Original article

Symbolic play strategy and oral expression: a literature review

0000-0002-1948-7870Velu Marianela Valles Medina^{1  *}  , 0000-0002-9711-034XJuan Carlos Rios Arriaga¹ 

¹Universidad Cesar Vallejo, Perú.

ABSTRACT

The objective of the research is focused on establishing that oral expression is considered an important task in the teaching-learning process. By means of the bibliographic review it is found that oral expression in students is insufficiently developed for an adequate communication with other individuals, the symbolic game is established to give an answer to the deficient oral expression. In order to locate the documents to be analyzed, a bibliographic review was carried out. In this research, the results obtained show that the intervened children's oral expression improved through symbolic play. Through activities that serve as recreation and entertainment.

Key words: Oral expression; Symbolic play; Literature review: Strategy

Introduction

Despite the various didactic and methodological actions developed by teachers in the classroom, several of the goals designed by the ^{Ministry of Education (2014)} have not been achieved, since students still do not achieve the appropriate level in the mastery of oral expression, which results after the evaluations applied to many students in formal education (^{Quintana, 2021}). According to ^{De La Rosa, (2022}), in various educational institutions a constant effort has been needed from teachers who will work with the structured curricular units for teaching-learning that students require.

For education, the learning process is disrupted by cultural, political, social, linguistic variables and, in addition, it is currently also oriented from the different media publications and general and specific communications of related topics aimed at science, culture and in addition to its impact on oral expression (^{Calderón, 2019}).

The author ^{Ovando (2009}) explains that learning to communicate means assuming a challenge that entails risks that the student accepts or rejects, according to his objectives and the conditions of the context where learning takes place.

According to ^{Chahuillco and Jiménez (2020}), oral communication in its development is the subject of varied research by various theorists who have expressed multiple suggestions and activities that every teacher should take into account for an efficient oral expression in their students.

The students in charge of the teacher must know how the speakers in the scenario where they perform exchange of information, points of view and even ideas, being complicated for these students to communicate with adequate fluency, pronunciation, adequate rhythm and correct intonation (^{Terán and Villón, 2018}).

For teachers, it is important for an institution, in charge of teaching English as a curricular unit, to know what interferes with oral communication in these students and they must know how to contribute to guarantee an effective and adequate oral expression (^{Cruz & Martín, 2019}).

Based on this approach, we proceeded to conduct a literature review related to deficiencies in oral expression in students in the classroom and how to address it through symbolic play. That is why we agree with the following comment by ^{Gil, (2020}) the use of so-called active techniques serve as tools that allow to consolidate teaching-learning with a creative vision, generate personal work as well as collective work, promote reflection and start from the cultural history of those groups with whom they work, also taking into account their preferences, values, tastes among other particularities, this is present in the field of oral communication from the didactic aspect.

These contribute in a way to raise the level of motivation of the students who participate in the tasks, these are oriented in the objective to encourage, set aside, break walls and unite the students of the collective being more direct the acquisition of concepts, definitions and knowledge through playful activities or symbolic games (^{De La Cruz, Quesada and Terrones, 2018}).

Therefore, using these techniques, improves the quality of the communicative process, which leads to changes in the attitude of the students in terms of retention of the knowledge imparted, improving the development of their personal motivation. This causes the student to release multiple tensions caused by learning a foreign language that represents serious difficulties, indicating or presenting a pleasant and easy process for their training (^{Melgarejo, 2021}).

Development

In the content of the national curriculum of basic education of the Peruvian state, communication has raised that a child should know how to express himself/herself from this level, know how to listen and have the possibility of being heard. Children need to communicate and for this they appropriate a verbal communication and another that is necessarily non-verbal (^{Ministry of Education, 2016}).

Oral communication is the primary basis in the process of education of human beings, since it is through it that they organize themselves in society, to build society and to be able to solve various problems and contribute to the sense of well-being in their various societies (^{Reyzábal, 2016}).

We generally perceive that children should learn to communicate by their own faculties, in the context of their home or in the context where they live, products of the influences of family and friends, it could be assumed that it is not necessary to teach them in school institutions. It is an unsound statement that has not been assessed from the aspect if speaking well or speaking better is necessary (^{Cassany, 1994}).

^{Garcia, (2016}) reveals that the foundations for the current linguistic development should be acquired by learning in the childhood stage, since there is a greater verbal adaptability of the child with respect to a young person. In addition, it allows to establish strong and stable relationships between language and their thinking, in the development of the stage where those processes figure the curve that begins in a basic logical up to a conceptually and rationally organized linguistic development.

How is the oral expression in children?

It is a reality that all children experience, act, explore, play and get to know the context or environment that welcomes them. This sensation of pleasure that originates from the action implies that they are in constant relation with their context and that they simultaneously manage to structure a communication. Through a process of exploration, communication, they learn to relate to other individuals in a friendly way, in a meaningful way and linked their social context (^{Condemarín, 2017}).

Every child is considered to be a disciple from the moment he/she comes into the world. The process of learning will be his primary task, he should not wait to be informed, he should inquire, explore and experiment by himself, motivated by an innate curiosity, leading him to learn and mature (^{Ferreiro, 2006}). He does not come to the educational institution with a totally blank brain, since he is an active being who has learned several things by himself, and his initiatives and questions build that initial knowledge. He is an individual who thinks and manifests his condition of development from his personal performance where he lives (^{Condemarín, 2017}).

The process of learning an oral language occurs within the multiple tasks related to age, such as play and motor skills developed in contact with the environment and the context where it develops, in addition to the relationship with perceived expressions of other languages (^{Ferreiro, 2006}). Through the activity of reading, speaking and writing included in many of these activities, manifest in children feel pleasure of language, which causes an oriented and reflected construction in contents and uses are truly communicable processes by them (^{Delaunay, 2016}).

Elements that are present in children's communication difficulties.

In society, the tendency to take into account people by the way they express themselves is present. Students, within the school, tend to correct the spontaneous way of expressing themselves, also how they use certain terms considered colloquial and that are restricted to their social or regional environment, which can influence them to make the decision of not wanting to speak or feel excluded, which many also perceive it as an offense (^{Garcia, 2016}).

It is necessary to take into account that behavior and language respond to a biological aspect, also how a living organism considered complex works, due to the superior nervous physiology of the organism, where the brain in its function has reached its maximum capacity with respect to thought and oral language (^{Ferreiro, 2006}).

Based on the above, they are elementary to be able to understand what is related to oral expression and its influence on students. ^{Arcía and Díaz (2020}) express that we can recognize as elements that truncate oral expression the psychic, biological and social factors that involve the subject.

Some psychological factors

They are constituted by those arising from problems of functioning of the central neurological component, of which stand out (^{Condemarín, 2017}):

1. Stuttering, this is manifested by a spasmodic process of repetition of sounds and syllables that do not allow oral expression to be fluent, characterized by explosive expressions of words pronounced by individuals and that are received by other listeners who manage to have understanding of what is expressed.

2. Stuttering, manifested as a process of defective modulation caused by the speed and the rush in communication that prevents the correct expression of sentences by individuals and causing that the understanding of those who listen to the message is difficult.

3. Sensory aphasia, it is considered a daily alteration is a disorder, related to the difficulty of understanding from what they hear, assumed as a partial hearing loss. Sometimes individuals with this disorder can overcome it by means of specialized attention that helps through early stimulation, so that they can pronounce words and phrases up to phonetic modulation.

4. Traumatic lesions, due to causes and mechanisms explainable by science, which can be observed microscopically, such as tumor traumatic lesions, infections occurring in the brain, among others, as well as biochemical, neural and physiological failures located in the cortical centers of language, induced by biological, psychological and social factors that affect the human being.

Emotional Factors

Many authors think that the emotional behavior of consciousness is an approximation to the emotion of the individual. These are accompanied by physiological events of the human being, given the intervention of the central nervous system. It is a reality that during an emotion of the affective type the heart of a person beats faster, the arterial attention can transfer more blood, this implies that it empties in the stomach producing gastric problems. What is necessary for the emotion can be an autonomous or event activity in certain areas of the brain in charge of autonomous activity as the psyche of the individual's behavior (^{Delaunay, 2016}).

Social Disorders

Physical mistreatment, sexual and psychological abuse inflicted by parents, teachers, which produce problems in students affecting their communication and the way they speak, can be catalogued (^{Lewis, 2019}).

Analyzed the previous elements, it can be expressed that socially the tendency to belittle or set aside individuals because of the way they speak is a reality. In reference to students, within the school, there is a tendency to correct the use of colloquial expressions associated with the region where they come from, it can lead them to decrease their expression and develop shyness (^{Lewis, 2019}).

The intervention of teachers is necessary to provide confidence in students so that they can communicate effectively; they should promote respect for the group that manages different ways of speaking of their students, which achieves their acceptance and simultaneously accepts the multiple ways of expression in various communication scenarios among them (^{Hernández, 2010}).

The daily practice of oral expression is of utmost importance to increase the communicative ability of students, a space for conversation should be developed in the classroom and promote, based on orality, learning scenarios that facilitate the acquisition of the necessary skills to interact with an adequate and correct oral expression (^{Martínez, 2014}).

Theoretical foundations of the methodological strategy based on symbolic play

In the present context it is of great importance to seek to solve the problems present in the teaching-learning that these develop, we can point out the students' communication, there are many alternatives presented by different researchers, however, despite this, insufficiencies related to oral expression are observed, this allows emphasizing that there is a need to seek other ways to facilitate the solution to this serious problem (^{Martínez, 2014}).

For ^{Jiménez, Dinello and Alvarado, (2014}) it is a reality that symbolic play can be assumed as an active technique in the teaching-learning process aimed at promoting in children some actions directed to their behavior, which stimulates an appropriate attitude from the level of decision and self-determination; which facilitates the appropriation of knowledge and skills, also contributes to achieve better communication of students.

This playful activity can be considered essential in the strategies to produce learning, it is assumed as a set of short and fun tasks, with rules that allow the consolidation of values and in harás of the effort to internalize knowledge in an appropriate way (^{Mera and Santamaría, 2020}).

The symbolic recreational activities according to the previous perspectives are considered as important actions in the classroom, since they provide a different way of learning acquisition to the student. The symbolic games are oriented according to the student's interests towards the areas involved in the recreational activities (^{Martínez, 2015}).

^{Martinez, (2010}) the ludic activity, is an essential element for the human being, they intervene differently in each stage of life. This points to consider the great value that playful activity has for education, of which symbolic or playful games stand out; they are constructed in such a way that they induce the exercise of mental functions in their practitioners (^{Medina, 2001}).

Symbolic play is considered a mixture between formal learning and recreation. Play is usually creative and learning is enjoyable. If communicative activities in the classroom are consciously planned, the teacher learns and is entertained, but also fulfills his educational praxis (^{Ortiz, 2009}).

Playful activities of the symbolic type, in learning, allow students to achieve the appropriate constraint towards work, cleanliness and motivation for the activities carried out in the classroom, as well as respect and collaboration with their classmates, better socialization, better understanding and coexistence inside and outside the school.

^{Vygotski (1995}) assumes that playful activity appears as a reaction to the tension that manifests itself in complex situations; playful activity is considered the imaginary world where the individual enters to confront or dispel this tension. The process of imagination is a function of knowledge, which allows the child to free himself from certain stressful situations. In these play activities the child observes an object, but acts according to what is perceived.

Currently, multiple symbolic games are being used, so that students acquire knowledge and release tensions produced when faced with the reality of the social context where they develop.

From sociology ^{Martinez, (2015}) exposes that the game is egocentric and will only lose this characteristic at the end of the evolutionary process with the incorporation of the moral conscience of the individual about the nature of the imposed rules.

Pedagogy in education for ^{Vernon and Alvarado (2014}) molds the individual from infancy. This considers symbolic play as the most appropriate means to expose children in the context of their culture, society and creativity.

Many of the pedagogues to solve problems in educational activities, social, economic problems that influence the student in formal education, are certain that the techniques called active and symbolic games, improve the organization of learning in these, increase the independent work of students and allows solving problems in school practice (^{Vernon and Alvarado, 2014}).

They are based on this methodological strategy from the components, classifications, these, characteristics, principles and advantages of such game, with the purpose of having better arguments that allow you to understand the usefulness of these recreational activities used in the learning of the participants (Skinner, B. 2005).

The basic principles of symbolic games

The game has a didactic importance that is given that it presents aspects related to the organization of teaching-learning, through participation, dynamism, training, collectivity, modeling, the problematic aspect, with a systemic character (^{Vilá, 2018}).

The principles of symbolic games are highlighted below that allow the understanding of their importance, of which they stand out (^{Ramirez, J. 2002}):

1. Participation, which is manifested in an active way from the physical and intellectual aspects of the student.

2. Dynamism as a time element in the symbolic game, representing the active interaction in the dynamics of the actions developed.

3. Training constitutes the student's interest and cognitive activity. The novelty is related to the activity with constant or permanent exercises that characterize it.

4. Role playing, based on the performance of human activity and projects imitation of the different ways of representing or assuming oneself as another person, thing or animal.

5. Feedback, it is evidenced and allows adjusting the learning process. It allows obtaining information from its registration, processing and storage that also facilitates the correction of the playful activity.

6. The problemic, constitutes in the playful game the participants can express the present logical-psychological irregularities of the thought and of their learning. If they face difficult purposes where there are varied motivations to achieve them and they can also face scenarios that produce certain problems that must be solved.

7. Obtaining specific results, exposes the dialectic relation that is presented on the balance that must exist in symbolic games as a physical activity, its results promote complementary actions of the theoretical activity deployed by the participants in function to the activity.

8. Competition is an element present in the game that promotes the independence of the activity itself, its dynamics and adds all the physical and intellectual potential of the child during the playful game.

9. The initiative in the game has a systemic character, since it is presented as an independent activity.

10. The principles of symbolic play contribute in an objective way to learning.

In accordance with the proposed purpose, it is stated that the objectives in a research are the core part, so if we manage to express them correctly, it will facilitate the reader's understanding of the article (^{Murillo, Martínez and Belavi, 2017}).

In the present literature review work, taking into account that according to ^{De Oliveira and Bono (2021}) review articles are important resources for the development of science, according to ^{Palomino and Flores (2021}) science and technology are two allies for the evolution of society, thus giving rise to the knowledge society that is accompanied by the creativity of human beings, in this way an exploration of several national and international scientific articles was carried out.

Regarding the selection of articles, two criteria were taken into account, those aimed at reviewing articles that focus on oral expression, symbolic games and didactic strategies, in this regard, ^{George and Avello (2021}), it is very important that in education we manage to conceptualize oral expression from different points of view, in this way we will be able to identify the needs of skills that our students need to keep communicating.

The other criterion is regarding the time of publication of the articles, we selected those that are necessary trying that they are not older than five years and in journals indexed in official sites such as Latindex, Scopus, Scielo, among others. Likewise, the review of scientific articles in English language from these same databases was also taken into account.

According to the results of the exploration of several national and international scientific articles, it can be stated that in the current educational context there is evidence of a marked deficiency in the communication of children, probably related to a lack of appropriate didactic type actions of teachers specific in the use of these applied to the education of their students (^{Alvarez, 2018}).

In addition, the process related to planning, executing and evaluating curricularly is a process of the educational technical type for learning, which involves the pedagogical reflection of the competencies of the curricular units. Considering the application of structured strategies in the ludic activities and oriented in the achievement of an appropriate level of the participants in oral expression; this assumes that the actions developed in the game promote communication and expression through different languages, facilitating a reliable context that allows certain opportunities for the safe empowerment of tools, necessary in their relationship with others and thus promoting the knowledge of the cultural aspects of the world (^{Jimenez, 2015}).

Facilitating the process of initial oral literacy, assuming the importance of language for knowledge, which allows the reproduction of cultural activities and simultaneously facilitates the entry into other possible scenarios. The acceptance of the characteristic possibilities of the voice, body, plastic production, music, and theater by the participants and through processes of interpretation, observation and exploration of art expressions, are ideal and allow achieving these goals (^{George and Avello, 2021}).

Therefore, through the use of strategies such as symbolic playful activities characterized by role playing, imitation, puppets, dramatic aspects with the support of masks, dramatization of songs or stories, corporal expressions, monologues, etc., facilitate the development of children's development in the classroom (^{George and Avello, 2021}), facilitate the development in children of languages and that is fully related to the national curriculum of basic education in Peru, which states that the initial education received in every child should facilitate the ability to express themselves, they must know how to listen and have the right to be heard, to achieve this they resort to language as a manifestation of verbal or non-verbal character (^{Ministry of Education, 2016}).

Conclusions

Most of the works consulted express that the pedagogical intervention on the part of the teachers, from a contextualized curriculum at classroom level where varied activities and workshops directed to the teaching-learning process are developed, consolidated in strategies conceived from the symbolic game, this has allowed orienting the academic activities transforming them into an active intermediary, being a factor of recovery of their capacities in front of the amazement and permanent questions, made by the participants where they express in oral form with certain confidence, much creativity, in a spontaneous way, using their imagination, with sufficient clarity and with a notable security that facilitates a better understanding of the orality of the family and the community and the society in general.

Integral varied strategies coming from the symbolic game through training workshops, by means of dramatic games, puppets, dialogue, roles, dramatization of songs, constitute opportunities that present certain strength for a development of a personality identified by the spontaneous and creative, that facilitates to increase in an adequate way the oral expression of the students, assuming these strategies as a logical and systemic structure of forms, modes and techniques that allow potential their qualities in the classroom.

Other documents reflect the importance of the elaboration of adequate didactic elements in the school environment and their implementation in different pedagogical tasks. They are necessarily a point of support for the teaching-learning of students, facilitating them to think, activating their imagination and creative processes, which enables them to exercise fine and gross motor skills related to construction, application and development processes during their participation in recreational activities

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Received: February 08, 2022; Accepted: May 12, 2022

*Autor para la correspondencia: [e-mail]