To Örebro University

This research aims to increase knowledge about how preschool teachers in three Nordic countries view their preschool’s physical and psychological literacy environment regarding read-alouds. A total of 222 Nordic preschool teachers (52 Finnish, 91 Norwegian, and 79 Swedish) responded to a survey about early literacy practices. Likert-scale questions that contained statements about teachers’ views of the physical literacy environment and methods of reading aloud were used. Scales indicating a physical and psychological literacy environment were created based on statements that reflected the respective literacy environment. The results revealed that the teachers, on average, rated their preschool’s physical literacy environment positively. Their attitudes towards the psychological literacy environment were, on average, high regarding reading aloud as an opportunity for meaning-making and even higher for language-stimulating interaction. The attitudes towards reading aloud to organise everyday activities scored very low on average, which was a somewhat unexpected finding. There were some statistically significant differences in the measures between countries and groups, such as educational level. Emphasising high-quality literacy environments as early as for one- to three-year-old children is discussed as being essential in preschool teacher training and in-service training.

This study examines a phenomenon that appears to be unexplored in previous research on reading aloud to toddlers in ECEC: “waking up to a book." Research builds on previous studies emphasizing the potential of children's books and reading aloud for teaching and research highlighting read aloud practices associated with the period after sleeping time in ECEC settings (Grunditzs, 2013). Theoretically, the study adopts a sociocultural perspective on communication and learning (Säljö, 2010; Linell, 2009), and affordance theory (Gibson, 1979) to analyze what opportunities, engagement, and care that are offered. The study has a qualitative approach. Data consist of video recorded read aloud sequences (N=4,5 h). The transcribed sequences serve as the foundation for analysis of affordances. The project has been approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority. The ECEC participants and the children's parents have been informed and have given their consent to participate in accordance with ethical considerations of confidentiality (Swedish Research Council, 2024). We have applied the ethical code for EC researchers (Bertram et al., 2024). Consideration has been given to any indications from participants expressing not to be video recorded. Results indicate that the reading aloud practices of 'waking up to a book,' are characterized by flexibility and situation-specific goal orientation, where a holistic approach to being responsive to the children's needs and supporting their participation is central. Findings contribute knowledge on how a previously unexplored form of read aloud can function as an educational resource to support toddlers’ interest in books and reading together with peers. 

The purpose of this study was to develop a sustainable model in read aloud activities in which literacy events in ECEC settings are performed to support multilingual children's curiosity, engagement, and language development in read aloud activities. Previous research shows that goal-oriented processes of language teaching are needed in ECEC settings (Alstad & Kulbrandstad, 2017). In addition, research indicates (Hofslundsengen et al. 2023) that ECEC teachers tend to choose simpler books when reading to multilingual children. The theoretical framework is based on Bartons’s (2007) ecological perspective of literacy events and Garcia and Otheguy's, (2020) perspective on translanguaging. The study has a qualitative approach, and data constitute four ECEC staff's written descriptions of literacy events when read aloud for multilingual children. The descriptions have additionally served as the foundation for developing the read aloud model as well as the didactic strategies to engage multilingual children in read aloud activities. Ethical considerations of confidentiality and informed consent were considered according to (Swedish Research Council, 2017). The ECEC staff have given their consent for participation, and the documentation cannot be linked to any specific context or person. The result shows that read aloud events include a goal-oriented and translingual practice in which reading aloud and different genres of books, challenge the multilingual children's language development, agency, and engagement. The findings will contribute to the knowledge of ECEC staff´s development of sustainable practices when supporting multilingual children's language development and engagement in read aloud activities.

In early childhood education and care, many young children use different languages in their daily lives. Early childhood educators are facing challenges in their way of promoting educational language as well as children's multilingualism. This symposium brings together studies from a Nordic perspective in which ECEC teachers´ practices of semiotic landscapes, literacy events, and collegial reflections are in focus for sustainable co-construct knowledge and development of ECEC setting in order to support multilingual children´s language development. 

Preschool teachers' read-aloud and writing practices were investigated using a questionnaire about how activities were planned and organized, and what their purpose was. The results indicate that early literacy practices were not planned systematically. Most of the preschool teachers (77%) reported having storybook read-alouds at least three times per week. A large minority (45.5%) reported never or seldom using writing activities, and rarely in play. The main aims of read-alouds were to promote learning and development, create a sense of community, and regulate group activities. The main aims of writing practices were to learn about letters, understand the function of print, and arouse interest in writing. We discuss the implications of these findings in relation to a need for a didactic approach, where play is the core of early literacy practices.

ECEC settings are children's first contact with early education, and ECEC teachers are expected to encourage and support children's early literacy development. This study aims to pilot test the self-assessment tool Social Language Environment - Domain, (SLE-D), in order to gain more knowledge about teachers' strategies when teaching literacy. Fifteen ECEC teachers used the tool as a support to focus on didactic strategies that provide conditions for children's early literacy development over 22 months. The data consists of (N = 299) self-reported and rated teaching activities across four time-points. Cronbach's alpha showed satisfactory internal consistency for the entire self-assessment tool, while each domain showed somewhat lower levels of consistency. Principal component analysis suggested a 5-factor solution, indicating subdimensions of the three dimensions. However, item mean values showed notable changes in ECEC teachers' ratings, which can be interpreted as teachers developing their strategies in literacy-related play activities by using the tool.

The purpose of the study was to investigate how read-aloud activities and books can constitute a bridge between preschool staff and guardians to support multilingual children's multilingualism. Previous research shows a need for goal-oriented processes of language teaching in preschool (Alstad & Kulbrandstad, 2017). It has also been found that multilingual children do not receive the linguistic challenges they need, and that preschool staff seem to have lower expectations of multilingual children (Björk-Willén, 2022). The theoretical framework is based on Barton's (2007) ecological perspective on literacy and Garcia and Otheguy's (2020) concept of translanguaging. The study adopts a qualitative approach, using the Critical Incident Technique (Flanagan, 1954) as a method for data collection. The data consists of four preschool staff members' written descriptions of critical literacy events when conducting read-alouds for children as well as giving books to guardians. Aspects of confidentiality and informed consent were considered according to the ethical guidelines of the Swedish Research Council (2017). The preschool staff gave their consent for participation, and the written descriptions cannot be linked to any specific context or person. The results show that translingual approaches used by preschool staff, such as pictures, gestures and books, can support children's engagement, curiosity, agency, and participation in read-aloud activities. The study highlights the importance of collaborative activities with guardians where using books in several languages reduces language barriers and facilitates joint engagement and participation in supporting children's multilingualism.

This study investigated teachers’ self-reported read-aloud practices in multilingual early childhood education and care (ECEC) classrooms in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. A total of 170 ECEC teachers participated in a survey about read-aloud practices. Data on literacy practices were ana-lyzed quantitatively, and reasons for read-aloud approaches were qualitatively analyzed. The results showed that the ECEC teachers reported overall similar read-aloud practices regardless of the number of multilingual children in their classrooms; still, some degree of difference in didactic choices was found. Thirty-eight percent of the teachers chose a different book when reading to multilingual rather than monolingual children. Their reasons included a view of multilingual chil-dren as having different reading needs than monolingual children, such as simpler books with more illustrations. Choosing simpler books might be beneficial early in second-language development, especially when using a dialogic reading style for making the book accessible to more children. On the other hand, these reasons might indicate an underlying perception of all multilingual children as in more need of a teaching tone with explanations and instructions and less of an exchange tone with an active exchange of knowledge in read-aloud practice. The overall results point to read-alouds as an important early literacy activity in ECEC classrooms.