Digital Intimacy: bringing literacy experiences from home to kindergarten

Abstract

Τhis paper presents the literacy practices that preschool children develop while engaging with digital media, considered as inherently connected to their emergent literacy, digital and conventional/traditional. The data presented and analyzed was drawn from research carried out with preschool children at a public kindergarten school in Thessaloniki. The research focused on exploring children’s early practices with digital media, aiming at a) revealing their level of ‘appropriation’ with digital technology and b) studying their attitudes-and those of their parents, towards their digital skills and practices. Interviews with children, parents and teachers, as well as systematic observation of children’s interaction with digital media were the main data collection tools. The research findings reveal a breadth of children’s literacy (both traditional and digital) experiences. Their interpretation highlights the importance of connections between children’s ‘home’ and school practices and the critical role the latter play in supporting the emergency of their traditional and digital literacy.