Literacy Development: Critical Literacies in Early Childhood Education

This essay explores the inclusion of critical literacies in early childhood play-based education, addressing the ongoing debate about popular culture and consumerism in literacy instruction. It investigates the theoretical perspectives and approaches to incorporating critical literacies in play-based learning and examines their impact on children’s literacy development, with a focus on diverse learners. The essay presents arguments for and against the inclusion of critical literacies, discussing how they can be integrated to facilitate optimal language learning through play-based approaches. It emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between commercialism and reality, utilizing popular culture texts critically, and supporting children in exploring diverse social roles. The research highlights the feasibility of integrating critical literacy activities into early childhood education, promoting critical thinking and awareness of language's influence in shaping lives. The essay draws upon various studies and publications to provide a comprehensive analysis of critical literacies in early childhood education.

The critical literacy has the roots related to belief that there is a measure of injustice and
asymmetrical power relations in the society. The critical literacy places the language with
centralized creation and continuation of power relation. It also positions reading which is
more than decoding and comprehension of texts. The world views are referred to the
ideologies or disclosures which can be constructed and then recognized in the way the
world is integrating and regulating the ways to act, think, feel and make use of language,
believing and then valuing. A socio-cultural approach to the early childhood education
works on the social practice that children learn about the active participation related to the
contextual. A sociocultural approach to literacy knowledge with use of knowledge that
includes the literacy knowledge and practices. In the recent time, there has been a lot of
attention to include the critical literacy as a part of early childhood play-based curricula.
There are a range of publications which give a valuable insight from evaluating the types of
practices to support critical literacy and also some challenges which surround the execution
of critical literacy as a part of early childhood education (Drever et al., 2015). It is important
when developing literacy with children to focus on consumer behaviour with improving the
ability to distinguish between the commercialism and reality.
The studies of the popular culture have been conceptualised, which are largely considered
the product of work carried in the academic fields like the mass media and the cultural
studies. From 1930s, it has been seen that the scholars are working on the critical theory
from the mass media perspective which is generally assumed that market forces are
associated with the production of media, dominated working class audience. The critical
literacy in classrooms is evident through the engagement of classroom participants with
popular culture texts regardless of the negative feelings that often adults and the educators
have in relation to texts (cultural texts). Practice in critical literacy especially in early
childhood education can help children gain more clarity on the text where one can carry
messages that may or may not depict a true picture of the whole world. The introduction of
the popular culture in the critical literacy curricular is supported by the scholars and the
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educators. Here, the claim is about how the popular culture is considered to be an
opportunity for the children to be a market of motivational pedagogy. This embraces the
favourite out-of-school texts and symbols. (Harwood, Bajovic, Woloshyn, Di Cesare, Lane, &
Scott, 2015). Harwood et. al, (2015) states comparing traditional stories with different
versions, provides opportunity to look at the story from a different perspective.
The teachers can further support children to widely explore different kinds of social roles as
well as characters that show cultural texts and also motivate them to negotiate on the basic
for assumption about such characters (Flood, Heath & Lapp, 2015). Narratives that
encompass from the imaginative play of children's mind may give an interesting base for
social dilemmas for the educators to use as an opportunity to deconstruct and evaluate
meaning with the children. For toddlers, modelling of critical literacy activities could be
helpful to grow with a set of expectation with questioning the cultural texts (Zuckerman
&Radesky, 2016). This can be done by introducing literacy experiences that are different
from norms which can be constantly challenging for the present understanding of children
or overall expectations about such texts. The play-based learning focus on the educational
approach with implementation by the teachers in Australian pre-school programs. The
critical literacy includes the recognition with the meaning of children creating within the
social context that includes the stereotypical knowledge and understanding.
The inclusion of critical literacy activities in the early time of childhood education is
definitely very feasible(The Children’s Book Council of Australia). There are so many
methods which can help component of critical literacy can be part of early childhood
practices of education (Ng et al., 2017). The critical literacy in the classrooms are evident
through the engagement of the participants in the classroom with certain popular texts of
culture regardless of the negative feels of the adults and educators who have, in relation to
the texts(Rogow, 2014). The ideological struggles in literacy are ongoing, though they are
not as entangles as those which are in popular culture, have been by comparison. The
persistency of the model is mainly to focus on acceptance among the different literacy
educators.
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Arguments in favour of the inclusion of critical literacies, explains how it motivates
interaction about why things can occur. A proper care needs to be taken where the young
children are not placed with the positioning of the conflicts for the families and the
communities. The example is related to the critical literacy practice with encouraging the
young children to question gender stereotyping with the popular texts that results in the
young children work with the active questioning for the current and future gender roles. The
addition of the literacy materials to the activity will help children to engage in learning
(Wohlwend, 2015).The different experiences for students can be fun as well as positive in
long term. These practices also permit teachers to use texts that can be viewed as sensitive.
The learning is possible through taking the box (means taking children) outside of the
related world where the children get the capability to wonder about the clipboards and the
sidewalk chalk (NSW Department of Education & Training, 2016). It will help them to be
enthusiastic along with complete entertainment with work and play. By utilising the
tradition text related literacy principle to prompt children to look for the right solution.
(Armstrong et al., 2017). The debate is about focusing on the three different factors. One is
the structural and the agency debate which tends to address the degree for which the mass
media messages are embedded generally in the form of popular texts. They are negatively
affecting the young children as well as the youth to evoke within with the sense of agency.
The other debate centres include the participation of the young people in the reading,
viewing or listening to with creating a popular cultural text mainly to gain the education
experience (Marklund&Dunkels, 2016). With this, the debate calls for the question of
adequacy of contemporary approaches for properly studying about how young people
constructions are required of identity through popular cultural texts. The challenge
researchers are mainly to view the politics to identify the construction with the potential
site of engagement for moving towards the equitable world.
There have been major issues related to the concerns with ideology and the social
distribution of power. It has a major impact on language and literacy education which tends
to manifest in the way to theorize the language andliteracy development.(Ng, Sun, Lau &
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Rao, 2017). To locate research, I have conducted the searches of the electronic databases
and the journals. The increased awareness of the textual positioning coupled with the
changes in the global markets has led to the literary researchers to examine the economic
imperatives. This includes the inheriting of commercial media filter through young people
encountering with popular cultural texts.
The idea of popular culture text is negotiation and that the enterprises account for young
people migratory behaviour. As per the research from Kolb, 2014.,in the US, there are over
six million children between age of five and seventeen who speak language other than
English (Kolb, 2014). Thus, according to Kolb, (2014)., a proper evaluation of how typical
preschool teacher gain clarity that literacy learning serves children from different language
background will assist to expand knowledge on a belief of the teacher and practice. (Kolb,
2014). Granting reciprocity to the elements in the structure binary which is supported with
multiyear study of children who tends to grow up in the consumer culture. The research is
Fellowes & Oakley, 2014). However, DAP (Development Appropriate Practice) is an effective
technique for the teaching which is grounded in the research for how the young children
develop and then learn about the effective early education (Beavis, 2017). The people who
are associated with DAP note different disputes which is developmentally important for
proceeding towards greater complexity, self-regulation and symbolic or representational
capacities. The differences are not just from ethnic heritage, economic and language class.
The recognition of literacy is considered important for the socially situated cultural,
historical and the institutional practices. This plays an important role in education of major
importance. Through the critical literacy, the learners are given the opportunity to become
the researchers of the language who are conscious for the literacy practices they participate
in and the ways language is used that affect their lives. (Wright &Gotwals, 2017). The
research is depending on the play-based standards where the literacy is fun, exciting and a
transformative form for the students. One needs to make time for play so that the children
can communicate and support each other for the different literate plays(McLean, Edwards &
Morris, 2017). The essential forms are depending upon exploring and then learning to
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engage oneself with the literacies (McLean, Edwards & Morris, 2017). The setting up of the
classroom is for the leaning through playing, educators which makes it an important
contribution to the growth of the child as a learner for literacy.
Just as the boundaries are set between the informal and the formal learning, there are
certain popular cultural texts blur in the postmodern world. The children and the young
people use of popular culture text in both the online and the offline medium provides the
different opportunities for theorizing. The practices are based on how the student’s interest
in popular culture text have led to the creative and the productive tensions in the field of
rubbing against the long-held beliefs. They are mainly related to the forms of the reading
and the writing instructions. It is important to note that critical literacy experts that use the
word text to refer to a huge range of expressive kind of media including corporate media
and poster. (Heath, 2016) When reading it an uncritical manner, the dominance of the world
opinion present in work come to be seen correct and good while the opinion of minority
group since they are ignored or presented in the wrong manner.
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