Multilingual Affordances in a Swedish Preschool: An Action Research Project

Abstract

This article summarizes the work and the main findings of an action research project that was conducted in an early childhood education and care setting in the city of Malmö, Sweden in the autumn of 2013 and spring 2014. Rönnerman’s model (Aktionsforskning i praktiken: förskola och skola på vetenskaplig grund [Action research in practice: preschools and schools on scientific basis]. Studentlitteratur, Lund, 2012) for action research was applied, and the article responds to the research question What happens when parents are involved in constructing a multilingual environment through the use of digital tools in the daily activities in preschool? The analysis was performed collectively by a researcher from the Swedish Research Schools for Preschool Teachers; a teacher with graduate diploma in special needs education, specialized in children’s language development and the staff from the participating preschool. The children were aged from 1 to 3 years and had different first languages. By following, documenting, and analyzing the children’s encounters with digital tools that recorded parents’ verbal monologues, three main themes were identified: Moving from a question–answer pedagogy to new ways of interaction, children’s awareness of the different languages in preschool, parents’ and teachers’ feeling of togetherness.