“Uh Oh”: Multimodal Meaning Making During Viewing of YouTube Videos in Preschool

Abstract

With young children's increased use of digital technologies, there is growing interest in their multimodal meaning making. Little is known of the ways that interactions between young children and adults produce multimodal meaning making as an aspect of digital literacies. This chapter explores children's production of multimodal meaning making during their viewing of YouTube videos in a preschool. Video-recorded data are drawn from a large study of young children's everyday practices with digital technology in preschools and in their homes. Conversation analysis is used to investigate the multimodal resources employed by the children and their teacher to accomplish individual and shared understandings of video events as humorous, out-of-the-ordinary, and even dangerous. Discussion establishes how social interaction informed viewing, made use of multimodal resources, and extended opportunities for children's learning. The chapter contributes to thinking about practices necessary for educators to support children's multimodal meaning making during their use of digital technologies.