Reading with Preschool Children Guided by Regulatory or Emancipatory Purposes: A Case Study

• Published in: The international journal of literacies Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 1 - 11
• Main Author: Damber, Ulla
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Champaign Common Ground Research Networks 2014
• Subjects: Case studies; Cultural Context; Emergent Literacy; Focus Groups; Interviews; Literacy; Phonics; Preschool; Preschool Children; Preschool Education; Preschool Teachers; Read-alouds; Reading; Reading Aloud to Others; Social Literacies; Thematic Reading
• ISSN: 2327-0136; 2327-266X
• DOI: 10.18848/2327-0136/CGP/v21i01/48828

The theoretical framework guiding this article builds on the tension between the differing perspectives on literacy learning: is it best taught using autonomous activities or activities embedded in a social, historical, and cultural context as described by the autonomous versus the ideological model for literacy. The read-aloud practices have been studied in one case study (data from interviews, lengthy observations, focus group interviews, artifacts, video recordings) of a preschool where thematic work guided the activities. They were also examined in one larger study where preschool teachers and teacher trainees documented the reading activities, by use of observation schedules, during one week in forty different preschools. Converging evidence indicate a tension between planned language games and phonics exercises on the one hand and on the other hand child initiated emergent literacy activities, such as pretend reading and prewriting. The emergent literacy activities were observed in connection with thematic work. In the larger sample of preschools, thematic work did not occur and the purpose of the read-alouds was predominantly regulatory or disciplinary to make the children rest. The differences between thematic reading, regulatory reading, and child initiated play reading will be illuminated and analyzed.