Language and Literacy Education in the Early Years: Practices and Principles for Dynamic and Diverse Contexts

A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102). This special issue belongs to the section "Language and Literacy Education".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 January 2025) | Viewed by 4477

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Graduate School of Education, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
Interests: language and literacy education; teacher education; educational technologies and early language and literacy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Education Sciences will focus on early childhood language and literacy education principles and practices that address the needs of children and communities in diverse and dynamic contexts, with an emphasis on ensuring high quality, inclusive literacy learning opportunities for all children. In particular, this Special Issue aims to further knowledge and debate around the current opportunities, challenges and tensions that arise in the field of early childhood literacy education and how they might be navigated. Empirical research papers are particularly welcomed but high-quality conceptual papers will also be considered.

Topics of interest for this Special Interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Responsive and personalised learning in early childhood language and literacy education;
  • Learning ecologies for inclusive and equitable literacy learning in the early years;
  • Threats to inclusive and equitable literacy learning in the early years;
  • Harnessing the funds of knowledge and funds of identity that young children bring to literacy learning;
  • Inclusive early literacy learning in a technology rich world;
  • Literacy education for children in crisis and conflict zones;
  • Critical literacies in the early years.

Dr. Grace Oakley
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • early literacy
  • early reading
  • early writing
  • digital literacies in the early years
  • responsive literacy teaching in the early years
  • equity in literacy learning

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 560 KiB  
Article
Parental Mindset and SES: Mitigating Income–Vocabulary Gap in Early Childhood of Emergent Bilinguals
by Huilin Luo, Jialin Lai and Jing Zhao
Educ. Sci. 2025, 15(2), 239; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15020239 - 14 Feb 2025
Viewed by 122
Abstract
In addition to being influenced by structural factors like socioeconomic background (SES), children’s achievements are also influenced by psychological factors like the parental mindset. Mindsets may thus be a key to tempering the income–vocabulary gap in emerging bilingual children’s L1 and L2 vocabulary. [...] Read more.
In addition to being influenced by structural factors like socioeconomic background (SES), children’s achievements are also influenced by psychological factors like the parental mindset. Mindsets may thus be a key to tempering the income–vocabulary gap in emerging bilingual children’s L1 and L2 vocabulary. This study compared how SES and the parental mindset connect with parental values on the importance of English, home literacy practices, and children’s Chinese and English vocabulary. We assessed 271 (Mage = 60.78 months) children’s Chinese and English vocabulary, and their parents completed a home literacy environment questionnaire. Path analysis showed that parental growth mindset does not vary with their SES. In addition, parents’ mindsets have a unique contribution to children’s outcomes through parents’ beliefs and the home literacy environment. Full article
18 pages, 294 KiB  
Article
Personalised Writing in Centralised Curriculum: Critical Gaps in New South Wales Stage 1 English Units
by Deb Brosseuk and Phillip Poulton
Educ. Sci. 2025, 15(2), 178; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15020178 - 3 Feb 2025
Viewed by 580
Abstract
Curriculum reform in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, emphasises the need for change, arguing that current educational arrangements must better meet children’s future needs. A key recommendation advocates for greater flexibility in teaching and learning to support personalisation, addressing the wide variation in [...] Read more.
Curriculum reform in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, emphasises the need for change, arguing that current educational arrangements must better meet children’s future needs. A key recommendation advocates for greater flexibility in teaching and learning to support personalisation, addressing the wide variation in children’s learning needs. This qualitative study critically examines four Stage 1 narrative writing units, focusing on whether personalised writing practices—such as opportunities for scaffolding and feedback, choice in writing topics, and flexibility in pacing—are embedded in these centralised curriculum materials. Drawing on Bernstein’s theoretical concept of framing, we analyse the extent to which these practices are integrated into the units. Our analysis reveals a predominance of strong framing, characterised by tightly controlled writing organisation, limited topic choices, and rigid pacing. These constraints offer few opportunities for personalisation. This study highlights critical gaps in the Stage 1 narrative writing units, suggesting that without critical adaptation by teachers, these units risk perpetuating ineffective writing instruction and hindering children’s writing development. This study calls for further research into the impact of centralised curriculum materials on teachers’ writing instruction and the development of children’s writing knowledge and skills, with a particular focus on how personalisation can be integrated within these units to improve writing outcomes for all children. Full article
12 pages, 220 KiB  
Article
Where Are the Diverse Families in Australian Children’s Literature? Impacts and Consideration for Language and Literacy in the Early Years
by Helen Adam, Sally Murphy, Yvonne Urquhart and Katira Ahmed
Educ. Sci. 2024, 14(9), 1006; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14091006 - 13 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1778
Abstract
A lack of representation of diverse families in children’s books can affirm insecurities and contribute to a sense of “otherness”. This study reports on the representation of family diversity in award-listed Australian children’s picture books. A critical theoretical framework was employed to analyse [...] Read more.
A lack of representation of diverse families in children’s books can affirm insecurities and contribute to a sense of “otherness”. This study reports on the representation of family diversity in award-listed Australian children’s picture books. A critical theoretical framework was employed to analyse both texts and images. This study found a lack of diverse family structures in children’s books, especially LGBTIQA+, foster, step and blended families. This paper argues that to ensure inclusive and equitable literacy learning opportunities for all, educators need to go beyond award-listed books when selecting books for early literacy environments. Full article
15 pages, 1014 KiB  
Article
Reading, Viewing, Writing, Creating and Talking about Persuasive Multimodal Texts in the Elementary Years
by Beryl Exley and Frances Hoyte
Educ. Sci. 2024, 14(7), 725; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14070725 - 3 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1235
Abstract
In this article, we overview the research literature exploring the teaching of evaluative language in written and/or visual texts in the elementary years of schooling. We then review the recently redrafted Australian Curriculum: English to identify the emphasis given to the teaching of [...] Read more.
In this article, we overview the research literature exploring the teaching of evaluative language in written and/or visual texts in the elementary years of schooling. We then review the recently redrafted Australian Curriculum: English to identify the emphasis given to the teaching of evaluative language and the grammar of visual design across the elementary years of schooling in Australia. Also featured is the importance of the persuasive genre, and multimodal texts. The focus of our research work is on one Year 4 elementary years school teacher who scaffolds her students to bring all of this knowledge together to read/view and write/create in ways that take seriously the powerful written and visual language use of persuasive multimodal texts. The students are undertaking an inquiry topic “Sharks: Dangerous or Misunderstood?”. As part of the unit, students are exploring the written and visual grammar of danger signs. The students explore these texts by making a danger sign they would expect to see at the beach, as well as a danger sign for something that is not typically dangerous such as a ladybug. We examine the students’ use of the grammar of appraisal and the grammar of visual design, and their capacity to discuss the knowledge/power relationship of their own persuasive multimodal texts during an interview with their teacher. Full article
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