Improving Child's Language through Multimodal Learning Environment in Nursery Schools

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Early Childhood Education and Care
<University>
Improving child’s language
by
<Your Name>
<Date>
<Lecturer’s Name and Course Number>

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Introduction
To,
The manager,
Nursery School,
__________________
Sir,
As the nursery manager, I am sure you are aware of creating the right environment for the
children at school, whether it is the indoor environment, the outdoor environment or the
emotional environment. It is essential to design and plan an environment for children that can
inspire and guide their imagination and behavior when they attend the school. Sometimes even
very small changes can leave a significant impact on the experiences of the children and mark a
higher job satisfaction for the practitioners. A multi-modal environment in a nursery school can
encourage many forms of literacy in early childhood education. Before that one ends to
understand the content of multimodality and highly multimodal environments.
So, what is the multi-modal environment and why is it essential for the children’s
learning and development? As the early years leave a strong influence on the child’s future
cognitive and social performance, there should be special efforts on the learning environment he
is placed in. A well-structured learning environment can help improve his social and cognitive
skills (Theodotou 2015). The activities and interactions carry an important role in children’s
development. Multimodal environment and literacies are based on the use of various modes such
as visual, auditory and kinaesthetic within the classroom (Thompson 2008, p.144). The students
are encouraged to engage with classroom-based literacies to develop their learning. Multimodal
literacy refers to interacting with multimedia and digital texts to give information and share
knowledge. The mode can be listening, talking, writing or dramatizing with the help of image,

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words, sounds, and movements. (Walsh 2010, p. 213). So, the language and literacy practices
within the nursery schools need to keep pace with the changing dimensions of knowledge
dissemination. The multimodal learning environment in nursery classrooms can help support the
evolving capacities of the young growing minds and motivate their learning and development.
Nursery school environment must encourage a rich multimodal text culture through drawings,
paintings, and photographs. Text-based activities in the kindergartens can be created by the
teachers and the children (Granly & Maagerø 2012, p.384). A multimodal approach in the
nursery classrooms can be a source of creativity and motivation for both teachers and students.
The mode and media chosen in schools for instructions are very important. What is to be learned
and how it is to be learned are essential questions in the modal environment as asserted by Jewitt
(2008, p. 33).
The educational and communicational landscape in the 21st century has been changed
and affected by the evolving societal and technological forces tremendously (Jewitt 2008, p. 33).
The changing terrain of communication can be experienced in everyday life and has already
found its way in the schools. It is against this backdrop that one must review the multi-modal
literacy options in schools. The new technologies are reshaping the knowledge as well as
curriculum. Today, the 3‐ and 4‐year‐old children are encountering literacy and information
through a wide range of printed and digital technologies both at home and in the nursery school.
These children are aware of the multiple communicative modes available in different media
(Wolfe & Flewitt 2010, p. 1). It means the nursery schools should take advantage of the new
technologies and add them as new dimensions into the literacy learning in the early years of a
child in nursery school. Art activities like drama, art and music can help develop a multimodal