摘要：This study investigated the effects of two different classroom contexts, sociodramatic play and a teacher led activity, on children’s use of verbal communication. Additionally, the effect of children’s gender on their use of verbal communication was examined. Participants in the study were 24 children between the ages of 37 and 55 months old, who were attending two preschools located in the northern part of the state of Florida, USA. The data collection was completed through observation of children’s play and teacher-led reading-retelling-drawing activities. Children were observed on two occasions for each activity, and the total observation time was 40 minutes per child. Sociometric Interview, Leaper’s (1991) discourse patterns categories, and Halliday’s (1973) seven types of language demands were used as instruments to collect data in the study. Data analyses were completed by using Descriptive and repeated measurements and ANOVA statistical techniques. According to the findings, children use language to serve a variety of functions during different classroom activities. In the play context (open) language is used mostly to serve imaginative and interactional functions. In the closed-field context, where the interaction was led by the teacher, the most common language function used by the children was informative language. Five out of seven (Regulatory, personal, imaginative, informative, interactional); and one out of four discourse patterns (Control) were used in different frequencies within play and teacher contexts.
