Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Ahead of Print.
Systems thinking is a holistic framework recognizing the natural and human worlds as interconnected and interdependent. A systems thinking perspective using multimodal literacies can help children address current environmental, social, and economic problems. This qualitative case study captures the possibilities for young children’s expansive and sustained critical thinking across content areas. We asked how do teachers and students in a K-1 classroom apply a systems thinking view of the world’s interconnectedness using multimodal literacy practices to analyze problematic social and ecological issues? During a one-year period, data collection included classroom observations, photographs, student artifacts, and interviews with teachers and students analyzed through distinctions, systems, relationships, and perspectives (Cabrera and Colosi, 2008). We found that students made connections and explored relationships within and across complex systems, imagined solutions to broken systems, and developed as change agents. This article captures children’s ability to be agentive when facing “wicked problems.” These findings demonstrate the capacity of young children to make connections, see relationships, and wrestle with complex social and environmental issues as they develop imaginative solutions.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Ahead of Print.
In Australian schools, approximately 20% of young children are emergent bilinguals, who are simultaneously developing their home languages while learning through English. While many teachers recognise the benefits of multilingual teaching approaches in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms, there remains a significant level of uncertainty about how to enact them. These approaches depend heavily on teachers’ ability to leverage young learners’ cultural and linguistic funds of knowledge, as well as to apply pedagogies that engage the full range of their linguistic abilities. To effectively develop these strategies, many teachers require additional support. This paper presents a study in which researchers collaborated with a classroom teacher to initiate a multilingual storytelling project aimed at children aged six to seven. The objective was to explore the potential of multilingual storytelling to engage young emergent bilingual learners in early reading and writing activities. Our findings indicate that this pedagogical approach, rooted in the principles of translanguaging, significantly enhanced the students' engagement with literacy. By validating their home languages and cultural identities, the project provided strong support for their oral language development, demonstrating the effectiveness of integrating multilingual practices in the foundational years of education.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Volume 24, Issue 4, Page 921-947, December 2024.
Early reading achievement is essential for all children’s development and future success. However, U.S. schools continue to under prepare Black children in early literacy, as evidenced by disparate outcomes observed for this population of learners. The under preparation of Black students is problematic, given the strong negative correlation between early reading proficiency and high school graduation. Preschool learning opportunities are a means to curb this trend, but these instructional opportunities vary in quality and effectiveness. Variations in quality may significantly impact Black girls. Little specific attention has been given to the early reading of Black girls.’ Therefore, this article’s purpose is to assess the effects of schools on the early reading achievement of Black girls. This study used multilevel modeling to gauge the effects of schools on Black girls’ early reading achievement. Our estimates provide correlational inferences concerning the associations between school characteristics and the early reading achievement of Black girls. The reading achievement of a representative sample of Black girls (N = 886) and their corresponding schools was used to assess school effects. The schools’ socioeconomic status (SES) and school locations were the primary school characteristics of interest. Results indicate that schools account for approximately 18% of the variation in Black girls’ early reading achievement. Thus, schools play a meaningful role in the early reading achievement of Black girls. School-level SES was negatively correlated with Black girls’ early reading achievement, but this effect was mediated by school location. In conclusion, schools’ observed effects on early Black girl achievement were moderate and influenced by school location. Implications for supporting the early reading achievement of Black girls are provided for educational stakeholders.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Volume 24, Issue 3, Page 511-522, September 2024.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Volume 24, Issue 3, Page 523-550, September 2024.
This paper describes name-related literacy practices in a multilingual preschool classroom and their implications for emergent biliteracy. We draw on a translingual framework to understand children’s name-writing activities and how bilingual children’s early literacy interacts with, and at times disrupts, the written conventions of named languages. Drawing on fieldnotes, observations, and artifacts from a preschool classroom serving Spanish-English bilingual children, we examined how children and teachers used names as resources for early literacy learning. We found that names are (potential) gateways to letter-sound relationships across languages, that names teach that some features of writing are shared across languages and some are different, and finally that names differ from other kinds of words children encounter across languages. We discuss what those instances prompt us to (re)consider about name-related teaching and emergent biliteracy.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Volume 24, Issue 3, Page 551-577, September 2024.
This study explores the captivating world of toy unboxing videos as a space for emergent bilingual children to engage in translanguaging practices. Through the lens of translanguaging, which encourages the unrestricted use of full linguistic repertoires, this research examines the experiences of two five-year-old immigrant and emergent bilingual children, who employ linguistic repertoires from both English and Korean, within toy unboxing play. Toy unboxing play is not exclusive to these children alone but extends beyond as a shared phenomenon of new play among children across the globe. This ethnographic case study seeks to understand when and how translanguaging is employed in their toy unboxing play and explores the possibilities it opens for fostering inclusive views on linguistic practices among emergent bilingual children. In our findings, we argue that toy unboxing play can be a way of creating translanguaging space facilitating the deployment of children’s linguistic repertoires and contributing to their meaning-making and learning processes. The translanguaging practices exhibited by the children in their toy unboxing play demonstrate linguistic flexibility across three key domains: (1) playful interaction with toys and self, (2) emotional interaction with families and intimate others, and (3) transcultural interaction with peers and virtual audience. The study contributes valuable insights into the potentialities of translanguaging within the context of children’s play. Translanguaging emerges not only as a linguistic phenomenon but as a holistic approach to communication, reflecting the multifaceted nature of emergent bilingual children’s identities and experiences. The hybridized approach observed in their play underscores the importance of recognizing translanguaging as a way of being and belonging for children and families with transnational and transcultural backgrounds. By shedding light on the intricate interplay between language, culture, and play, this research deepens our understanding of inclusive and liberating translanguaging spaces for emergent bilingual children.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Volume 24, Issue 3, Page 578-604, September 2024.
Although existing research describes how teacher candidates (TCs) have incorporated translanguaging pedagogies through practice-based assignments, little research closely examines how TCs engage in discursive shifts, or moment-to-moment linguistic decisions, in translanguaging pedagogies during literacy instruction in their field placement internships. Drawing on a larger study that utilized practitioner inquiry with an ethnographic approach, we analyzed TCs’ literacy instruction for their discursive shifts in which TCs and elementary students 1) engaged in translanguaging 2) spoke about named languages 3) attempted to draw upon multilingual students’ cultural and linguistic knowledges. Our analyses of TCs’ discursive shifts during translanguaging read-alouds showed that TCs employed more or less effective and affirming discursive shifts to position multilingual students as linguistic experts. TCs also employed certain discursive shifts that gave multilingual students more opportunities to share cultural and linguistic knowledge unknown to the TCs and peers than others. Lastly, TCs engaged in discursive shifts that provided multilingual students space to advocate for their linguistic, cultural and textual rights. We conclude by discussing the findings and sharing implications on developing effective and affirming uses of translanguaging pedagogies in literacy instruction.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Volume 24, Issue 3, Page 605-632, September 2024.
Translanguaging theory highlights the dynamic use of multiple languages and communication modes by multilingual people in their daily experiences. Museums are informal family learning spaces where multilingual families use languages and other semiotic resources to create learning opportunities for their children. Using a microethnographic approach to discourse analysis and multimodal interaction analysis, I examined how a multilingual family uses translanguaging practices to organize their family learning in museums and the role of pointing gestures as part of their translanguaging repertoires in multilingual family learning. The analysis of two literacy events highlights that a child and his mother translanguaged with various semiotic resources to organize museum performances, joint attention, and telling, and that pointing gestures played a role in constructing a translanguaging space as they organized the two performances. Pointing involved the family in reading signage texts and allowed the mother to translate them for the child. Viewing translation as part of the translanguaging repertoire, this study recognizes the importance of the role of pointing gestures in constructing family learning at museums, enriching children’s schooling and literacy learning in classrooms. I argue that recognizing pointing as a critical component of translanguaging allows educators to develop strategies that leverage families’ unique repertoires to support multilingual students’ language and literacy learning.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Volume 24, Issue 3, Page 633-662, September 2024.
This qualitative study explores intersections between U.S. language policies (federal and state-level) and instructional practice in early childhood settings for multilingual learners (MLs). We draw on the theoretical framework of culturally sustaining pedagogy to engage in a critical content analysis of U.S. federal and state-level policy from three states. In the cross-analysis of policy and pedagogy, we also examine data from ML teachers’ instructional artifacts, open-ended surveys, and semi-structured interviews. The findings provide insight into how educators draw on culturally sustaining and asset-based approaches to teaching MLs. Additionally, findings demonstrate how ML teachers negotiate policies that prioritize English language and academic achievement and those focused on teaching discrete language skills (i.e., phonological awareness and phonics) by continually centering children’s linguistic and cultural repertoires. Participants in this study advocated for linguistic pluralism in their instruction and as leaders in their schools and communities. The study further illustrates how policies mandate specific aspects of instruction and leave linguistically inclusive pedagogies to individual educators. This tension can be beneficial for educators’ freedom in interpreting and navigating the policy in their classroom but can also create disparities for young learners and their literacy opportunities. The significance implies a need for revisiting early childhood ML teachers’ role in creating policy that fosters linguistic and cultural inclusion in language and literacy teaching.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Volume 24, Issue 3, Page 663-691, September 2024.
Rich oral language practices, including the opportunity and ability to participate in cognitively and linguistically challenging extended discourse, are foundational to early literacy development. To meet children’s needs in their first exposure to the languages of schooling, educators may engage students in extended discourse multilingually. The current study focuses on student-centered translanguaging conversations to examine strategies that preschool teachers employ to support young children’s emerging bilingual and biliteracy development in a Mandarin immersion preschool serving primarily non-heritage learners of Mandarin in the United States. Findings indicate that, despite the school’s Mandarin-only policy, teachers engaged in covert translanguaging practices to extend and deepen discourse. Specifically, teachers used 13 discourse strategies across two critical areas of schooling: translanguaging for (1) socializing students not just into the Mandarin language but into the norms of schooling; and (2) focusing not just on Mandarin language but also on content area learning. The study concludes with implications for schools and teachers.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Volume 24, Issue 3, Page 692-711, September 2024.
Educators should support multilingual students’ translingual writing. However, it can be challenging for teachers to support students’ composing in languages that teachers do not speak. Drawing on a community translanguaging lens, this paper explores this issue by asking: How did teachers talk about and interact with language resources that were new to them while supporting translingual writing in an English-medium classroom? Data were collected using ethnographic and practitioner research methods across 1 year in one second-grade writing workshop in the U.S. Students spoke Spanish, Korean, French, Tagalog, or English, and classroom teachers spoke English and Spanish. Data analysis first involved descriptive coding of videorecorded composing interactions to identify every teacher interaction involving a new-to-them named language. These events were then re-examined using constant comparative coding to identify interactional patterns. This yielded three main findings; teachers: (1) positioned students as language experts and themselves as language learners, (2) drew on shared language resources to support student writing in new-to-teacher languages, and (3) expanded audiences to support student writing in new-to-teacher languages. Implications include pedagogical steps teachers can take to support students’ use of new-to-teacher languages while writing, and ideological and social implications of teacher talk about those languages.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Volume 24, Issue 3, Page 712-716, September 2024.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Volume 24, Issue 3, Page 716-720, September 2024.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Ahead of Print.
This qualitative study examined the responses of North Carolina child care center administrators on the role of books and specifically diverse books in children’s lives. Additionally, the administrators provided descriptions of what constitutes a diverse book. Sixty-five administrators from high quality child care centers responded to three open ended questions in an online survey. Resulting themes were that books and diverse books provide literacy and learning as well as windows and mirrors. However, there was a stronger focus on the functions that windows provide. Diverse book descriptions focused mainly on race, culture, family structure, and ability but overall the descriptions were very limited in their focus. The findings speak to a need for further training of administrators on diversity and inclusion and the role of diversity in books to enhance children’s development.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Volume 24, Issue 4, Page 970-973, December 2024.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Ahead of Print.
Although early writing is considered an essential pathway to language and literacy development for preschool-age children (i.e., 3- to 5-years-old), it tends to receive less priority when compared to reading in early childhood (EC) education. To bolster teachers’ early writing practices, researchers have closely examined the nature of the writing instruction and experiences that occur in EC classrooms. In this multiple methods study, we capitalized on a purposeful sample of 30 classrooms where children demonstrated higher language gains to examine and describe how early writing experiences were implemented in these contexts. Using deductive and inductive approaches, we explored various characteristics of writing events that occurred, including the grouping format, activity setting, instructional foci, and teachers’ supportive strategies to understand how these characteristics worked together to shape teacher-child writing interactions. We found that the written product and instructional foci were linked to teachers’ use of specific strategies, which ultimately shaped children’s participation in writing, particularly children’s engagement with different components of writing (i.e., handwriting, spelling, and composing). Findings of this study provide important insight into the dynamic interplay of environmental, instructional, and interactional factors that shape writing instruction and experiences in EC classrooms.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Ahead of Print.
Shared reading is a crucial site for children’s emerging reading skills when children engage affectively, behaviorally, and cognitively in the reading process. To inform a more holistic, collective, and inclusive view of observable engagement in read aloud (RA) behaviors, authors examined EB preschoolers’ micro-moment engagement behaviors to understand how they recruit their verbal and embodied modes to attend to RAs and how these behaviors align with prior engagement typologies. A phenomenological approach was implemented to examine EB preschool students’ moment-to-moment, multimodal forms of engagement across three video recorded RAs that consisted of 258 units of analysis. Findings reveal that EB preschoolers’ attentiveness and attention divergence during RA activities were showcased across a multimodal continuum but did not necessarily indicate disengagement or inattention. Opportunities for children’s contemplation were constrained by social and behavioral expectations of their compliance, and within less dialogic RAs, these expectations undermined children’s multimodal means of textual engagement in favor of their quiet, undivided display of attention. Findings have implications for recognizing the role of young children’s multimodal expression in supporting their engagement and interactions in RA in ways that may contribute to their developing reading skills and outcomes.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Ahead of Print.
The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly shifted primary-grade literacy instruction which had rarely been implemented online before the pandemic. Remote early literacy instruction is thus an emerging field of research, and research is needed to understand the affordances and limitations of this crisis-driven instruction and how it may inform early literacy instruction moving forward, both in remote and traditional settings. This mixed methods case study examined how 106 novice primary-grade teachers in the United States implemented literacy instruction in the remote platform during the COVID-19 pandemic with a desire to understand both successful and challenging literacy practices. The main data sources entailed 106 teacher interviews conducted using a semi-structured interview protocol and teacher self-ratings of their implementation of evidence-based literacy practices. Qualitative analyses of teachers’ perspectives yielded findings that remote early literacy instruction increased the involvement of families, required teachers to navigate multiple boundaries to implement literacy instruction, remote instruction was most conducive to teacher-led literacy instruction, and resulted in teachers’ difficulty knowing and addressing children’s literacy needs. Quantitative data analysis of Likert-scale questions about teachers’ early literacy instructional practices revealed teachers reported their highest quality literacy instructional practices as read alouds, collaboration with children’s families, and building an effective learning community for remote literacy instruction. Teachers rated their remote implementation of writing instruction, literacy assessment processes, and differentiation of literacy instruction as lower quality. The findings add to the literature by providing an in-depth understanding of remote early literacy instruction, successes and challenges reported by teachers providing literacy instruction to primary-aged children, and implications for post-pandemic instruction.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Ahead of Print.
The benefits of book gifting schemes for infants, parents and families, are well documented. While book gifting schemes operate around the world, and are delivered in different ways (e.g., postal services, local libraries, maternity hospitals and community centres), little is known about the benefits and challenges for those involved in delivering the schemes. This mixed methods study, based on a book gifting scheme in Ireland, reports findings from public health nurses (PHNs) regarding their involvement in an infant book gifting scheme. PHNs incorporated the delivery of an infant book gifting pack, and information leaflets about reading with infants, into their regular infant developmental health checks at 3 months and at 7-9 months. The findings from over 300 developmental checks indicate that participating PHNs were positive overall regarding their involvement in the scheme. Despite their heavy workload, in general, PHNs reported they had sufficient time available during the health checks to incorporate the book gifting. They highlighted the benefit of the scheme for parents and infants but also for PHNs themselves and their professional practice. The present paper discusses the findings in the context of ecological systems theory, notably, the role of the PHN in supporting infants and parents, and considers the implications of the findings for the delivery of infant book gifting schemes.

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Ahead of Print.
This study investigates three young Chinese girls’ active play on TikTok as a way to engage in global communication during the Covid-19 lockdown in China. In particular, this paper aims to navigate how the girls position themselves in TikTok multimodal literacy play, as well as to inquire into how they practice literacy to deny, negotiate, and/or accept the beauty norms in TikTok virtual space. Situating and exploring these young girls’ stories, the author shares findings from multiple rounds of virtual interviews during the pandemic that highlight the girls’ creativity through multimodal literacy engagement on TikTok; their playful thinking that adopted the pandemic as a way of life and empowered the girls despite uncertainties, doubts, and tensions; and their complex beauty values negotiations embedded in the experiences of the girls’ vibrant interactions on TikTok. Inspired by the girls' literacy practices and gender negotiations, TikTok’s influences on norms of beauty and feminine appearance are discussed. Interrogating the limits of this platform, this work recognizes the possibilities of young girls’ multimodal literacy experiences while encouraging further negotiations, reimaginations, and growth in their celebrations of social media like TikTok.