book-related play (1998), observed from a qualitative perspective. At the start of 21st century, quantitative and qualitative analyses pointed to the centrality of the book as a stimulus for play and more directly linked book reading to play as a teaching model, although loosely defined. The question of is it the play or the scaffolding; however, remained unresolved.
Today’s studies offer more detailed descriptions of the paradigm, and further evidence of its potential for increasing children’s story comprehension and vocabulary (e.g., Dickinson, et al, 2013); they also focus on the synergy of scaffolding and playful activity in benefitting learning. Studies using digital books are especially promising. Embodied actions position the viewer/reader so as to experience a point of view, emotion or action similar to that of a character presented in the screen image (focalization) (Zhao & Unsworth, 2017). This virtual as if mode is hypothesized to amplify empathy by aligning the reader with the emotional life of the character.
A research review of the origins and evolution of the book-play paradigm grounds it in a scientific research base and situates it as evidence-based practice in early literacy teaching. Practice guides in teacher education are still needed to support play-based learning in early literacy.

Author

• Kathy Roskos, John Carroll University
  Presenting Author