OCR Document


THE STATE OF PLAY:  
A REPORT ON THE CONFERENCE 

Julia C. Bishop 

A conference on "The State of Play: Perspectives on Children's Oral 
Culture" took place at the University of Sheffield, England, organised by the 
National Centre for English Cultural Tradition in collaboration with the 
Folklore Society. It was a truly international gathering with speakers from 
Australia, Israel, North America, and several countries, as well as from all 
corners of the British Isles. 

We were privileged to have Dr. Iona Opie as guest of honour and our 
opening speaker. She described how she and her husband, Peter, had 
become interested in children's oral tradition and how they approached their 
work. In typically modest vein, she stressed that neither of them had any 
academic training, the onset of the Second World War precluding the 
possibility of attending university at the time. Their total commitment to 
their chosen field, however, had undoubtedly been an inspiration to many in 
the audience. 

There were also five keynote addresses during the conference. June Factor 
spoke on "Three Myths about Children's Folklore," Gwenda Davey 
discussed continuity and change in Australian children's traditional play, and 
Simon Lichman illustrated the way in which the Traditional Creativity 
Through the Schools project used the study of children's folklore and family 
traditions to help bring together the Arab and Jewish communities in Israel. 
Allison James, approaching children's playas a social anthropologist, 
discussed children's oral communication strategies in the negotiation of 
identity, while John Widdowson highlighted the importance of the informal 
language used in the playground for the acquisition of the formal linguistic 
skills taught in the classroom. 

In addition, there was a plethora of stimulating papers on such topics as the 
effects of the physical environment on imaginative play and games, the 
influence of the media on playground games, children's story telling, 
historical aspects of the study of play, and children's music. 

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The State of Play 

The conference seems to have stimulated communication among researchers 
around the world concerned with children's oral culture. It is hoped that a 
selection of the conference papers will be published in the near future. To 
obtain future information on this, please contact the organisers at the address 
below, or join the e-mail distribution list by contacting Julia Bishop (j.c. 
bishop@sheffield.ac.uk). 

National Centre for English Cultural Tradition  
University of Sheffield 
Sheffield S10 2TN 
UK 

Tel: 0114-222-6296 (main office) 
0114-222-0229   (direct line) 

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