Symbolic play has long been considered a beneficial context for development. According to Cultural Learning theory, one reason for this is that symbolically-infused dialogical interactions constitute a zone of proximal development. However, the dynamics of caregiver-child interactions during symbolic play are still not fully understood. In the current study, we investigated informational exchange between fifty-two 24-month-old infants and their primary caregivers during symbolic play and a comparable, non-symbolic, functional play context. We coded over 11,000 utterances for whether participants had superior, equivalent, or inferior knowledge concerning the current conversational topic. Results showed that children were significantly more knowledgeable speakers and recipients in symbolic play, whereas the opposite was the case for caregivers, who were more knowledgeable in functional play. The results suggest that, despite its potential conceptual complexity, symbolic play may scaffold development because it facilitates infants’ communicative success by promoting them to ‘co-constructors of meaning’.

中文翻译：

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作为最近发展区的象征性游戏：对信息交流的分析

长期以来，象征性游戏一直被认为是有益于发展的环境。根据文化学习理论，其中一个原因是象征性的对话互动构成了一个最近发展区。然而，在象征性游戏中照顾者与儿童互动的动态仍未完全了解。在当前的研究中，我们调查了 52 名 24 个月大的婴儿和他们的主要照顾者在象征性游戏和类似的、非象征性的、功能性游戏环境中的信息交流。我们对 11,000 多个话语进行了编码，以确定参与者是否对当前对话主题具有更高、同等或更低的知识。结果表明，儿童在象征性游戏中的知识渊博和接受者明显更多，而照顾者的情况则相反，他们在功能性游戏方面知识渊博。结果表明，尽管符号游戏具有潜在的概念复杂性，但符号游戏可能会支持发展，因为它通过将婴儿提升为“意义的共同构建者”来促进婴儿的交流成功。