Teachers’ discourses of literacy as social practice in advantaged and disadvantaged early childhood contexts

Abstract

This article examines two teachers’ discourses of literacy as social practice in advantaged and disadvantaged early childhood centres for three- to four-year-olds. The intention is to make sense of the dominant discourse of literacy, its constitutive nature and its effects on children, teaching and learning. Foucault’s theory of discourse is used to make salient the influence of interpretive frames of references on the understanding and practice of literacy. The data for the study was produced through a qualitative approach using in-depth semi-structured interviews. The findings show that teachers in both the advantaged and disadvantaged contexts are located in the dominant discourse of early literacy as a technical, autonomous skill. This discourse foregrounds children as adults-in-the-making (the becoming child) and a maturationist-environmentalist view of readiness for early literacy development. This narrow view of literacy discounts young children’s positioning as social actors, issues of diversity and contextually situated practice.

Everyday literacy practices: Normalising the school literate child

“…Viewing literacy as a process that is embedded in the daily lifeworld of children is in stark contrast to the current political focus in many early childhood settings. South African researchers claim that the cognitive approach to literacy practices is often tied to school readiness and is influential in many early literacy settings (see Chetty 2019;Dixon 2011;Excell & Linington 2011;Fleisch & Dixon 2019;Martin & Ebrahim 2016;Prinsloo & Stein 2004). They argue that this approach has several limitations: it does not consider the complexities of early literacy development, the diversity of children's motivations to learn and the diverse literacy practices that children encounter in different social and cultural contexts.…”

“…Notwithstanding, framing ECCE as an instrument for school readiness has become a universal feature for literacy practices, both in South Africa and internationally (Brown 2015;Brown, Barry & Ku 2021;Lemphane & Prinsloo 2014;Martin & Ebrahim 2016;Moss 2019;Sims et al 2018). Within the South African context, an example of this is the National Early Learning Development Standards (NELDS), a curriculum related policy initiative which focuses on the educational needs of children from birth-to-4 year of age and contains validated age-specific indicators focusing on what children should know and be able to do within a specific developmental domain (Department of Basic Education 2009).…”

“…Within the South African context, an example of this is the National Early Learning Development Standards (NELDS), a curriculum related policy initiative which focuses on the educational needs of children from birth-to-4 year of age and contains validated age-specific indicators focusing on what children should know and be able to do within a specific developmental domain (Department of Basic Education 2009). Martin and Ebrahim (2016) contend that the NELDS can be seen as a tool to advance the neoliberal discourse of school readiness, as well as monitor and evaluate the progress of children on a national scale.…”

“…The 'acquisition of language, perceptual/motor skills required for learning to read and write' points to a particular construction of literacy, where literacy is defined as a set of discrete and autonomous skills which can be implemented if children first acquire language, perceptual/ motor skills' as these 'basic concepts, skills and attitudes are needed for school success and lifelong learning'. Basic literacy training privileges and authorises literacy practices that shape what is counted as literacy, and brings into effect the school ready literate child (Martin & Ebrahim 2016).…”