Mobile Digital Devices and Preschoolers’ Home Multiliteracy Practices

Suzanna So-Har Wong

doi:10.20360/g2cp49

Abstract

The increased use of digital devices such as touchscreen tablets in the home for work, communication, entertainment, and information searching makes them naturally attractive to toddlers and preschoolers who learn to communicate by observing and interacting with parents and older siblings. This paper presents one of the major findings from a study in Canada and Australia that examined preschoolers’ (ages 3 to 5) home multiliteracy practices. By focusing on data from one of the participants in this study, this paper discusses how the use of iPad engages children in multimodal literacy practices, motivates literacy learning and provides opportunities for independent exploration and creation. This study is informed by complexity science and the data collected were analyzed using Green’s (1988, 2012) three-dimensional model of literacy. The findings shed light on technology’s evolving influence on society and contribute to insights in preschoolers’ home literacy practices.

Highlights

The increased use of digital devices such as touchscreen tablets in the home for work, communication, entertainment, and information searching makes them naturally attractive to toddlers and preschoolers who learn to communicate by observing and interacting with parents and older siblings
The vignettes presented in this paper depict a shift in the home literacy practices of a contemporary young child who is coming under the influence of new technology tools
A child’s parents intentionally scaffold his early literacy learning and development by encouraging him to engage in multimodal and multimedia activities at home, in addition to providing traditionally dominant print-based text

Summary

Introduction

The increased use of digital devices such as touchscreen tablets in the home for work, communication, entertainment, and information searching makes them naturally attractive to toddlers and preschoolers who learn to communicate by observing and interacting with parents and older siblings. The new digital technologies with touch screen sensitivity and a variety of applications (apps) impact the ways children engage with multiliteracy practices at home Young children use these new digital devices to communicate, learn, and to participate in and make sense of the world they live in (Marsh, 2011). Digital technologies have become increasingly portable, affordable, and accessible to many young children at home in affluent societies such as Canada and Australia (Lynch & Redpath, 2014; Rowsell, Saudelli, Scott, & Bishop, 2013) and are increasingly available to children in developing countries (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2014) The portability of these new mobile touchscreen devices allows children to use them everywhere 1 in their homes and communities. As new digital devices continue to become an integral part of everyday life, young children increasingly incorporate them in their daily literacy practices by using them as play objects at home (Burke & Marsh, 2013; Verenikina & Kervin, 2011)

Methods

Findings

Conclusion