Construction of communication during young childrens play

Abstract

This paper reports a qualitative analysis of play episodes among 6-36 month-old children, videorecorded during free play activities at two daycare centers in Brazil. The analysis aimed to retrace the process of construction of meanings in this interactional field and, more specifically, the differentiation of communicative codes in the course of this process. Communicative codes range from facial expressions, gestures and other body movements to primitive verbal expressions. In each case, we point out the reconstruction of meanings occurring in the current interactional field. The roles of peer interaction and of free play in the construction of communicative conventions as part of a particular peer culture, as well as in the development of communication in early childhood, are suggested.