Opening up spaces for early Critical Literacy: Korean kindergarteners exploring diversity through multicultural picture books

Abstract

Despite the increasing emphasis in literacy education on critical pedagogies, there is minimal scholarship focusing on the implications of critical literacy in preschool (Pre-K) and kindergarten classrooms. The purpose of this article is to understand the possibility of early critical literacy as a space where young children examine books and articulate their voices on subjects related to cultural/racial diversity and equality. Adopting a qualitative case study approach, this study focuses on the creation of 'alternative texts' by 12 five-year-old children, after they read multicultural picture books in a kindergarten classroom in South Korea. As part of a larger longitudinal study, the data were collected for six months through video/audio recordings, participant observation, dialogical interviews, observational field notes, and children's written materials. The study found that writing alternative texts followed by reading multicultural books enabled children to pose questions, share opinions, and develop critical perspectives on issues related to racial/cultural diversity and equality. Findings suggest that early literacy teachers should foster a supportive literacy environment in which young children are encouraged to read literature for its subtext as a way to prompt responses of vocal multiplicity rather than limiting children by presenting a pre-determined and single answer.