Young Children as Critical Thinkers: Bilingual Kindergartners' Critical Dialogues About Animated Books

• In Event: Refining Curriculums, Literacy, and Language

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to investigate the intersection of early-literacy curricula, new literacy, and bilingualism by analyzing young bilingual children’s conversations about media representations in animated storybooks. As part of a longitudinal study, the study focused on six kindergarten-age children at the Korean Language School in a city in the Midwest United States. The data were collected for five months from participant observations, video and audio recordings, and interviews. A grounded theory approach was employed for the data analysis. The findings suggest the pedagogical potential of animated storybooks and translanguaging practice as means for creating a critical literacy space in which young bilingual children can explore media representations on gender and social class in age-appropriate ways.

Author

• So Jung Kim, The University of Texas - El Paso