Multiliteracies in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

The term multiliteracies was first used to encapsulate a wider view of literacy, taking into account the impact of the increase in communication channels and the prominence of cultural and linguistic diversity in the world. Some researchers argue that the traditional view of literacy is focused on a linear view of text, as something that can be read from left to right. In contrast, the term multiliteracies takes into account how literacy has been influenced by social, cultural, and technological change. A pedagogy of multiliteracies has been proposed as a way of explaining a broader view of literacy teaching and learning, which integrates multimodal “text,” including audio, images, sound, graphics, and film through technology. This approach enables teachers to be creative in the literacy classroom by integrating movies, the Internet, music, art, photos, and a range of other digital resources as part of literacy learning. Although much of the research in this field has been undertaken in primary and secondary classrooms, there is also a body of research in the early years, which is discussed here. As argued elsewhere, there is a case to be made for the term “early multiliteracies,” as children learn about the different forms of literacy prior to school entry and have often gained considerable skill in navigating literacy in a digital world. In many ways, young children exemplify the notion of “digital natives,” who simply grow up knowing that literacy encompasses a wide range of modalities. The topics explored in this chapter include the ways in which this concept has developed within the extant research literature. Although not a complete summary of available literature, the following sections highlight some of the key areas of research on this topic. These include the theorizing of multiliteracies for early childhood, as well as research on multiliteracies in early childhood classrooms, research on children and multiliteracies, multiliteracies in homes and community settings, and finally the assessment of multiliteracies.