Exploring Written Systems in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

The increasing presence of children who speak other languages in Italian classrooms is a major didactic challenge for teachers. Teacher awareness of the importance of genuine cultural and linguistic integration and the necessity to improve language competences in every child confers particular significance to activities developed in multilingual contexts. This study shows that these educational contexts offer invaluable opportunities for enhancing language learning in three- to six-year-old children.

Research perspectives in beginning literacy. Methodological and epistemic dichotomies / Prospectivas en investigación sobre alfabetización inicial. Dicotomías metodológicas y epistemológicas

“…For example, public schools in Italy harbour children from other writing traditions, and thus a new question arises: how do we take advantage of this linguistic diversity instead of viewing it as a nightmare? (Ferreiro & Teruggi, 2012; Teruggi, 2013).…”

“…Por ejemplo, la escuela pública italiana recibe niños que vienen de otras tradiciones de escritura, y aparece una nueva pregunta ¿cómo aprovechar esa diversidad lingüística en lugar de vivirla como pesadilla ? (Ferreiro & Teruggi, 2012; Teruggi, 2013).…”