In the following work we are going to analyze two video clips representing child’s development in the symbolic social environment.
The action in the first video clip, “Cats and Dogs,” takes place in the preschool classroom. There are three girls participating in the play. They use the classroom environment as the environment of their play. However, none of the furniture in the room is used for their actions, they imitate all the things that they are and they are going to use. The girls do not use any additional material for their play either, they just decide which role each of them will have and start playing.
The second video “Baby-Sitting” represents two sisters, approximately 5 and 7 years old, who are playing in a small room with toy kitchen, a table, chairs, and other toys. One of the girls is playing the role of a mother, whereas her little sister is taking the role of her elder daughter, who is asked to baby-sit her smaller sister. The environment imitates the house inside and the sisters are playing the role of the family. They use the toy and the furniture for their play.
The theorist we are going to focus on in the following work is Lev Vygotsky, who has made a large contribution to the researches in the field of preschool education and cognitive development. His theory is known as Social Development Theory. He was concerned that social development precedes learning of a child. According to Vygotsky, all infants are born with the basic abilities for further development, i.e. elementary mental functions – attention, sensation, perception, and memory. As long as the child grows in the social environment and interacts with other people, these functions develop into higher mental functions. Moreover, the development can be different depending on the culture a person develops in; therefore, Vygotsky draws a conclusion that cognitive functions are influenced by culture (Vygotsky, n.d.).
As far as the scholar is concerned, much in the development of a child depends on the tutor, whose contribution can enhance the development. The tutor can help the child to socialize and develop by providing model behaviour and verbal instructions for different situations. This person is also called a More Knowledgeable Other; it can be an adult or a peer as well, who has more knowledge and experience and can help the child to behave accordingly. This concept is also closely interrelated with the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development, one of the main principles in the work by Vygotsky. According to the scholar, it is the zone where a child requires instruction or guidance with further individual and independent development of a child. This principle is closely connected with the idea of scaffolding in teaching (providing hints and helping the students to accomplish the task themselves).
Much attention is given by Vygotsky to the connection of language and mind: he believes that language is the main means of transmitting information to children and it is a “powerful tool of intellectual adaptation” (Vygotsky, n.d.).
Vygotsky also studied sociodramatic plays and defined three features of them: children create a situation, take on and act out roles, and follow the rules determined by those specific roles. Play is an instrument in “achieving mastery of the object and furthering symbolic ability” (Bodrova, Leong, 2015). Citing Vygotsky, the scholars state that at the moment when a stick — i.e., an object (e.g., a toy) — “becomes a pivot for severing the meaning of horse from a real horse”, one of the basic psychological systems regulating the child’s relation to reality is dramatically changed (Bodrova, Leong, 2015). The scholar stated that play is essentially a wish fulfillment, the generalized affects (Vygotsky, 2002). Play provides the context in which children are good at first-order symbolism (i.e., symbolic play), they learn to move quickly and imitate the objects, represent some object for other ones. This symbolic play is closely related to reading and writing, which is the second-order symbolism. In both types children use the same representational mental processes. Thus, according to Vygotsky, symbolic play enhances the literacy development of a child (Stone, 2007). The scholar also defined the paradoxes of play: first of all, the child uses an alienated meaning in a real situation; secondly, the child chooses the way of the least resistance – he/she does what he/she likes more and can do better but at the same time the child meets the greatest resistance since he/she is subject to certain rules and says what he/she wants. There are a few stages of play: 0-3 years – no play at all; 3-7 years – symbolic play (as understanding the difference between thought and object); 7-12 game with rules (being able to understand social rules) (Vygotsky, 1978).
These are the main ideas of Lev Vygotsky which we will use and base on while analyzing the videos “Cats and Dogs” and “Baby-Sitting”.
In the first video “Cats and Dogs” three girls are taking the roles of animals and people – one girl pretends to be a cat, the second becomes the cat, and the third takes the role of a girl who is waking up and seeking the pets. According to the video and to the girls’ age, it is probably the symbolic play. The principle of Vygotsky about Zone of Proximal Development is clearly seen when one of the girls is instructing the two others what they should do and who they will be – thus, we see her as a tutor (here, a peering child) who has more experience in role-playing and helps the others to behave in the right way. Moreover, the participants must follow the rules in the play – for example, one girl must go where she is told to and lie there until she “wakes up”, then she is told whom he must find first and whom only after that. Nevertheless, every participant is having fun and enjoying the play very much, so, we see the paradox of play.
In the second video “Baby-Sitting” the principle of sociodramatic play and the Zone of Proximal Development are even brighter. The elder sister plays the role of a mother who instructs her smaller daughter (actually her sister) to baby-sit the baby while she is away with the father. Furthermore, the girls use the baby doll as the pivot – the sister is treating it as a real baby, pretending taking her a bath, trying to feed her with a baby bottle and a bib. She is also the example of the paradox of play – she does what her “mother” told her to do but at the same time she likes it and tries to play the role of the baby-sitter as well as possible. When the “mother” is back home, the sister is excited because she hasn’t finished what she wanted to do. Thus, in the second video we also see the symbolic play, according to the girl’s age and the situation they are playing.
In my opinion, the theory of Vygotsky contributes much to the understanding of these situations from psychological and pedagogical points of view. While reading and studying Vygotsky’s ideas in theory (in books and articles) I was not sure whether it could be attributed to real situation and real children. Interestingly, after reading and researching the theory, I happened to watch these videos with extremely different eyes and different ideas. I am firmly concerned that anyone who is going to study child development and education and connect his/her life with pedagogics or education must study these theories and possibly some close theories by other scholars. What is more important is learning and putting this knowledge into practice by analyzing children’s behaviour.
I myself totally agree with the scholar’s ideas concerning the Zone of Proximal Development and role-playing as a significant factor of socializing and development of a child. It is widely acknowledged that symbolic role-plays and imitations of social situations help children to adapt themselves to the environment and the society around them with its unique and specific features. Lev Vygotsky also managed to show that this role-playing combined with scaffolding contributes not only to the general and social development of a child, but also to his/her cognitive skills and abilities.
Thus, we can say that Lev Vygostky’s theory has made a great contribution to the sphere of cognitive and social development of a child, especially in preschool. His researches and conclusions can be proved by the analysis of various situations with role-playing and symbolism in the child environment.
References
Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. J. (2015). Vygotskian and Post-Vygotskian Views on Children’s Play. Handbook of Play Studies, 7(3), 371-388. Retrieved May 4, 2016, from http://www.journalofplay.org/sites/www.journalofplay.org/files/pdf-articles/7-3-article-vygotskian-and-post-vygotskian-views.pdf
Lev Vygotsky. (n.d.). Retrieved May 04, 2016, from http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
Stone, S. J., & Stone, W. M. (2007). Symbolic Play and Emergent Literacy. Brno Conference 2007, 1-7. Retrieved May 4, 2016, from http://www.iccp-play.org/documents/brno/stone1.pdf
Vygotsky, L. (2002). Play and its role in the Mental Development of the Child. Retrieved May 04, 2016, from https://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/works/1933/play.htm
Vygotsky, L. (1978). The Role of Play in Development (pp. 92-104). Mind in Society. (Trans. M. Cole). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
