Category: Research

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Abi Hackett

Abigail Hackett & Pauliina Rautio (2019) Answering the world: young children’s running and rolling as more-than-human multimodal meaning making, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 32:8, 1019-1031, DOI: 10.1080/09518398.2019.1635282

Abstract

This paper makes a case for a view of young children’s meaning-making in which human actants are not separate from, but deeply entwined in, a more-than-human world. In order to interrogate the more-than-human processes through which multimodal meaning-making emerges, we focus on meaning-making through running and rolling that we have observed in early childhood settings in Finland and the UK. In doing so, we rethink the process of bringing-into-relation that underpin multimodal literacy practices. Ingold’s notion of correspondence is offered as a generative way to conceptualize the interplay between human and nonhuman elements as they ‘make themselves intelligible to each other’ (p.97). We show how posthuman theory offers the possibility for reconceptualising emergence and intentionality, within young children’s meaning-making.

Keywords: Literacy early childhood running more-than-human posthuman correspondence

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Karen Daniels

Karen Daniels (2021) Movement, meaning and affect and young children’s early literacy practices   International Journal Early Childhood Education 29/1 p41-55

https://doi.org/10.1080/09669760.2019.1701998

ABSTRACT

This paper reports on an analysis of patterns of children’s bodily movements in an Early Years classroom. I illustrate two prevalent patterns identified during close observations of children’s walking movements as they as they followed their interests while accessing continuous provision in an Early Years setting in England. I termed the patterned pathways movement/ interest formations and draw a relationship between these formations and affective atmospheres, suggesting that these atmospheres were created by the dynamics and flows of children’s ongoing bodily movements. I propose that affective atmospheres and movement/interest formations are intricately connected to child-produced meanings as children re-imagine, re-shape and re-purpose classroom spaces and materials. In this way I contribute to conceptual understandings role of children’s whole bodily movements and the accompanying affective atmospheres in the emergence of young children’s literacy practices. My findings substantiate viewpoints that children should be provided with the opportunity to engage in exploratory play and move freely in education settings. Furthermore, I suggest that practitioners be attuned to the the affective dimensions of young children’s emerging literacy practices in Early Years classrooms.

KEYWORDS: Early Years classrooms literacy practices movement embodied meaning making

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Hugh Escott

Hugh Escott & Kate Pahl (2019) Learning from Ninjas: young people’s films as a lens for an expanded view of literacy and language, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 40:6, 803-815, DOI: 10.1080/01596306.2017.1405911

ABSTRACT

This article examines young people’s films to provide insights about language and literacy practices. It offers a heuristic for thinking about how to approach data that is collectively produced. It tries to make sense of new ways of knowing that locate the research in the field rather than in the academic domain. The authors develop a lens for looking at films made by young people that acknowledge multiple modes and materiality within their meaning-making practices. We make an argument about the cultural politics of research, to consider how the language and literacy practices of young people are positioned. We argue for more consideration of how language and literacy appear entangled within objects and other stuff within young people’s media productions, so as to trouble disciplinary boundaries within and beyond literacy and language studies.

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Roberta Taylor

https://youtu.be/Wv7q8ABwbjQ

Dr Roberta Taylor is a Senior Lecturer and Researcher in the Institute of Education, Sheffield Hallam University.

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Taylor, R (2019), Negotiating Voices through Embodied Semiosis: The co-construction of a science text. Linguistics and Education

Abstract

This article presents a rich description of an everyday, paired learner interaction in class. In contributing to debates on collaborative classroom interaction, this article presents a micro-analysis of the work of embodied modes employed in face-to-face interaction. Through ethnographically-contextualised Multimodal Discourse Analysis (EC-MDA), a partial understanding of the ways in which two learners interact through embodied semiosis is reached. The originality of this article lies with the insights gained from multimodal discourse analysis which show how (in textual terms), even in a less creative space, learners negotiate personal, individual ‘ownness’ alongside academic genres in the co-construction of a science text. Three key aspects to paired classroom interaction are identified, namely: multiple voices, multimodal inference and modal synchrony. Through exploring the intricacies of social interaction, we can recognise the detailed multimodal contributions of individuals engaged in collaborative construction of text.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0898589818302341

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0898589818302341/pdfft?md5=23bc1e0b8f0d64603707f5069d8000be&pid=1-s2.0-S0898589818302341-main.pdf