| Pretend play is the main type of play for children aged 3-6.The initiation of pretend play invoves children’s metacommunicative behavior.The ability ofm etacommunication has been consolidated and developed in the process of initiation.Many children have the puzzlement of initiating and pretending to play,and the ability of children to effectively initiate pretend play to their peers is an important issue of social communication ability.So the initiation of prete nd play has become an important study.This study observed,recorded and analyzed the metacommunication signals used by 60 children aged 3-6 years in a kindergarten in An’Ning District,La-nzhou City,in their play and life activities.Fingds are:1.The metacommunication signals used by children aged 3 to 6 years old in pretend play show a tendency of transition from non-verbal signals to verbal signals;2.The successful ini-tiation of pretend play by young children shows an increasing trend with the increase of age.Children aged 3-4 are more likely to fail than children aged 4-6;3.The metacommunication signals used by children in games are mainly ver-bal signals,while those used by children in life activities are mainly non-verb al signals;4.The metacommunication signals used by children in the presence an d absence of teachers are mainly verbal signals;5.After 4 years old,children face different peer relationships exist different models of initiation of pretend play;6.Children’s age,peer relationship and teachers are all important factors influencing children’s successful initiation of pretend play. |
