Abstract
In this longitudinal study, developmental changes in preschoolers' make-believe play were investigated through analyses of teacher-child interactions. The concept of Bruner's (1983) "format" was applied to study teacher-child communication processes during make-believe play. The play of two childen and their teacher's behavior were observed in the preschool once a week over a two-year period. The quality of developmental changes were analyzed of "plan-sharing", and the results showed that four phases were found in the development of make-believe play. These developmental phases corresponded to changes in the teacher's five formats, as follows : (f1) tentative-open, (f2) asking-aiding, (f3) negotia-tion-adding new perspective, (f4) request-cooperative solution, and (f5) expression-confirmation. These concepts of teacher's formats were deduced from developmental changes in children's play.
