Elementary Language Education in Digital Multimodal and Multiliteracy Contexts

Abstract

Early childhood education is intrinsically multimodal. The kindergarten discov-ery orientation to learning emphasizes play and embodied multisensory learning, but this is traditionally retracted as children gain control of alphabetic print in the early grades. The introduction of digital tools and networks is more recent in elementary education. Digital mediation affords a powerful lens on hands-on learning, augmenting, expanding, and complicating multimodal learning and introducing new tools, textual products, and spaces for reflection and communi-cation. Digital multimodal literacies also challenge fundamental assumptions about the starting point of emergent literacy, which is assumed to be the ABCs.