This paper summarizes the results of my PhD study about young children’s early literacy meaning-making, which I will defend in July 2024.

In my work, I adopt a sociocultural framework, that understands literacy as social practice (Barton & Hamilton, 2000). Instead of merely focussing on reading and writing skills, I explore how language and signs are used, which underlying social and cultural norms exist, and how different contexts shape people’s practices. Furthermore, the sociocultural framework highlights the role of language and social interactions in learning (Wells, 2009). When studying young children, this view needs to be extended to include also other semiotic resources, such as embodied modes, or the use of objects (Flewitt, 2005). Hence, early literacy meaning-making can be seen as a process of co-construction, in which participants use language or other semiotic resources, to develop a shared understanding of literacy.

For a long time, literacy learning was seen as exclusively reserved to formal school settings. The so-called ‘readiness’ perspective claimed that children have to attend a certain developmental level, before being able to learn about literacy (Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998). The emergent literacy perspective contrasts this view by acknowledging that children acquire important knowledge and skills about language, reading, and writing before they enter school (Pegorraro Schull et al., 2023). Emergent literacy affirms that children’s learning about literacy begins as early as birth (Clay, 1975) and is driven by their early engagement in literacy activities and their natural interest in learning (Sulzby and Teale,1996). Although this conceptualization has been established in research for many years, the need to develop early literacy practices in educational contexts persists. Studies have shown that children’s early literacy experiences can positively influence their educational outcomes (Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2014). However, rich and meaningful literacy practices in early childhood remain rare (Wells Rowe, 2018; Torr, 2019). While literacy in early childhood has been extensively studied from a cognitive perspective, focusing on emergent literacy skills (Brown, 2014), or in the context of shared reading situations at home (Steiner et al., 2021), only a few studies address early literacy from a sociocultural perspective and in the context of educational institutions. Furthermore, studies rarely focus on multilingual children. My PhD study addresses these research gaps by investigating the literacy practices in non-formal early education in Luxembourg. Furthermore, I explore the ways in which children make meaning in early literacy activities and how they employ different semiotic resources. The context of Luxembourg is particularly interesting to address these questions, as recent statistics have shown that more than 65% of the under-four-year old children grow up with at least two languages at home. Moreover, Luxembourg is one of the first countries to implement a multilingual educational policy for early childhood. This policy, called éducation plurlingue, requires early childhood practitioners to foster language development, collaborate with families, and network with other cultural and educational actors (MENJE & SNJ, 2021). Regarding language and literacy practices, this may involve activities in Luxembourgish and French, the inclusion of children’s home languages, and visits to local libraries.

My PhD study is embedded in a larger mixed-method project called COMPARE (Collaboration with Parents and Multiliteracies in Early Childhood Education in Luxembourg). This project is co-funded by the National Research Fund of Luxembourg (FNR), the Ministry of Education (MENJE), and the National Youth Service (SNJ). Ethical approval was received by the Ethics Review Panel of the University of Luxembourg in the beginning of 2020. The project COMPARE investigates collaboration between parents and educators as well as multiliteracies in early childhood and care facilities in Luxembourg. Combining quantitative (e.g. surveys) and qualitative (e.g. fieldwork and interviews) methods. Between September 2020 and June 2021, I collected my data as part of the qualitative fieldwork of COMPARE. The data collection took place in three early childhood settings, that were located in different regions of Luxembourg. Using videography and ethnographic fieldnotes, I documented my observations. In each of the settings, I observed three focus children who were between two and four years old at the time of the data collection. Additionally, I conducted semi-structured member-check interviews with some of the educators. The participating settings represent the variety of Luxembourg’s non-formal early childhood sector, as each of them applied different pedagogical approaches, had different organizational structures, and employed different language practices. Furthermore, the nine focus children had diverse language and family backgrounds, which reflects the diversity of young children in Luxembourg. My analysis combines elements of thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), sociocultural discourse analysis (Mercer, 2010), and conversation analysis (Seedhouse, 2005). Based on an iterative and reflective process, I analyzed multimodal transcripts, vignettes, and ethnographic fieldnotes.

My findings illustrate the diversity of children’s early literacy experiences and foster understanding of their learning processes. Firstly, I identified a wide range of early literacy practices that reflect different underlying understandings of literacy and the use of different pedagogical methods and tools. These practices accorded different roles to children and enabled them to express varying degrees of agency. Furthermore, several contextual factors, such as the educators’ view of the child or the organizational structure of the crèche, seemed to influence literacy practices. Secondly, children made meaning of early literacy by using a range of semiotic resources, creatively using literacy tools in play, and through interactions with peers and adults. Children adapted their meaning-making resources according to the situations and the other interlocutors. Finally, the co-construction of meaning involved children and adults making different types of connections between themselves, their surroundings, their funds of knowledge, and literacy. These findings foster our understanding of literacy development in early childhood, by illustrating the complexity of children’s experiences and valorizing their diverse resources. My study contributes to the field of early literacy research by addressing research gaps relating to meaning-making, educational contexts, and the role of multilingualism. Furthermore, my findings indicate implications for policymakers and practitioners. While the multilingual policy for early education in Luxembourg is innovative, its implementation is hindered by a lack of clarity and conciseness. Practitioners need to receive more concrete and theoretically funded guidance in order to develop meaningful and pedagogically relevant early literacy practices. Finally, professional development courses should promote practitioners’ reflective and observational competencies. This could enable them to leverage children’s rich resources to enhance early literacy development.

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