Dutton, J., & Rushton, K. (2023) Representing Identity: The Importance of Literature and the Translanguaging Space for EAL/D Early Years Literacy Learning. Education Sciences, 13(6), 569.
Dutton and Rushton present an interesting argument for the use of children’s literature to support children who are learning English as an additional language to write poetry. In the project reported upon, teachers were engaged in professional learning activities, where they were supported to select children’s texts and plan creative and drama-based literacy learning activities to engage the children in their classes. The focus, which drew on the work of Hilary Janks’ redesign cycle, foregrounded translanguaging, and children’s stories and backgrounds as positive pedagogical tools for learning oral language, reading and writing poetry. The paper puts forward a practical way of understanding translanguaging as a facilitator of literacy learning for English language learners. Important detail is provided about the importance of text selection to support language and literacy development for young children, including children who are learning English as they also learn school content. The article presents a series of very useful frameworks that teachers of children learning English as an additional language could find helpful as they plan and teach literacy, and the very practical examples of how these frameworks were utilised by teachers provide excellent detail.