Effects of Play Contexts on Children's Production of Text

Abstract

To investigate the effects of two play contexts (blocks and housekeeping) on preschoolers' production of explicit and implicit oral text 10 each at two ages, 4 and 5 yr. were tested. Children's text was coded from verbatim transcripts according to Halliday and Hasan's system. Analyses indicated that age did not affect significantly children's use of explicit or implicit language. Text did vary according to play context. Children used implicit language in the blocks context. More varied age sampling is needed.