ERIC Number: EJ1478828
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Sep
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1468-7984
EISSN: EISSN-1741-2919
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Early Literacy Going Digital: Interweaving Formal and Informal Literacy Learning through Digital Media
Maria Papadopoulou1; Katerina Makri1; Evgenia Pagkourelia1; Evi Kombiadou1; Katerina Gaspari1
Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, v25 n3 p637-661 2025
The proliferation and strong presence of new media in young children's lives have oriented early childhood research and practice towards the concept of digital literacy, now being an important part of ECE policy and practice worldwide. Children join formal education with a rich repertoire of multimedia, multimodal and digital practices, shaped outside schools, at their home and broader social milieu. Related literature acknowledges a strong relationship between digital media and children's literacy development. However, little is known about the actual experiences when this relationship is forged. During the interplay with digital and non-digital media and resources, it is interesting to illustrate the connections in literacy gained through different contexts. The DIGILIT Kids project aimed at exploring the literacy practices of preschool children in digital environments. To this end, our research team conducted qualitative research, interviewing parents, preschool educators and children, while, in parallel, observing children's media use with different digital devices, during their school time and collecting their written and electronic works, before and during the research process. The research context was a public kindergarten classroom in Thessaloniki, Greece, with 20 children. Our findings are summarized in this paper through three children's cases, presented as profiles, representing, to a satisfactory degree, recurrent themes from our whole dataset. The three profiles depict different levels of digital and traditional literacy manifested through children's practices. Our discussion highlights aspects of the complex relationship of digital media and literacy, as well as the need to bridge the gap between formal and informal ways of literacy learning.
Descriptors: Digital Literacy, Literacy Education, Early Childhood Education, Informal Education, Educational Policy, Multiple Literacies, Correlation, Context Effect, Program Descriptions, Parent Attitudes, Student Attitudes, Teacher Attitudes, Preschool Teachers, Preschool Children, Information Technology, Educational Environment, Family Environment, Kindergarten, Learning Processes, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Preschool Education; Elementary Education; Kindergarten; Primary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Greece
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1School of Early Childhood Education, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece