Young children's translanguaging as emergent in and through open-ended science pedagogies

early childhood science education; elementary science education; embodied engagement; multimodal interaction analysis, agency; structure dialectic, plurilingual students, multilingual learning contexts; translanguaging; Early childhood science education; Early childhoods; Elementary science education; Embodied engagement; Interaction analysis; Learning context; Multilingual learning; Multimodal Interaction; Multimodal interaction analyze, agency; Science education; Structure dialectic, plurilingual student, multilingual learning context; Translanguaging; Education

Abstract :

[en] Equity-focused calls for elementary education reform recognize the importance of student and teacher translanguaging, yet nuances of how this process unfolds in early childhood science is an underexplored area. This study examines young plurilingual children's participation in science investigations, with a view toward understanding how open-ended pedagogical structures supported their communication and engagement as related to science learning. We examine the work of 4- to 6-year-olds as they participated in a 3-week unit exploring worms and draw upon translanguaging theoretical perspectives to interpretively analyze their interactions in science. Situated in the multilingual national context of Luxembourg, the study examines the interactions of these plurilingual children and their teacher as they investigated worms in varied open-ended pedagogical structures. Schools are trilingual in Luxembourg, yet approximately half of the students in the country's elementary schools do not come to school with proficiency in any of the three languages of instruction. Issues of equity in schooling are thus heavily bound in languages. The robust dataset incorporating video data were examined using multimodal interaction analysis, and three vignettes zoom in on children's actions, utterances, and materials in open-ended science learning spaces, providing rich examples of classroom structures that support meaningful translanguaging through students' agentic science communication. Young students' communication and science engagement are inseparable, and this study shows that these intertwine through translanguaging, in a process which is emergent when children are able to agentically draw upon diverse resources to make meanings.

Disciplines :

Education & instruction

Author, co-author :

SIRY, Christina ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (FHSE) > Department of Education and Social Work (DESW) > Teaching and Learning

WILMES, Sara ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (FHSE) > Department of Education and Social Work (DESW) > Teaching and Learning

SPORTELLI, Doriana ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (FHSE) > Department of Education and Social Work (DESW) > Teaching and Learning

External co-authors :

Language :

English

Title :

Young children's translanguaging as emergent in and through open-ended science pedagogies

Publication date :

2025

Journal title :

Journal of Research in Science Teaching

ISSN :

0022-4308

eISSN :

1098-2736

Publisher :

John Wiley and Sons Inc

Special issue title :

Translanguaging in Science and Engineering Education Research

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

347 - 378

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/tea.21995

Funders :

André Losch Fondation

Funding text :

This research was funded in part by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) through the SciTeach REFLECT project (No. 18015913) and by the Andr\u00E9 Losch Foundation through the Way2ESD project (ALF/2022/05). The authors thank Therese and her students for their inspiring collaborations, and the guest editors and reviewers for their valuable feedback on earlier versions of this manuscript.

Available on ORBilu :

since 10 February 2025

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