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Theme-Based Block Play Intervention Facilitates Chinese Preschoolers' Language Development: A Quasi-Experiment
Liman Cai1, Dandan Wu2, Jingjing Zhou1
1School of Education, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
Frontiers in Psychology
|June 10, 2022
Summary
Theme-based block play significantly boosts Chinese preschoolers' language skills. This 12-week intervention improved scores on the Language Assessment for Preschool Children (LAPC) test.
Area of Science:
- Early Childhood Education
- Developmental Psychology
- Language Acquisition
Background:
- Preschool children's language development is crucial for academic success.
- Play-based learning is recognized as a key pedagogical approach for young learners.
- The specific impact of structured, theme-based block play on language capacity in Chinese preschoolers requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effectiveness of a 12-week theme-based block play intervention in enhancing the language capacity of Chinese preschool children.
- To compare language development outcomes between children participating in the intervention and a control group.
Main Methods:
- A quasi-experimental design was employed with 61 preschool children.
- Participants were assigned to either an experimental group (theme-based block play) or a control group (free block play).
- The Language Assessment for Preschool Children (LAPC) was administered pre- and post-intervention, with ANCOVA used for analysis.
Main Results:
- The experimental group demonstrated significant improvements in LAPC scores following the 12-week intervention.
- The control group exhibited no significant changes in LAPC scores over the same period.
- ANCOVA results confirmed the significant positive effect of the theme-based block play intervention.
Conclusions:
- Theme-based block play is an effective intervention for enhancing the language capacity of Chinese preschool children.
- The findings support the integration of structured play-based learning into early childhood curricula.
- Further research can explore the specific linguistic components most impacted by this type of intervention.
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