Multimodal and digital literacies in the early years

Abstract

Young children are born immersed in a digital world and in practices relating to popular culture and media. As they are growing up they develop a wide range of skills, knowledge and understanding of this world. Parents and other family members scaffold this learning, either implicitly or explicitly. Children engage in family social and cultural practices which develop their understanding of the role of media and technology in society. Digital technologies have introduced an extensive range of multimodal dimensions into young children’s learning of literacy. Young children are active users of digital technologies and engage in a wide range of multimodal experiences (Marsh et al 2005). This has implications for policy and practice affecting the early years. The professional development programmes of early childhood educators need to consider these dimensions.