How scaffolding nurtures the development of young children's literacy repertoire: Insiders’ and outsiders’ collaborative understandings

Abstract

This collaborative inquiry involved four educators in the analysis of how children, ages three, four, and five, created meaning from the experiences in their preschool classroom. Drawing on our insider and outsider perspectives as teachers and researchers, we examined the social interactions in this context and focused specifically on the teacher's use of scaffolding. Through literacy scaffolding with an academic focus, an intellectual focus, and an emotional focus, the teacher was able to build bridges from the unknown and not understood to the known and understood. The purpose of our naturalistic inquiry, therefore, was to explore how the teacher used scaffolding to nurture the development of young children's literacy repertoire.