Journal of Early Childhood Literacy recent issues

Editorial

Lancaster, L., Rowe, D. — 2009-07-30

Early adopters: Playing new literacies and pretending new technologies in print-centric classrooms

Wohlwend, K. E. — 2009-07-30

In this article, semiotic analysis of children's practices and designs with video game conventions considers how children use play and drawing as spatializing literacies that make room to import imagined technologies and user identities. Microanalysis of video data of classroom interactions collected during a three year ethnographic study of children's literacy play in kindergarten and primary classrooms reveals how the leading edge of technology use in print-centric classrooms is pretended into being by five-, six-, and seven-year-old `early adopters' — a marketing term for first wave consumers who avidly buy and explore newly-released technology products.`Early adopters' signals two simultaneous identities for young technology users: (1) as developing learners of new literacies and technologies; and, (2) as curious explorers who willingly play with new media. Children transformed paper and pencil resources into artifacts for enacting cell phone conversations and animating video games, using new technologies and the collaborative nature of new literacies to perform literate identities and to strengthen the cohesiveness of play groups.

Student text-making as semiotic work

Mavers, D. — 2009-07-30

Semiotic work is principled engagement in the making of meaning. The semiotic work of school-based learning entails interpretation and expression framed by the curriculum and the social practices of the classroom, and realized multimodally in diverse pedagogic interactions and activities. Micro-examination of the relationship between a teacher's multimodally constituted framing of a task and students' responses in drawing and writing on individual dry-wipe whiteboards investigates the resources they selected in order to demonstrate their engagement, to make their texts suited to how they would be used, and to represent in ways apt to the subject area. These fleeting texts were just one realization of meaning among others in the semiotic flow of the lesson. Notwithstanding the speed of production and erasing soon after, the students' investment of semiotic work was principled. Taking their efforts seriously provides the ground for supporting them as they learn to make texts apt to different discourses and genres.

Multimodality, literacy and texts: Developing a discourse

Bearne, E. — 2009-07-30

This article argues for the development of a framework through which to describe children's multimodal texts. Such a shared discourse should be capable of including different modes and media and the ways in which children integrate and combine them for their own meaning-making purposes. It should also acknowledge that multimodal texts are not always or only screen-based. In addition, it is argued that current definitions of literacy do not readily answer to the variety of semiotic resources deployed in the design of multimodal texts. In revisiting the author's previous tentative thoughts about `the rhetoric of design' the article develops this theme further through offering a possible framework and using this to analyse three different types of multimodal texts created by seven-year-old children. The framework is, however, a `work in progress', which it is hoped, will open up debate.

Interactions, intersections and improvisations: Studying the multimodal texts and classroom talk of six- to seven-year-olds

Pahl, K. — 2009-07-30

This article examines the relationship between children's talk in the classroom and their multimodal texts. The article uses an analytic framework derived from Bourdieu's concept of habitus to examine how 6—7-year-old children's regular ways of being and doing can be found in their multimodal texts together with their talk (Bourdieu, 1977, 1990). The concept of pedagogic habitus is used to make sense of the teacher's regular ways of being and doing within the classroom (Grenfell, 1996). Improvisations upon these ways of being and doing were considered with reference to data collected over two years. In this article, the term `multimodal text' refers to panorama boxes created from shoe boxes to represent an environment such as the ocean or a jungle. The article concludes that it is important to pay attention to the interrelationship between the talk and the boxes to make sense of children's multimodal texts. The concept of improvisations upon the habitus provides an important context for this understanding.

`If she's left with books she'll just eat them': Considering inclusive multimodal literacy practices

Flewitt, R., Nind, M., Payler, J. — 2009-07-30

This article reports on aspects of a small-scale study conducted in the south of England that explored the learning experiences of three four-year-old children with identified special educational needs, who attended a combination of early education settings — one `more special' and one `more inclusive' (Nind et al., 2007). The article reflects on the concept of inclusive literacy, and proposes that a model of literacy as social practice can provide an enabling framework for understanding how young children with learning difficulties interpret and use a range of shared sign systems. Drawing on an ethnographic, video case study of one girl, Mandy,¹ the article gives an overview of her observed literacy experiences at home and in the two educational settings she attended, and then focuses on the collaborative, multimodal nature of the literacy events and practices she encountered. Detailed multimodal analysis of a selected literacy event highlights the salience of embodied action and the shapes of inclusive learning spaces, and points to the importance of valuing individuals' idiosyncratic and multimodal meaning-making. The article concludes with discussion of how opportunities for literacy learning can be generated effectively in an inclusive learning environment for young children with learning difficulties. The study was funded by Rix Thompson Rothenberg Foundation (RTR).

Features of gender: An analysis of the visual texts of third grade children

Albers, P., Frederick, T., Cowan, K. — 2009-07-30

How do primary students construct understandings of the opposite sex? In what ways do these constructions manifest in the visual texts created in literacy and language arts classrooms? Using visual discourse analysis (Albers, 2007) and scheme analysis (Sonesson, 1988) as interpretive methods, we analyzed the visual texts created by 23 third grade students created at the end of a unit of study in which students explored gender stereotypes. Findings suggest the need for close readings of the graphic, structural, and semantic information conveyed by visual texts that children create in literacy and language arts classes.

Book Review: E. Gregory, Learning to Read in a New Language. London: SAGE, 2008. 240 pp. ISBN 978--1--4129--2857--1

Drury, R. — 2009-07-30

Book Review: R. Drury, Young Bilingual Learners at Home and School-researching Multilingual Voices. Stoke on Trent: Trentham, 2007. ISBN10: 1--85856--355--0, ISBN13: 978--1--85856--355--8, {pound}15.99 (pbk)

Pagett, L. — 2009-07-30

`I get my facts from the Internet': A case study of the teaching and learning of information literacy in in-school and out-of-school contexts

McTavish, M. — 2009-03-24

This article investigates the intersection between the in-school information literacy practices and out-of-school (i.e. home and community) information literacy practices of a third grade student and examines how this intersection may be contributing to his overall literacy learning. Data collected from field notes; observations of in-school and out-of-school information literacy practices; video-tapings of the home and classroom domains; drawings and writings from the home and the classroom; and interviews with the focal participant were analyzed and organized into recursive themes illustrative of in-school and out-of-school information literacy practices. Analysis revealed that the out-of-school and in-school information literacy practices of the focal participant ran parallel to each other and only intersected in ways in which school practices took precedence. The participant's out-of-school information literacy practices were not strongly recognized or valued in the classroom.

Bilingualism and phonological segmentation of speech: The case of English-French pre-schoolers

Laurent, A., Martinot, C. — 2009-03-24

From studies of bilingual education practices, some authors have suggested that bilingualism, in a favourable environment, facilitates development of metaphonological abilities. In a monolingual context, these abilities develop in interaction with literacy. The objective of the present study is to determine if bilingual children have some metaphonological knowledge before learning to read. In other terms, does bilingualism improve metaphonological abilities? To answer this question, 50 prereaders were tested: 30 of them were monolingual French speakers; 20 were bilingual English-French speakers from a traditional French school. To test phonological abilities, two tasks were set: a free phonological segmentation task and a phonemic deletion task. Bilingual prereaders did not show better performance at the tasks but did show a different way of segmenting items. The results are discussed in the framework of phonological development theories and bilingual education.

Negotiating culturally responsive pedagogy through multicultural children's literature: Towards critical democratic literacy practices in a first grade classroom

Souto-Manning, M. — 2009-03-24

In this article, I present the description of the learning and social action that unfolded through critical literacy events in my first grade classroom. Resulting from teacher action research, this critical conscientization process underscores how multicultural children's literature served as enabler of culturally responsive pedagogy. Through the analysis of representative literacy events, I highlight how first grade students problematized the racially and socioeconomically segregated nature of pull-out educational programs in an American school — a clear and complex institutional issue that affected society, schooling, and the students' lives. By sharing this, I hope to draw attention to the possibilities of employing children's literature for the benefit of better serving the educational needs of all children.

An ecological perspective on the socially embedded nature of reading and writing

Pantaleo, S. — 2009-03-24

This article examines the writing of three Grade 3 students and discusses how these girls drew upon their symbolic tools, specifically those developed as a result of their experiences with particular kinds of texts. The students were participants in a multifaceted study that explored Grades 3 and 4 students' understandings of and responses to picturebooks with interactive devices. The research also examined how the children used their knowledge of the interactive devices to create their own print texts. The discussion of the three students' writing is framed by a sociocultural theory of writing, focusing specifically on the connections between the reading and the writing completed by the children. However, an ecological perspective on their writing also requires a discussion of the classroom context to understand the children's compositions.

Book Review: A. Craft, T. Cremin and P. Burnard (eds) Creative Learning 3--11 and How We Document It. Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books, 2008. 208 pp. ISBN 978--1-- 85856--410--4

Faulkner, D. — 2009-03-24

Book Review: B. Edmiston, Forming Ethical Identities in Early Childhood Play. New York: Routledge, 2008. 213 pp. ISBN 978--0-415--4358--2 (pbk)

Wilson, A. A. — 2009-03-24

Call for Papers

2008-11-27

The early intervention solution: Enabling or constraining literacy learning

Woods, A., Henderson, R. — 2008-11-27

Current policy, media and curriculum initiatives across western nations are drawing literacy and literacy pedagogy toward enticingly simplistic understandings of literacy as commodity. Increasingly they focus on `fixing' perceived literacy problems by assuming the primacy of early years literacy and `top-up' intervention programs. In the wash-up of these narrow policies failing in their primary mission, it is important that literacy researchers and educators consider expanding notions of literacy rather than returning to `old' solutions for new issues. This article revisits a prior critique of Reading Recovery as a solution to failure to learn school-based literacy. Using data collected as part a larger study into constructions of literacy failure, we analyse the shifting `ways to be a reader' required of one student during a Reading Recovery lesson. We argue that the competence required to negotiate various literacy learning contexts across one morning of learning adds to the complexity of school-based literacy learning as much as it might provide support.

Affirming plural belonging: Building on students' family-based cultural and linguistic capital through multiliteracies pedagogy

Taylor, L. K., Bernhard, J. K., Garg, S., Cummins, J. — 2008-11-27

This article reports on a qualitative case study involving pedagogical innovations grounded in culturally and linguistically inclusive approaches to curriculum. In this project, kindergarten children were supported in collaboratively authoring Dual Language Identity Texts. Our findings suggest that as family and teacher conceptions of literacy were extended beyond traditional monolingual print-based literacy, home literacies associated with complex transnational and transgenerational communities of practice were legitimated through their inclusion within the school curriculum. This process invited family members to take up roles as expert partners in children's biliteracy development. Further, conditions were fostered for parents to consider and articulate their beliefs and values vis-à-vis their children's multiliterate practice and participation within these multiple, transnational communities.

Teacher flexibility and judgment: A multidynamic literacy theory

Hassett, D. D. — 2008-11-27

In an age of restrictive standards and accountability measures, teachers often find themselves in a position where they have to struggle to keep play with language and literature as a focus of their early literacy instruction, as `scientifically based' reading programs, phonics, or scripted instruction take center stage. In order to counter this trend, this article offers a `multidynamic' theory for early literacy instruction that combines researched foundations of early reading success with sociocultural theories of language and literacy. Combining these two fields of thought creates a theoretical stance where reading skills and methods cannot stand on their own, but instead must be dynamically reinvented to fit specific sociocultural contexts. The study analyzes the texts of `scientifically based' reading programs as compared to examples of children's literature as a way to explore three basic tenets of a multidynamic literacy theory: (1) that literacy is multifaceted; (2) that literacy is socially constructed; and (3) that literacy skills must be relevant within the lived worlds of children. The analysis overall (re)situates talk, play, and the instructional use of children's literature as essential components of early literacy programming. More importantly, a multidynamic literacy theory offers teachers the pedagogical basis to insist upon a great deal of flexibility and judgment in choosing the best materials and approaches to meet their students' early literacy needs as well as their sociocultural contexts for learning.

Book review

Rowsell, J. — 2008-11-27

Book review: Diane M. Barone and Shelley Hong Xu, Literacy Instruction for English Language Learners Pre-K-2. New York: Guilford Press, 2008. 278 pp. ISBN 13: 978--1--59385--602--1

Juyeon Lee, J. — 2008-11-27

Book review: Melanie R. Kuhn and Paula J. Schwanenflugel (eds), Fluency in the Classroom. New York: Guilford Press, 2008

King, R. — 2008-11-27

Successful engagement in an early literacy intervention

Scull, J. A., Lo Bianco, J. — 2008-06-27

The aim of the research reported here was to investigate why a percentage of students experience continued difficulty in literacy learning while participating in Reading Recovery. It was hypothesized that this is to do with particular aspects of teacher—learner interactions. Accordingly the study used ethnographic methodology to describe teacher—learner interactions generally and to then examine selected dimensions of the interaction between particular cohorts of students and their teachers. Specifically investigated were the characteristics of this group, mapping students' learning trajectory, and identifying key points and events that impact on teacher decision-making processes with regard to student learning. The learners who participated in this study were 10 children identified as being at risk of literacy failure. Their participation in one-to-one literacy support resulted in six of the children making considerable progress, with the other four identified as requiring ongoing support beyond the short-term intervention provided by Reading Recovery. The reasons for the successful outcome for the six learners are related to the ways that their teachers orchestrated positive reading and writing opportunities through closely focused verbal support. While this `helping talk' appeared to be decisive in the six successful cases, it was productive but inadequate in the remaining four.

Engagement with print: Low-income families and Head Start children

Lynch, J. — 2008-06-27

This research examined the types of print literacy activities low-income parents reported engaging in with their four-year-old children. There were 38 parents of children involved in Head Start, a pre-school program for children from low-income families living in the USA, who participated in this study. Children were assessed on their knowledge about print. Geographical backgrounds of families accounted for some differences in the types and frequency of print literacy activities parents reported to engage in with their children. However, there were no significant differences in children's print knowledge based on geographical factors. This research may suggest the important role of pre-school and particular parent—child activities in developing children's early print concepts.

Negotiation of `how to' at the cross-section of cultural capital and habitus: Young children's procedural practices in a student-led literacy group

Christ, T., Wang, X. C. — 2008-06-27

In order to become productive members of an academic community, it is important for students to master its procedural practices. By adapting Bourdieu's concepts of cultural capital, habitus, and field, we examined procedural practices of first-graders from minority and low-socioeconomic-status backgrounds in the context of student-led literacy groups in an urban classroom. We applied a variety of qualitative methods to collect, analyze, and triangulate the data in this ethnographic study. The results showed that differences in cultural capital and habitus intersected within the group context and affected procedural practices in three ways: deciding to accept or reject procedural practices, scaffolding other students' use of classroom-based procedural practices, and co-constructing procedural practices. The findings indicate that grasping procedural practice knowledge and norms influences students' ability to effectively participate in classroom literacy activities, and building students' cultural capital concerning procedural practices enhances their ability to engage in these practices.

Mother--child shared reading with print and digital texts

Ji Eun Kim, , Anderson, J. — 2008-06-27

The purpose of this study was to (1) compare mother—child interactions in three contexts: shared reading with a book in a traditional print format, with an electronic book in a CD-ROM format, and with an electronic book in a video clip format; (2) compare mother—child interactions with a three-year-old and a seven-year-old; and (3) compare children's extra-textual talk during the shared readings. Results indicated mother—child interactions differed in the contexts, with more complex talk evident in the electronic texts. There were differences in mother—child interactions with the two children that seemed contingent on the child's age and experiences. Finally, children's extra-textual talk differed depending on their ages, and these seemed to be context specific.