Multimodal meaning-making during play in two Northern Canadian Indigenous kindergarten classrooms

Abstract

This research explores young Indigenous children’s multimodal meaning-making to carry out social intentions in dramatic and construction/materials play settings. The participants are two teachers and 21 children from two Northern Canadian Indigenous communities. Underpinned by social semiotic theory, the research involves inductive analyses of six videos of children’s play. Our findings show a richness in Indigenous children’s meaning-making, as they used verbal and non-verbal modes to carry out 26 specific social intentions that we grouped into four broad social intention categories: Getting Along, Expressing Emotion/Interest, Satisfying Own Needs and Directing. The social intention carried out most frequently was showing interest in an activity. Participating children were more likely to use non-verbal modes, particularly in construction/materials play contexts. They also combined verbal and non-verbal modes to achieve their social intentions, but did not use verbal modes exclusively. When children used verbal modes to any great extent, it was primarily in a dramatic play context where the teacher took a role in children’s dramatic play. Our research indicates a need for greater attention by educators, curriculum developers and researchers to multimodal meaning-making in Indigenous children’s play, given the cultural importance of non-verbal communication and participating Indigenous children’s remarkable multimodal meaning-making during play.