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Early Childhood Education Journal, Vol. 27, No.

3, 2000

Arts and Young Children

In Support of Drama in Early Childhood Education, Again

Lou Furman

Early childhood practitioners appear to be in an unending battle to legitimize the use of the dramat-
ic arts in the classroom. Even early childhood educators who accept the value of dramatic play sel-
dom utilize the potential of drama fully. The purpose of this article is to reinforce the value of drama
and theater for young children. Dramatic play, creative drama, theater, and television - - a form of
drama - - all have their place in the development of young children.

K E Y W O R D S : play; drama; theatre; education, early childhood.

DRAMATIC PLAY to define the relationship between play and achievement


in prereading, language, and writing, Pellegrini (1980)
Play has been divided into four genres in a seminal
sampled 65 kindergarten children in a rural public
work by Smilansky (1968). These four forms are hierar-
school. The children were given a standardized achieve-
chical, that is, each stage presents a greater challenge
ment test and then observed during their free play peri-
than the previous level. Smilansky has labeled the first
ods. The researcher made use of Smilansky's levels of
encounters with play as "functional." At this stage, the
play cited earlier to classify the children's activity. The
child manipulates objects to practice physical control and
outcome of most interest to this discussion is that dra-
to experience her immediate environment. The child pro-
matic play was the "best predictor of achievement" (p.
gresses from manipulative to creative activity in the sec-
535) in the standardized tests.
ond level of play, termed "constructive" play by
Thus, dramatic play may promote various forms of
Smilansky. This form of play is sustained activity in
cognitive learning. For example, dramatic play can
which the handling of objects is no longer random, but
encourage literary development when the drama is
focused on a goal - - a "creation." The next genre of play
placed in a "literate" play setting that includes reading
is free, symbolic play in which the child explores rela-
and writing materials (Christie, 1990; Fields & Hillstead,
tionships with the world (and others in that world). This
1990). In such an environment the children make use of
form is "dramatic" play. The last and highest stage of
everyday written language: making shopping lists, jot-
play, according to Smilansky, is "games with rules" in
ting down appointments, and filling out forms.
which the child accepts and adjusts to the rules of play.
Furthermore, reading or reading readiness skills are
Smilansky's hierarchy of play explores the broad scope
enhanced as the children browse through newspapers and
of children's activities from experimenting with bristle
magazines, pretend to read stories to babies, and read
blocks to creations with building blocks, from playing
menus in restaurants.
house to acting out a preset story with a beginning, mid-
The strong connection between dramatic play and
dle, and end.
cognitive development is such that researchers are begin-
Play in an educational setting is often used to
ning to use play as a measure of cognition (Ogura, 1991 ;
enhance gains in cognitive development. In one attempt
Malone, Stoneman, & Langone, 1994). The relationship
is not unexpected considering that children learn through
experience. Dramatic play offers the young child an
IWashington State University, Pullman, Washington.
2Correspondence should be directed to Lou Furman, SMTA, opportunity to use symbolic representation - - the ability
Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-2432; e- to use one thing to represent another. Thus, language
mail furmanl @wsu.edu. acquisition in which letters and words represent ideas is

173
1082-3301/00/0300-0173518.00/09 200~)HumanSciencesPress,Inc.
174 Furman

learned through dramatic play (Fields & Hillstead, 1990; Verriour (1985) who sought to use drama as a means to
Labbo, 1998; Taharally, 1991). Children of all socioeco- ease young children's transition into the world of school.
nomic levels appear to respond to this experiential Verriour pointed to studies that reveal discrepancies
approach to cognitive development. Levy, Wolfgang, and between children's language experiences in the home
Koorland (1992) attested to "a functional relationship" and at school. He surmised that perceived intellectual
(p. 254) between sociodramatic play and increased lan- limitations of children are not problems of skill, but arise
guage performance by kindergarten-age children of because the children are uncomfortable in the new con-
working-class parents in a racially integrated day care text in which the learning takes place; a setting that does
center. The phenomenon cuts across cultural as well as not make sense to the child in terms of previous experi-
socioeconomic boundaries (Ogura, 1991 ; Taharally, 1991). ence. Drama techniques were seen as a method to restore
The emphasis on cognitive skills is not intended to meaning to the child's environment. Verriour noted, how-
devalue the impact of dramatic play on other domains. ever, that this potential for drama has received little atten-
However, the need to defend the use of drama in other tion in an atmosphere of prescriptive models of teaching.
areas of development seems to be less monumental a As in the area of dramatic play, creative drama's
task. Many early childhood educators are convinced that positive influence on the development of cognitive skills
activities that demand practice in interpersonal interac- has been the subject of numerous studies. Research in
tion will foster social skills. Their beliefs are confirmed language arts has confirmed that reading, writing, and
by recent research (Howe, Moller, & Petrakos, 1993; verbal skills are enhanced when developed in concert
Lorimier, Doyle, & Tessier, 1995). with drama work. In a study of second-grade students
However, a wide gap exists between understanding that compared the use of workbooks and interpretive
the value of dramatic play and application. A question- drama in conjunction with basal readers, the results sug-
naire to the parents and teachers of 103 children whose gested that the drama was more effective than workbooks
ages were between 2 and 6 years revealed that neither the in developing the comprehension skills of "recognition
parents nor the teachers thought highly of play in any and recall of details, sequencing of events, and general-
form as a tool for the growth and development of young izing the main idea" (Henderson & Shanker, 1978, p.
people (Rothlein & Brett, 1984). Play was seen as some- 243). Of additional interest was that, when given a choice
thing done fl~r fun and, while teachers thought play between workbook or dramatic activity, 86% of the
offered opportunities ['or cognitive and social develop- pupils preferred the interpretive drama. This particular
ment, it was not deemed worthy of inclusion in the cur- study demonstrates the ability of drama to cut across cul-
riculum. Another survey (Smilansky, 1990) revealed that tural and socioeconomic lines. The subjects were 28 sec-
90% of preschool teachers in the United States and Israel ond-grade Black students from disadvantaged families.
do not believe that play helps prepare children for suc- Possible reasons ['or the success of drama in lan-
cess, that most do not consciously include dramatic guage oriented learning were put forward by Moore and
activity as part of the curricula, and none assessed dra- Caldwell (1990) in their investigation of the planning of
matic play in which their children freely participated. narrative writing by second- and third-grade students.
Their intent was to compare the effects between drama
and discussion as preparatory activities t'or narrative
CREATIVE DRAMA
writing sessions. The results of their study clearly indi-
Adult intervention in the drama activity alters the cated that the drama had a positive effect upon the qual-
nature of the play. This form of dramatic activity ity of the writing in comparison to discussion planning
demands further organization and mediation. The addi- activities. In interpreting their results, Moore and
tion of the facilitator alters the form of the drama. The Caldwell looked to previous theoretic paradigms that
objective of the play is no longer for the pleasure of the suggest that drama allows for a complete rehearsal of
participants, but rather to fulfill the goals of a third party. ideas, that the use of different media can enhance the
The facilitator manipulates the drama work (note the dis- processing of information, and that drama - - as a sym-
tinction between work and play) through her interven- bol system - - allows for writers to go beyond linear con-
tion. straints to "a more fully conceived whole" (p. 18).
The inclusion of a facilitator has many advantages, The influence of creative drama on developing lan-
however. The leader can focus on numerous curricula guage skills has been the subject of a number of studies.
and various other goals that may not have been part of Vitz (1983) uncovered 32 investigations between 1968
the conscious agenda of the young participant. An exam- and 1983 that explored this issue. Research that empha-
ple of such an objective may be seen in the work of sizes social or emotional outcomes, on the other hand, is
Drama in Early Childhood Education 175

encountered less frequently in these studies. However, can be found in investigating the use of theater for very
when the term, "sociodrama," is used rather than creative young people whether from perspective as actor, audi-
drama, studies do support affective development. ence, or aesthetic value.
Reviews of guided sociodrama activity by Christie and Giffin (1990) is one of the few researchers who have
Johnsen (1983) and Smilansky (1990) reveal a balanced studied this "art form indigenous to the 'child culture'"
focus on social and cognitive development. In (p. 14). Giffin's focus is dramatic play not theater.
Smilansky's listing of research, specific development of However, she made comparisons between the skills nec-
such social skills as empathy, cooperation, increased peer essary for dramatic play and theater. Her language often
activity, and emotional adjustment were suggested as draws from a theater vocabulary. The research outlines
outcomes of guided sociodramatic play. four rules deemed necessary for effective dramatic play:
How do creative drama and sociodrama differ? participants to behave "as if" the play were real; players'
Often they do not. The difficulty is in definitions. agreement to honor statements as implicit requests to
Sociodrama as used by early childhood educators often pretend; adherence to form or "'script" that allows struc-
includes directed dramatic play as well as free dramatic ture for the action; and adaptation and incorporation of
play. Creative drama refers only to the former. Those any event or element in the real world that unexpectedly
educators who use the term creative drama tend to con- intrudes on the play.
centrate on K-6 grade levels. Teachers at these grade lev- The connection between these rules and theater are
els are expected to focus on cognitive development and made clear as part of another study supported by the
must defend their drama activities in a world of stan- International Center for Studies in Theatre Education
dardized testing. Early childhood educators are perceived (Berghammer, Brown, Giffin, & Salazar, 1992). The
by society to have the task of socializing the young. Center is a project of the American Alliance for Theatre
Observation and exploration of social phenomena in Education, an organization representing artists and
through drama are acceptable in their domain. The gap in educators who serve young people from kindergarten
mind-set between the two groups is so great that a cre- through 12th grade. The study views social pretend play
ative drama meta-analysis of research (Kardash & as a precursor to theater. It suggests that children as
Wright, 1987) eliminated sociodrama activities from young as 2 years old are like actors in their play because
their studies because they did not identify the experience they remain artists who control and manipulate their
as "creative drama." symbolic medium. The children are aware that they are
Perceptions of schoolteachers remain the same, creating, are able to talk about characters, and are capa-
however, whether the subject is sociodrama or creative ble of developing situations as do actors in formal drama.
drama. As with the earlier survey by Rothlein and Brett The authors reviewed previous research and determined
(1984) and Smilansky (1990) on the use of sociodrama that 35 characteristics of social play can be recognized as
by early childhood educators, surveys of teachers in ele- strategies used in the art of acting. In addition, they found
mentary schools by Ritch (1983) and Stewig (1984) 18 attributes of dramatic play that relate to playwriting.
reveal that only 5% of teachers make regular use of cre- The concept of "director," according to the authors, is
ative drama in their classroom. Yet in the Stewig survey inherent in the children's organization of social pretend
90% of the respondents felt that children can learn play. Even audience has its place in the evolution of
through drama. social play. The first step toward gaining the skills nec-
essary for participation, according to the authors, is to
observe the pretend play as an on-looker, that is, as an
P R E T E N D P L A Y AS A P R E C U R S O R O F
audience member. The study concludes that the "similar-
THEATER
ities between the natural theatrical art of children and the
Smilansky's (1968) division of play places "games theater art of adults are striking" (p. 110).
with rules" at the highest level of the hierarchy. Theater The research does not imply that dramatic play and
- - a more structured form than dramatic play or creative formal theater are interchangeable forms of drama. The
drama - - fits this definition, but is less associated with effort necessary to rehearse staged performances and the
the very young. It introduces three new elements: per- skills required to portray characters consistently are
forming for others or formal acting; the observing of oth- within the range of very few preschool children. The
ers in performance or audience viewing; and aesthetics cited study does comment, however, that children as
or the appreciation of the art form. The genre is not often young as 3 years old can understand theater performance
discussed among early childhood professionals. Little when it is made explicitly pretend. Audience, therefore,
practical or theoretical research or even anecdotal tales seems to be an appropriate beginning from which to
176 Furman

explore theater performance for the young child. Indeed, than any other activity except sleep" (Huston, Watkins, &
guidelines for viewing theater art are provided in a num- Kunkel, 1989, p. 424).
ber of curriculum that include primary school age chil- Research in television viewing is abundant, espe-
dren. Kindergarten children, according to one scope and cially when compared to other areas of dramatic investi-
sequence model (National Theatre Education Project, gation. Television has permeated the lives of young peo-
1986) should be able to distinguish between actor and ple and therefore study of the phenomenon becomes crit-
character, identify qualities of characters, and be able to ical to determine the impact on childhood development.
accept the transformation of the physical space of the These studies often come from outside the industry.
event into a theatrical setting. However, a great deal of research is conducted by the
Few researchers have been concerned about the aes- industry itself. The resources available to television pro-
thetic dimension of theater viewing for young children. ducers under the banner of audience development far
One extensive investigation that included research on exceed research opportunities in other forms of drama.
audience response was a 7-year longitudinal study con- Public television producers, such as the Children's
ducted at Arizona State University. One member of the Television Workshop of the United States and TV
research team (Saldafia, 1989) found that second- and Ontario of Canada, are often the leaders in industry initi-
third-grade students generated richer responses to plays ated research.
that presented complex characters with strong conflict Researchers appear to draw one common conclu-
than they did to light-hearted entertainment. This conclu- sion. Television does alter the way in which children
sion is supported by the study of audience response to behave. The medium's influence on play, for example, is
Choices, a production about sexual abuse produced by apparent to those who observe them in that activity. One
Stage One: The Louisville Children's Theatre (Dezseran investigation into the phenomenon revealed three appli-
& Katz, 1985). The target audience was third-grade stu- cations of television content in the play of children
dents. The evaluation of the effectiveness of the program (James & McCain, 1982). Children in the study adopted
indicated that these children were fully capable of under- television content to embellish their play; for example,
standing the complexities of the social issues presented. changing "house" play to "Bionic house." Also they used
The authors believed that reduction of the issues to sim- television models for self-exploration - - to take on roles
plistic components would have promoted misconcep- that would allow them to do something or be someone
tions rather than achieve positive outcomes. that was not possible in their role of self. Finally, the
A discussion of audience responses would be children utilized content to develop social hierarchies,
incomplete without acknowledging theater as a sophisti- reinforce relationships, or initiate interactions with oth-
cated symbol system. The fact that young children as ers.
early as 2 years of age recognize the metaphors of theater Not only do children make use of television content
and make meaning from the event must be explored in social situations, the television content influences the
beyond the very limited present scope of research. If this way in which the children interact. Even cartoons, pre-
symbol system "provides us with a window onto the ferred by young children to other television formats,
world around us as well as a window into ourselves" have been proven to elicit prosocial behaviors when the
(Collins, 1985, p. 5) frequent exposure to this system programs model such behaviors (Forge & Phemister,
should be a priority for those people who are concerned 1987). The nature of some programs appears to have a
with the balanced development of young children. positive effect on young viewers. Anecdotal and system-
atic reports about "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" support
the premise that his television show has a positive impact
THE TELEVISION/DRAMA
on viewers of all ages (McFarland, 1992; Singer &
CONNECTION
Singer, 1981). However, few programs are so unani-
The first and most often viewed theater form that mously acclaimed. The new superheroes of television
young children encounter is video theater, that is, televi- have taken over as models in childhood play limiting
sion. Researchers have learned that 3- and 4-year-old opportunities for preschoolers to role play the wide range
preschoolers already are experienced viewers with devel- of qualities inherent when real adults were the model in
oped viewing habits (Singer & Singer, 1981). A number a pretelevision choice era (French, 1987).
of investigations have attempted to fix the amount of Television's effect on cognitive processes has been
time that young people spend in front of the television explored from a variety of perspectives with mixed
set. Estimates vary, but all research indicates that reviews. "Sesame Street," often extolled as a model for
"American children spend more time watching television educational television, has been attacked as a program
Drama in Early Childhood Education 177

series that emphasizes letters over meaning, overlooks tion, it is essential that our children have an opportunity
listening skills, and focuses on passive rather than active to learn social interaction skills and person-to-person
processes (Healy, 1990). Other research studying the critical thinking. Dramatic play, creative drama, and the-
impact of television on developing language is inconclu- ater can play a positive role in achieving these goals.
sive as well. One study found that infants as young as 6 Television, too, should not be ignored for its potential.
months of age alter their vocalization patterns after view- When properly presented and supervised, television can
ing a televised model (Hollenbeck & Slaby, 1982); a help transform passive viewers into active audience
clear indication of the impact of the medium on lan- members who can begin to appreciate the art of theater.
guage. However, determining the positive value of the The power of the drama is not in question. The
influence is another matter. For example, one longitudi- research cited in this article as well as numerous other
nal study with children 6 months to 272 years of age over studies clearly establish the viability of drama as a tool to
a period of 6 months suggests that distinct differences progress the development of young children. However,
between television viewing and another form of lan- until training programs and school administrators recog-
guage acquisition treatment, bookreading, favor the latter nize the value of drama, proponents of an integrated
methodology for language development (Lemish & Rice, drama curriculum will continue to struggle to find a
1986). The researchers of the study noted that television place for the art form in our institutions.
lacks the critical "ritualistic interactive characteristics"
(p. 268) that are evident when reading books. REFERENCES
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