One of the ways in which society has changed and continues to change is in the increasing diversity of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. This also becomes visible in classrooms, in which teachers are faced with children from various backgrounds, speaking various languages. The performance of multilingual pupils in school is often described from a deficit perspective, in which differences in performance compared to monolingual pupils are explained by the multilingual background and home environment of these pupils (Agirdag, 2020). Instead of considering pupils’ home environment as an obstacle for learning at school, it can be seen as a valuable asset which provides pupils with knowledge and skills outside of the school context. When teachers in early childhood education and care (ECEC) can bridge the gap between home and school practices, they provide pupils more continuity in their different learning environments, which benefits their learning in general and in school (Aghallaj et al., 2020). One way to do so is by recognising and building on pupils’ funds of knowledge and identity, which refers to knowledge and skills that a pupil has obtained in different contexts, such as home and school (Moll et al., 1992). In line with this approach, teachers can draw on pupils’ funds of identity by asking pupils to make or bring artefacts which tell something about their background, hobbies or other things that are important to them. The use of these identity artefacts stimulates pupils’ engagement, learning attitudes, and collaboration skills (Volman & ’T Gilde, 2021). This approach can also stimulate parents’ involvement and participation, which is beneficial for pupils’ learning achievements and participation, and can reduce inequalities between pupils (Baquedano-López et al., 2013). Studying material artefacts and objects (‘material culture’) representing multilingual pupils’ identity and practices can provide meaningful insights into these identities and practices (Aronin & Ó Laoire, 2013). Furthermore, the way young pupils communicate with the teacher and each other during emergent literacy activities can shed more light on their literacy practices in different languages (Tolentino, 2013). 

During this presentation, we will discuss research conducted in an Educational Design Research project in the Netherlands called “Jong Geletterd Oud Gedaan” (Catch their literacy young). Kindergarten teachers and researchers collaborated to develop and implement practices that stimulate young pupils’ emergent literacy in all languages. Emergent literacy is an important predictor of pupils’ literacy development, which is of great importance for pupils’ school performance and their participation in society (Teale et al., 2020). Pupils with a different home language than the language of instruction in school tend to score lower on measures of literacy (OECD, 2019). One of the main reasons for this is the fact that the emergent literacy practices in early childhood education and home are not aligned in terms of literacy practices and languages (Aghallaj et al., 2020; Reyes & Azuara, 2008; Salem et al., 2020; Sulzby et al., 1989). By ignoring pupils’ funds of knowledge and identity regarding their emergent literacy practices, differences in opportunities between pupils can increase rather than decrease from an early age. Gaining insight into pupils’ funds of knowledge and identity may support ECEC educators in designing their literacy education in a meaningful way. This paper contributes to answering the question how ECEC educators can gain these insights. We will discuss the following research questions:  

1. Which insights into young children’s emergent literacy practices can objects from the home environment (language treasures) provide? 

2. Which needs do multilingual parents express regarding the connection between home and school language and literacy practices? 

This study explores the material culture of young pupils’ homes in the form of a so-called ‘language treasures’ activity, which was developed and conducted during the project “Jong Geletterd Oud Gedaan” (Catch their literacy young). For this activity, pupils in kindergarten were given a suitcase to fill with meaningful objects related to their language and literacy practices at home. The pupils’ presentations of these objects to each other and the teacher were video-recorded and analysed thematically (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to answer the first research question. The analysis consisted of a categorisation of the objects and corresponding languages which the pupils had brought, as well as analyses of how pupils talked about these objects with each other and/or the teacher. Additionally, an in-depth interview with a selection of parents from different cultural backgrounds was conducted to gain more insight into the family language practices and the needs that these parents express regarding the connection between home and school language and literacy practices. Audio recordings of this interview were analysed thematically to answer the second research question.

This study will describe the objects that pupils have brought to represent their home language and literacy practices (their language treasures), as well as their descriptions of these objects. The analysis of the pupils’ presentations of their language treasures will also lead to recommendations regarding the classroom interaction during these presentations. Furthermore, the study will present two case studies of parents’ descriptions of their home language and literacy practices and to what extent they align with the objects brought by their children. This will provide more information on whether the language treasures activity can be used to represent pupils’ home language and literacy practices accurately. These case studies will also provide insight into the needs expressed by parents regarding the connection between home and school language and literacy practices.

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