Creating identity texts with young children across culturally and linguistically diverse contexts

Abstract

This article addresses the ways young children in culturally and linguistically diverse settings were involved in the meaningful development of identity texts in the form of personalized books. In the study, Canadian and Tanzanian children aged 4 to 6 shared their favorite learning experiences and spaces at school through their use of multiple modes. A multimodal approach to data sharing was then implemented through the co-creation of three dual-language books in English and Kiswahili. The books featured the research participants’ images, drawings, paintings, and photographs, and included verbal descriptions of their multimodal texts in their distinct geographical and cultural contexts. The children in both settings were involved in the book-making process by sharing their views on what images and descriptions they wanted to include in the identity texts that were then shared with both groups of children, their teachers, and their families. This approach to research and data dissemination with children draws on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which views children as strong, capable, and knowledgeable. This perspective also recognizes the rights of children to participate in decision-making processes in research in which they are involved, and to be empowered to communicate their own views.