Such tiny signs on a piece of paper. Engagement with language and literacy in a multilingual preschool class

Abstract

Drawing on recent literacy research that foregrounds affect and space, we trace the creation of an early literacy learning space as it emerges through a group conversation between a preschool class teacher and five multilingual children at age 5–6. Our analysis is driven by a fascination of the bodily intensity and emotional energies that arose during the activity, in which the children were to tell each other about a card on which they had drawn a king and asked their parents to write the word ‘king’ in the languages spoken at home. In this article, we ask how such small signs on a piece of paper can have such a big appeal to children and pave the way for a lot of metalanguaging. Our analysis points to a need for an expansion of a common gaze at the sign that goes beyond its communicative and referential meaning and directs attention to its aesthetic and subjective appeal as well as its intersubjective potential. Such a perspective pushes us to deepen our understanding of early literacy, acknowledging children’s affective and reflective paths leading to literacy. It also prompts us to broaden the scope of ‘the metalinguistic’ to embrace the ways it is shaped in interaction and contributes to shared experiences and involvements.