Porous boundaries: Reconceptualising the home literacy environment as a digitally networked space for 0–3 year olds

Abstract

Most children growing up in contemporary homes in post-industrial countries use digital media as part of everyday literacy activities, such as to connect with distant family and friends, watch their favourite programmes, play games and find information. However, conceptualizations of the Home Literacy Environment (HLE) have not yet adapted to the implications of these comparatively new practices for young children’s knowledge about literacy or the ways in which they negotiate affectively intense relationships in digital networks. Furthermore, the digital activity of very young children aged 0-3 years and the diversity of print and digital technologies they use remain under-researched. Reporting on detailed case studies of a two-year-old boy and a one-year-old girl in England, which formed part of an EU-wide qualitative study of 0-3-year-olds’ digital literacy practices at home, we problematise the relevance of conventional definitions of the HLE for contemporary homes. Building on nascent research in this field, we argue for the need to reconceptualise the HLE as a digitally networked space, with porous boundaries that enable the very youngest children to negotiate affectively intense relationships and express meaning across diverse modes and media as they connect with distant others in a digitally mediated world.

Playing Minecraft: Young children’s postdigital play

“…Whereas research situated in sociocultural or socio-ecological perspectives emphasizes situated practices and how they are nested in larger ecologies, new research situated in sociomaterial and performative perspectives understands space as performed through practices. In a study of two toddlers video-calling relatives at home, Flewitt and Clark (2020) find that digital technologies participate in the performance of the home, not as a microsystem in young children's ecologies, but as a more networked space, reaching beyond its outer walls, as, for example, grandparents are recruited into the home on small screens. Gillen and Kucirkova (2018) study practitioners and children's innovative use of digital technologies in early years classrooms and similarly find that spaces are produced through flows that leave each space bleeding into other spaces-for example, through connections made to the young children's homes, facilitated by the use of digital technologies.…”

“…Gillen and Kucirkova (2018) study practitioners and children's innovative use of digital technologies in early years classrooms and similarly find that spaces are produced through flows that leave each space bleeding into other spaces-for example, through connections made to the young children's homes, facilitated by the use of digital technologies. Boundaries between spaces are, in these studies, described as "porous" (Flewitt and Clark, 2020) and "percolating" (Gillen and Kucirkova, 2018), which relates to an important analytical point: a narrow focus on classroom and home practices as isomorphic with what happens inside the walls may fail to recognize the hybrid connections that are made after the digital.…”

Everyday literacy practices: Normalising the school literate child

“…They had to identify the object in the picture, identify the colour of the object and finally count the number of objects. This is in keeping with child development discourse where children learn and develop in stages and through repetition (Flewitt & Clark 2020). Whilst this may represent the child's developmental step towards getting school ready, these procedures can be construed as constructing a docile, literate individual who embodies respect for the positional power of the teacher and the early childhood institution.…”

“…Taking cognisance of this situation, a reconceptualisation of the readiness processes should consider, via authentic evidence, what in reality prepares all children for learning (Brown 2017). It is important to recognise that children enter ECCE settings with a range of resources from their families to communities which have not previously been acknowledged as valuable and effective (Flewitt & Clark 2020). According to Manyak and Dantas (2011), these resources should be incorporated into early literacy practices rather than being replaced with school literacy instruction.…”

Curating Spaces of Connection and Resisting Pandemic Isolation Through Innovative Digital Practices

“…Digital technologies and media play a significant role within these social worlds (Flewitt & Clark, 2020; Kumpulainen & Gillen, 2017; Marsh et al, 2017). This role took on increased significance for children in this study during the transition to remote learning, when they were required to use digital conferencing platforms such as Google Meet.…”