ERIC Number: EJ1464668
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-5984
EISSN: EISSN-1554-8279
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Black Female Head Start Teachers' Multimodal Meaning-Making in Prekindergarten Read-Alouds
Erica M. Barnes; Elizabeth Burke Hadley; David K. Dickinson
Elementary School Journal, v125 n3 p367-391 2025
Young children draw from verbal and nonverbal input to make meaning from texts, a skill that is foundational for later reading comprehension and academic achievement. However, prior studies have focused solely on teachers' verbal input during prekindergarten read-alouds. We examine four Black, female prekindergarten teachers' multimodal enactments of a text to identify how they socialize and orient children into language-building and meaning-making practices. Findings from our microethnographic analysis reveal four multimodal orientations: transmissive/limited gesture, multimodal collaborative, multimodal describer, and multimodal performance-oriented. Variations in teachers' inclusion of multiple modalities and child engagement indicate a constellation of multimodal read-aloud orientations and socialization practices along a spectrum of support. Teachers gestured to encourage engagement, index novel words, expand children's utterances, include culturally affirming discourse styles, and bridge the text into the classroom. We address how teachers express and represent meaning through language, images, and gesture, as well as instructional implications of multimodal enactments.
Descriptors: Federal Programs, Low Income Students, Social Services, African American Teachers, Preschool Teachers, Oral Reading, Teaching Methods, Learning Modalities, Nonverbal Communication, Language Usage, Visual Aids
University of Chicago Press. Journals Division, P.O. Box 37005, Chicago, IL 60637. Tel: 877-705-1878; Tel: 773-753-3347; Fax: 877-705-1879; Fax: 773-753-0811; e-mail: subscriptions@press.uchicago.edu; Web site: http://www.press.uchicago.edu
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: Head Start
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A