Peirce’s Concept of Signs and Kindergarten Literacy

Abstract

This article focuses on Peirce’s writings about his concept of triadic sign relationships and applies his theory to analyses of multimodal literacy events in a kindergarten classroom where the author was a participant observer. Examples are provided to explain Peirce’s descriptions of the elements of sign relationships – object, representamen, and interpretant. Peirce’s theories are used to understand how the kindergarten children and their teacher make meaning from the children’s multimodal writing productions. Possible objects and interpretants of the children’s multimodal writings are explored. Figures of the children’s drawings/writings and diagrams of relationships among sign elements in the kindergarten classroom are included in the paper.  https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.17.5.7