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Abstract

The present study examined the effect that selected play materials have on certain aspects of children's conversational behavior. Thirty-six children, ranging in age from 48-59 months, served as subjects within eighteen same-sex dyads. Each dyad engaged in three separate ten-minute play sessions. The dyads played with a different material during each of the three sessions. The materials used were Playdoh, a Fisher-Price farm set, and a set of four animal puppets. The conversations occurring during each play session were transcribed. Each utterance was then categorized as a Topic Initiation, Topic Extension, Topic Maintenance, or Topic Extension-Tangential. Results indicate that each toy elicited the same amount of talking. However, there were differences in discourse structure attributable to the different play materials. The discourse of boys and girls was similar. However, boys did tend to initiate more topics during play than did girls.

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The Influence of Play Material on Discourse During Play

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