This paper argues that classroom role-play can be conceptualised theoretically as an oral genre, as defined within Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). The work draws on analysis of 15 video-recorded child-led role-plays in which groups of three 4–5 year-old children engage in five different life-like social scenarios. The study is underpinned by SFL register and genre analysis of the children’s interactions, and the findings reveal how the children’s linguistic choices have a direct impact on the dynamically unfolding role-play, and how imaginary scenarios are construed by the instantiation of individual genre stages, some of which serve to regulate the role-play and others that mimic real life social scenarios. The findings suggest that the two different types of stages construe two separate, but interwoven contexts, with the make-believe context often being dependent on the regulative context. The paper offers new insights into the ways in which SFL can reveal nuances in children’s dialogic and dynamic language in play.

中文翻译：

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使用类型来解释儿童如何在课堂角色扮演中用语言共同构建虚构的社交场景

本文认为，课堂角色扮演在理论上可以被概念化为一种口语类型，如系统功能语言学（SFL）中所定义的那样。这项工作对 15 个由儿童主导的角色扮演视频进行了分析，其中三个 4-5 岁的儿童一组参与五种不同的、栩栩如生的社交场景。该研究以儿童互动的 SFL 语域和流派分析为基础，研究结果揭示了儿童的语言选择如何对动态展开的角色扮演产生直接影响，以及如何通过各个流派阶段的实例化来解释想象的场景，其中一些用于调节角色扮演，另一些则模仿现实生活中的社交场景。研究结果表明，这两种不同类型的阶段解释了两种独立但又相互交织的环境，而虚构的环境通常依赖于规范的环境。该论文对 SFL 如何揭示儿童游戏中对话和动态语言的细微差别提供了新的见解。