Digital funds of identity: understanding a young child’s plurilingual development through mediagrams

Abstract

Purpose. The study explored how Feifei, a 3-year-old trilingual girl living in England, uses touchscreens across her multiple languages (English, Mandarin, and Bahasa Indonesia), exploring how her languages and social interactions interact with her touchscreen use. Design/methodology/approach. The research adopts a case study approach, using mediagrams, supported by family interviews and parent-recorded interviews, and expanding conceptualisations of funds of identity in the analysis. Findings. The mediagrams and supporting interviews relate how Feifei’s multilingual touchscreen use relies on parental interest and support, but also highlights innovative ways for multilingual families to use technology, and opportunities for schools and nurseries to use technology to explore children’s funds of knowledge and identity. Originality/value. The study makes an important contribution to the concept of digital funds of identity in multilingual/plurilingual children, highlighting the usefulness of mediagrams as a methodological tool within this sphere.