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ABSTRACT
The study seeks to understand the relation between preschool children's mode of participation and negotiation strategies during play and their theory of mind (ToM) development in the Hong Kong context. Forty-two 5-year-old children were recruited. Their emotional and cognitive ToMs were assessed along with expressive language ability. Children's play was observed twice in naturalistic and laboratory settings. Parents completed a questionnaire on their child's emotional and cognitive ToM development, including demographic information and social economic status indexes. The results showed that 5-year-old Hong Kong children mostly engaged in associative and cooperative play and employed two-way, reciprocal strategies in their play. Parent report of emotional ToM predicted children's play strategy in both naturalistic and laboratory settings. Child measure of cognitive ToM predicted their play strategy in the laboratory setting. The study advocates more play time in kindergarten in order to foster an empathetic generation.
Notes on contributors
Zhenlin Wang is an assistant professor at the Department of Psychological Studies, and a co-director of the Centre for Childhood Research and Innovation at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Her primary research interests focus on children's theory of mind development, and its implication in children's social functioning as well as early childhood teaching and learning.
Dr. Richard Kwok Shing Wong is an assistant professor at the Department of Early Childhood Education. His research areas are first and second language acquisition, first and second language education, and linguistics.
Dr. Paul Yau Ho Wong is a senior teaching fellow at the Department of Early Childhood Education, and a professional fellow of the Centre for Childhood Research and Innovation at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. His research interests include promoting children's health and teachers' personality–well-being relationship.
Dr. Fuk Chuen Ho is Adjunct Assistant Professor of the Department of Special Education and Counselling at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. He is now the program coordinator of the Basic, Advanced and/or Thematic Courses for Teacher Professional Development on Catering for Students with Special Educational Needs. His research interests focus on autism spectrum disorder as well as reading and writing difficulties.
Dr. Doris Pui Wah Cheng is the Associate professor at the Department of Early Childhood Education. She has been the Director of the Centre for Childhood Research and Innovation at the Hong Kong Institute of Education in the year 2011 to 2015. Her primary research interest is on learning through play and its implication to the learning and teaching in the early years settings.