CHARACTERISTICS OF PRESCHOOL TEACHING IN LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND MULTILINGUALISM: EXPRESSIONS FROM TEN SWEDISH MUNICIPALITIES

Abstract

The aim of this research is to explore what may characterise teaching in language, communication and multilingualism in preschools, as expressed in writing by preschool teachers and managers in 10 Swedish municipalities in 2016. The data consists of written answers to an open-ended question in a reflective document. The reflective document was sent to 243 preschool teachers and managers, of whom 222 responded. A didactically oriented analysis was performed based on three levels: practice-related action level, theoretical level and meta-theoretical level. The results of the analysis are distributed in distinctive traces that more clearly refer to the practice-related action level than to the theoretical level or meta-theoretical level. Child-centred teaching, which may or may not be delimited, is characteristic of language, communication and multilingualism. Teaching is said to be constant: spontaneous but deliberate in all contexts and situations but also delivered through planned activities, projects and themes. Verbal communication is predominant in teaching. Vague and low-frequency traces of multivoiced teaching related to multilingualism and special support have emerged. The multivoiced teaching described mainly ends with general teaching of children in preschool – a multivoiced approach in general. Keywords: communication teaching, didactic analysis, language teaching, multilingualism teaching, Swedish preschool.