Tekster på vegger og gulv. Multimodel literacy i barnehagen.

This study examines multimodal texts in Norwegian daycare centres (barnehager), and to what extent these are included in activities which can develop multimodal literacy in children. Multimodal literacy is the child's ability to interpret and understand a text in more than just one way, as a text can create meaning in several ways. The "text" concept should be understood in a wider context to include drawings, pictures and collages as well as writing. A multimodal text is characterised by being a text in which different meaning-making systems contribute to the overall meaning (e.g. a collage with text, photographs, different colours and materials). The study is based on “texts” such as photographs and pictures on walls and floors in three daycare centres.

The study shows that the texts on the walls, in the form of photographs, drawings and pictures, are only to a very limited extent used by the children in their free play or by the early childhood educators in activities controlled by adults. Yet both children and employees have a relationship with many of the texts on the walls. The texts particularly important to the children are either those they have produced themselves or those with their own portraits. For the employees, the texts are important documentation of the kindergarten's activities, and they also serve as decoration in the room and make the room attractive for the children. The fact that the texts can be used to encourage development of literacy is not mentioned by the employees interviewed. However, the study does find a few examples of early childhood educators actively integrating the texts on the wall in their work with the children in a way that can be interpreted as encouraging multimodal text competences. For instance, the early childhood educators often talk to the children about the pictures on the walls from the stories about Pulverheksen (the hag), and this trains the children's ability to create meaning in both pictures and verbal language. The study concludes that because the kindergarten room has so many multimodal texts, it holds a unique opportunity for developing multimodal literacy.

The data material was collected in three Norwegian daycare centres (barnehager). One daycare centre only received one visit, and data from this centre only consists of photographs of walls, individual texts and field notes. The other two daycare centres received three-four visits each. Each visit lasted three-five hours. Data from these visits includes photographs of texts on walls and floors, video footage of the children's activities with these texts, national and local documents, field notes as well as interviews with a total of 12 children aged 3-5 years and with a total of six early childhood educators and childcare assistants (barnehagelærere and assistenter). The children were interviewed in pairs, and the employees were interviewed individually. All interviews were recorded on video. Main data for the text analyses are photographs and video footage of texts on walls and floors, whereas analyses of the children's interaction with the texts are based on video footage and interviews with the children.

Maagerø, E. (2013). Tekster på vegger og gulv. Multimodel literacy i barnehagen. In M. Semundseth & M.H. Hopperstad (red.), Barn lager tekster. Om barns tidlige tekstproduksjon og de voksnes betydning (134-155). Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk.