Role Play in the Focus of the Cultural-Historical Scientific School: Developing the Ideas of L.S. Vygotsky

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the most well-known concepts of preschoolers’ role-play, elaborated in the Russian scientific tradition. All these concepts underlie the ideas of L.S. Vygotsky and the followers of the Cultural-Historical scientific school, who argue that play as the leading activity of preschool age determines the development of the key new formations. The article studies the approach of S.L. Novoselova and E.V. Zvorygina; N.Ya. Mikhailenko and N.A. Korotkova; E.O. Smirnova; G.G. Kravtsov and E.E. Kravtsova; M. Bredikyte and P. Hakkarainen. The criteria, taken for the analysis of the scientific approaches in the article, include: theoretical basis, the criterion of the developed form of the play, position of the adult, object-developing environment, conditions/principles of play development. In all of the concepts the general tendency is traced to avoid a directive position of the adult in play with the child as well as not to impose play activity on the child neither by the adult, nor by the environment itself. This means that in Russian scientific tradition there is a shift towards supporting the child’s independence and initiative in play.