After a search on the European Early Childhood Education Research Association website (www.eecera.org), I noticed a collection of their (special issue) journals-2013 has its overall theme centred around PLAY--Benefits of play in Early childhood; Digital play in EC, Teachers role in play, etc. An interesting topic I read about is the language use of pre-school teachers during children's dramatic play. Letting children get involved in role-play is not enough to help them develop their cognitive and language skills, but consciously using play-embedded instructional talk by teachers will help children improve on their communication skill and the frequency of their talk. A more detailed study is recommended on this topic so as to help teachers' practice.
With EECERA as one of the EC sites that publishes respected and prestigious journals in the world, I think it will be a good resource for my research simulation and maybe for any research I might want to undertake in the future. This site is informative and educating. I tried subscribing for their newsletter but got an error message, but I will do that during the week.
Hi Toluwalope,
ReplyDeleteYour post brought up some very interesting points! First, when you said digital play, did you mean play using computers or something else. I was also interested in what you said about teachers using dramatic play to instruct children in cognitive and language skills. When I taught in a Hispanic classroom, I used to sit in dramatic play and play along. I spoke in English while I was play acting. I think it was good for them to hear someone say similar things to what they were saying but in English, and the movement of the acting was a language we both shared that made it more clear what I was saying in English. EECERA sounds like another good source for research articles.
Thanks for sharing!
Hello OTEH,
ReplyDeleteI was excited to read about the European Early Childhood Education Research Association's published journal on early childhood research. I also believe this is an effective resource I could use when researching alternatives to standardized testing in early childhood, so I appreciate you sharing this bit of information with us! Also, it is important to learn about how to effectively engage children in play which fosters social skill development without intruding on the creative nature of play. This is a skill I am continually improving upon and I look forward to reading an international perspective on this topic. Thank you for sharing this resource this week.
The use of appropriate an effective language during play is, most certainly, important during play as play should be stimulating and lend itself to child development.
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