The design of the intervention is based on shared storybook reading and subsequent role- playing, which has been shown to improve children’s language skills (Pentimonti and Justice, 2010). The children also receive explicit vocabulary instruction, as it is one of the strongest predictors of children’s educational success and, during the preschool years, children develop their vocabulary rapidly (Collins, 2010). The emphasis on PA is supported by Pullen and Justice (Pullen and Justice, 2003), who state that PA provides the basis of word-level reading skills and, along with other language skills, is critical to the foundation of children’s reading comprehension skills. We have developed a pretend play intervention that consists of 30-minute sessions that use an integrated approach and include explicit instruction of phonological awareness (PA) and vocabulary. Ziolkowski and Goldstein (Ziolkowski and Goldstein, 2008) define PA as sensitivity to the units of sound in oral language, such as the words contained in sentences, the syllables contained in words, and the beginning and end sections of words. Practical classroom application of pretend play and language development Engaging in role-playing activities following shared story-reading further provides children with opportunities to develop their language skills, as they are able to reinforce their understanding of the concepts by applying their learning to different contexts (Pentimonti and Justice, 2010). In addition, reading in the company of an adult provides children with opportunities to reflect upon aspects of the texts, including the use of language and conventions (Whitehead, 1999). Findings also suggest that individuals from non-Anglo backgrounds may not always have had prior exposure to pretend play opportunities (Lillard et al., 2013). Moreover, incorporating language skills and delivering them in the format of pretend play is theorised to reduce the pressure of the learning environment, and allow for the development of children’s language skills.
Given the relationship between pretend play and children’s language skills, it is especially important to consider the needs of children with EAL, who have a language profile similar to that of poor comprehenders (Carroll and Chesher, 2011). Pumariega and Rothe (Pumariega and Rothe, 2010) further emphasise that these children have to simultaneously learn a new language while navigating the school system, which can be stressful on its own. By the age of six, the majority of children are able to utilise the grammatical rules of language correctly, coinciding with their increase in vocabulary (Berk, 2001), and through interaction with other children, such as when participating in pretend play, they are able to advance their language skills. When children are capable of using language skills to participate in pretence, it enables rich collaborative dialogues (Roskos and Christie, 2011). Pretend play includes a pretender who is projecting a mental representation onto reality, and can be either a social or solo activity (Lillard et al., 2013). Various psychologists have noted the relationship between pretend play and the development of children’s language skills. The relationship between pretend play and children ’ s language skills: recent research