Teaching in Programme in Early Childhood Education

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• App-Genres for Children’s Agency – Affordances in Applications Used in Preschool

  2023. Petra Petersen. Designs for Learning 15 (1), 17-30

  Article

  In this study, the aim is to explore what genres can be found in applications used in preschool as a way to facilitate preschool teachers’ informed choices and raise awareness concerning the importance of choosing digital content carefully. In particular, applications that facilitate communication beyond a verbal majority language are in focus in this study. The research questions concern what the affordances are of applications used in preschool in relation to children’s agency and multilingual competencies and which kinds of genres that emerge from the applications’ affordances. Analyses of the applications were based on a social semiotic approach, in combination with the notion of translanguaging, taking into account many modes of communication, as well as different languages. The results illustrate how affordances include possibilities to listen to several spoken languages, opportunities to create documentation and produce stories in many different modes, including the verbal language of choice, but also restraints such as lack of opportunities for children’s agency in some applications with more closed composition. 10 genres are proposed which consist of three monolingual app-genres: talking picture books, storytelling and games, and seven app-genres that allow for several languages: talking picture books in more languages, multilingual storytelling, storytelling with recording possibilities, boardgames with recording possibilities, communication apps, draw-and-record apps and documentation apps. Conclusions highlight the importance of careful selection when choosing digital content in educational settings for younger children and that some of the app-genres proposed could be seen as facilitating digital pedagogical translanguaging.

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• Flerspråkighet och digitala resurser i förskolan

  2022. Petra Petersen.

  Book

  Barn har rätt att utveckla sitt modersmål såväl som det svenska språket. Men hur kan förskolan uppnå dessa mål om pedagogerna inte talar barnens språk? Digitala resurser kan vara ett viktigt hjälp­medel för att skapa just flerspråkiga aktiviteter. När barn får bidra i förskolans sociala samvaro, med alla sina språk, skapas också förutsättningar för ett demokratiskt arbetssätt där barnen blir aktiva deltagare. Med avstamp i olika forskningsprojekt beskriver författaren hur barns modersmål och nationella minoritetsspråk kan inkluderas i förskolans vardag med hjälp av digitala resurser. I boken ges en mängd handfasta råd kring praktiska arbetssätt men också aktiviteter som kan genomföras i personalgruppen för att diskutera, utveckla och förändra verksamheten. Boken avslutas med en omfattande förteckning över olika digitala resurser som kan användas tillsammans med barnen. Här finns förslag för de fem nationella minoritets­språken samt för ytterligare 80 språk.

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• Hur kan digitala resurser användas för att inkludera fler språk i undervisningen?

  2022. Petra Petersen. Digitala didaktiska dilemman, 421-443

  Chapter

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• Multilingual Children’s Expressions of Participation in Preschool Using Digital Tablets

  2021. Petra Petersen. Multimodal Literacies Across Digital Learning Contexts, 90-103

  Chapter

  In this study, multilingual children’s expressions of participation in preschool are explored, with special focus on the use of digital tablets to include the children’s mother tongues and national minority languages. Video observations of children’s interactions with tablets as well as focus groups with preschool teachers were analyzed using a social semiotic approach in combination with the notion of translanguaging. Three aspects of children’s agency were found, and the emerging affordances of the digital tablets are interwoven with the multilingual children’s different expressions of participation. Being able to hear and use one’s mother tongue or minority language and experience that it is valuable in a social context is one facet of agency and was made possible by the use of digital tablets with ready-made language applications. A second aspect was when children could create their own content using their mother tongue or minority language, in open-ended applications. Being able to choose, create, and manipulate their own content non-verbally, regardless of spoken language, proves to be a third way of expressing participation. The importance of the design of the digital resources is discussed, and the possibilities of multimodal translanguaging practices are highlighted.

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• Delaktighet och digitala resurser

  2020. Petra Petersen (et al.).

  Thesis (Doc)

  Children's different expressions of agency when using digital tablets in preschools in multilingual areas are explored in this study. Drawing on ideas problematizing the mono-lingual norm in western education (Björk-Willén, Gruber & Puskás, 2013; García, 2009; Kultti, 2012), the understanding is broadened of children's use of e.g. multilingual applications in ongoing projects. The use of digital resources in pedagogical documentation (c.f. Lenz Taguchi, 2013) is also in focus and children’s processes of creating their own documentation using digital tablets are discussed.

  Using a social semiotic approach (Kress, 1997; Selander & Kress, 2010) where children's multimodal communication is in focus, in combination with the notion of translanguaging (García, 2009), makes it possible to explore both multimodal and multilingual aspects of young children’s agency in day-to-day activities.

  Qualitative video observations of children as well as multimodal focus groups with teachers were used to reflect multimodal interaction between peers as well as with the tablet. Wireless recordings of the tablet screen were made when possible. Consolidating formal ethical guidelines (Vetenskapsrådet, 2017), particular ethical problems concerning informed consent when filming children were addressed proactively communicating with the children before and during the video recording process and allowing them to participate in the process of data collection if they wanted to.

  Incorporating other modes than verbal majority language using the affordances emerging in the use of digital tablets, children were able to express agency in both multilingual and multimodal ways. Photographical and portable modes were used by the children to create their own documentation and verbal content beyond the majority language, in applications including online and locally created resources where parents were co-producers.

  The added difficulty of expressing agency as both a young child and as a speaker of a minority or non-majority language, is discussed. The use of multimodal digital resources to create translanguaging activities might serve to overcome the specific challenges these children face. In a diverse world, where multilingual children have a right to communicate in all languages, the results could propose new ways of thinking about children’s agency and translanguaging activities in preschool.

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• Beyond Borders-Digital Tablets as a Resource for Pre-school Children’s Communication in a Minority Language

  2018. Petra Petersen. Designs for Learning 10 (1), 88-99

  Article

  In this video ethnographic study, a social semiotic approach has been used to explore how the use of digital tablets in preschools may enable children’s communication in a minority language. The results show how preschool children use the emerging affordances of digital tablets in order to act as producers of minority language activities, where their prior knowledge is acknowledged. Applications such as Skype enable peers to communicate in a mutual language beyond the limitations of geographic preschool boundaries. Limitations, such as the lack of appropriate applications available in minority languages, are also discussed. Furthermore, a proposal is made to broaden the understanding of what could constitute multilingual activities.

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Show all publications by Petra Anna Petersen at Stockholm University