Interactive Digital Book Reading in Families with Refugee Backgrounds

Abstract

ABSTRACT Abundant research has explored interactive book reading and children’s literacy learning, but little is known about interactive digital book reading among families with refugee backgrounds. Drawing upon theoretical perspectives on social semiotics multimodality, this study investigates what happens when parents and children with a refugee background read digital children’s books multimodally. Data sources include ethnographic interviews, video recordings of family conversations, artifacts, and descriptive field notes based on observations. The findings present three common themes: selecting books, meaning making through semiotic resources, and discussing and learning in two languages. Implications include the importance of valuing digital multimodal and dual-language children’s books and acknowledging multiple interactions among parents, siblings, and young children of families with refugee backgrounds.