1st Edition
The Routledge Handbook of Digital Literacies in Early Childhood
As fast-evolving technologies transform everyday communication and literacy practices, many young children find themselves immersed in multiple digital media from birth. Such rapid technological change has consequences for the development of early literacy, and the ways in which parents and educators are able to equip today’s young citizens for a digital future.
This seminal Handbook fulfils an urgent need to consider how digital technologies are impacting the lives and learning of young children; and how childhood experiences of using digital resources can serve as the foundation for present and future development. Considering children aged 0–8 years, chapters explore the diversity of young children’s literacy skills, practices and expertise across digital tools, technologies and media, in varied contexts, settings and countries.
The Handbook explores six significant areas:
- Part I presents an overview of research into young children’s digital literacy practices, touching on a range of theoretical, methodological and ethical approaches.
- Part II considers young children’s reading, writing and meaning-making when using digital media at home and in the wider community.
- Part III offers an overview of key challenges for early childhood education presented by digital literacy, and discusses political positioning and curricula.
- Part IV focuses on the multimodal and multi-sensory textual landscape of contemporary literary practices, and how children learn to read and write with and across media.
- Part V considers how digital technologies both influence and are influenced by children’s online and offline social relationships.
- Part VI draws together themes from across the Handbook, to propose an agenda for future research into digital literacies in early childhood.
A timely resource identifying and exploring pedagogies designed to bolster young children’s digital and multimodal literacy practices, this key text will be of interest to early childhood educators, researchers and policy-makers.
Introduction: The Emerging Field of Digital Literacies in Early Childhood
Ola Erstad, Rosie Flewitt, Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer and Íris Susana Pires Pereira
Part I Perspectives on Digital Literacies in Early Childhood
1 Researching the Digital Literacy and Multimodal Practices of Young Children: A European Agenda for Change
Jackie Marsh
2 Theorizing Digital Literacy Practices in Early Childhood
Ola Erstad and Julia Gillen
3 Researching Digital Literacy Practices in Early Childhood: Challenges, Complexities and Imperatives
David Poveda
4 Ethics and Researching Young Children’s Digital Literacy Practices
Rosie Flewitt
5 Comparative Global Knowledge about the Use of Digital Technologies for Learning among Young Children
Sonia Livingstone, Sun Sun Lim, Anulekha Nandi and Becky Pham
Part II Young Children’s Digital Literacy Practices in Homes, Communities and Informal Learning Spaces
6 Young Children’s Digital Literacy Practices in Homes: Past, Present and Future Research Directions
Kristiina Kumpulainen and Julia Gillen
7 Reconceptualizing the Home of Digital Childhood
Marta Morgade, Cristina Aliagas and David Poveda
8 Older Siblings as Mediators of Infants’ and Toddlers’ (Digital) Media Use
Andra Siibak and Elyna Nevski
9 Safety (and Security) Issues in Young Children’s Digital Literacy Practices at Home
Stéphane Chaudron, Rosanna Di Gioia and Monica Gemo
10 Children’s Divergent Practices and Access to Digital Media in Home, School and Neighbourhood Communities
Mastin Prinsloo
11 "You know what’s glitching?": Emergent Digital Literacies in Video Game Play
Edward Rivero and Kris D. Gutiérrez
Part III
Young Children’s Digital Literacy Practices in Early Education Settings
12 Digital and Media Literacy-related Policies and Teachers’ Attitudes
Christine W. Trültzsch-Wijnen, Sascha Trültzsch-Wijnen and Kjartan Ólafsson
13 Pedagogical Approaches to Digital Literacy in Early Years Education
Stavroula Kontovourki and Eufimia Tafa
14 Inclusivity and Young Children’s Digital Literacy Practices in Early Education
Grace Oakley
15 Young Children’s Digital Play in Early Childhood Settings: Curriculum, Pedagogy and Teachers’ Knowledge
Elizabeth Wood, Joce Nuttall, Susan Edwards and Sue Grieshaber
16 Remixing Emergent Literacy Education: Cross-age, Plurilingual, Multimedia Adventures in Narrative Teaching and Learning
Heather Lotherington
17 Posthuman Theory as a Tool to Explore Literacy Desirings: Sara-Taylor-iPad-Book Becoming in Writers’ Studio
Candace R. Kuby and Tara Gutshall Rucker
Part IV Reading and Writing on Screen
18 Young Children’s Writing in the 21st Century: The Challenge of Moving from Paper to Screen
Clare Dowdall
19 Digital Reading in the Early Years: Expertise, Engagement and Learning
Íris Susana Pires Pereira, Cristina Vieira da Silva, Mônica Daisy Vieira de Araújo and Maria Manuel Borges
20 Children’s Reading in the Digital Age: A Research Summary on Children’s Digital Books
Natalia Kucirkova
21 The Role of Moving Images in Young Children’s Literacy Practices
Margaret Mackey
22 Availability and Quality of Storybook Apps Across Five Less Widely Used Languages
Adriana G. Bus, Trude Hoel, Cristina Aliagas Marin, Margrethe Jernes, Ofra Korat, Charles L. Mifsud and Jan van Collie
Part V Negotiating Digital Literacy Lives in Hybrid Virtual and Physical Spaces
23 Young Children’s e-books as Digital Spaces for Multimodal Composing, Translanguaging, and Intercultural Sharing
Mary E. Miller and Deborah Wells Rowe
24 Virtual Play – Developing a Baroque Sensibility
Cathy Burnett and Guy Merchant
25 The Quantified Child: Discourses and Practices of Dataveillance in Different Life Stages
Giovanna Mascheroni and Donell Holloway
26 Minecraft ‘Worldness’ in Family Life: Children’s Digital Play and Socio-material Literacy Practices
Michael Dezuanni
27 Digital Literacy Practices in Children’s Everyday Life. Participating in On-screen and Off-screen Activities
Pål Aarsand and Helen Melander Bowden
28 P(l)aying Online: Toys, Apps, and Young Consumers on Transmedia Playgrounds
Karen E. Wohlwend
29 Webs of Relationships: Young Children’s Engagement with Web Searching
Susan Danby and Christina Davidson
Part VI Emergent Themes and Future Visions
30 Future Pedagogical Approaches to Digital and Multimodal Practice in Early Childhood Education
Anne Jyrkiäinen, Kirsi-Liisa Koskinen-Sinisalo, Pirjo Kulju, Reijo Kupiainen, Marita Mäkinen, and Angela Wiseman
31 Emergent Challenges for the Understanding of Children’s Digital Literature
Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer
32 Researching Children’s Play and Identity in the Digital Age: A Holistic Approach
Becky Parry and Fiona Scott
33 Taking a Wide-Angled View of Contemporary Digital Literacy
Amélie Lemieux and Jennifer Rowsell
Index
Biography
Ola Erstad is Professor and Head of the Department of Education, University of Oslo, Norway.
Rosie Flewitt is Reader in Early Communication and Literacy, UCL Institute of Education, London, UK.
Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer is Professor in the German Department at the University of Tübingen, Germany.
Íris Susana Pires Pereira is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Education of the University of Minho, Portugal.
