Taiwanese pre-service teachers' play perceptions and practice: a case study
Open Access
- Author:
- Wu, Mei Hsuan
- Graduate Program:
- Curriculum and Instruction
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- February 22, 2016
- Committee Members:
- James Ewald Johnson, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
James Ewald Johnson, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Matthew Edward Poehner, Committee Member
Roger C Shouse, Committee Member
Edgar Paul Yoder, Committee Member
William Carlsen, Special Member - Keywords:
- Children's play
perceptions of play
practice of children's play
the implementation of children's play
teacher preparation - Abstract:
- The main purposes of this study were to examine in-depth seven Taiwanese pre-service teachers’ perceptions regarding children’s play, to ascertain the relationship between these perceptions and their actual practices of teaching through play, and to analyze their reflections on the practices. The ultimate goal of this study was to recognize and understand better the current situation and existing problem regarding the practice of children’s play in Taiwan, and to identify better directions by which to support professional preparation for early childhood education teachers. The data were generated through open-ended questionnaire, researcher’s weekly observations, one-on-one in-depth interviews, and some document collection including pre-service teachers’ lesson plans and tasks for their internship practices. As ascertained through an open-ended questionnaire, the perceptions of these seven pre-service teachers demonstrated a strong commitment to play as an essential component of the current Taiwan early childhood education (ECE) environment. However, the findings suggested that play, according to pre-service teachers’ thoughts, was considered to be more of a learning instrument. In addition, the findings furthermore exposed the pre-service teachers’ insufficient knowledge of play, and this weak background could be the cause of their shallow understanding of play. Moreover, some contradictions and dilemmas regarding the implementation of play were also revealed by pre-service teachers’ practicum teaching. Last but not least, this study suggested that it is imperative Taiwan ECE to consider the implementation of play more seriously and to provide more substantial support to the future teachers.