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The aim of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of teachers’ perspectives on promoting reading and writing for pupils with various linguistic backgrounds in grade 1. Focus group interviews were conducted with 17 teachers who work in preschool classes and in grade 1. The teachers’ perspectives on reading and writing can be characterised as balanced, in the sense that the teachers describe how they work with both the technical and the learning-oriented dimension. The number of different languages spoken in their classes is regarded in a positive manner, but it also leads to major challenges, such as not having enough time for all of the pupils and not having sufficient knowledge of multilingualism.

Förskola och förskoleklass har fått tydligare riktlinjer gällande barns språk-, läs- och skrivutveckling. Den här studiens syfte är att belysa hur förskollärare i förskola och lärare i förskoleklass resonerar kring undervisningens innhehåll i relation till barns språk-, läs- och skrivutveckling i förskola och förskoleklass. Resultatet utgår från fyra fokusgruppsintervjuer med tjugotre verksamma förskollärare och lärare i förskoleklass. Resultatet visar att barn erbjuds informella och formella strategier där innehåll i undervisningen kan relateras till läroplanernas målbeskrivningar samt Bartons (2007) ekologiska teori, så som språkpraktiker, textpraktiker och läspraktiker. Vidare visar resultatet att undervisning i båda verksamheterna behöver problematiseras och diskuteras i relation till verksamheten samt till barns läs- och skriftspråksutveckling. Det behövs fortsatt forskning inom området för att undersöka hur verksamheterna implementerar nya riktlinjer gällande språk-, läs- och skrivutveckling, i syfte att skapa förutsättningar för progression i språk-, läs- och skrivutveckling i övergången mellan förskola och förskoleklass

The overall aim is to develop strategies and knowledge about multilingual children’s conditions to learn Swedish as well as literacy skills in Swedish preschools. This presentation highlights preschool teacher’s didactic strategies to support multilingual children’s language and literacy learning in preschool play- activities.

Relationship to previous research works

This paper presentation refers to an ongoing research project with the character of an action research project. The research project has been carried out in collaboration between the researcher and eighteen preschool teachers in Sweden.

Theoretical and conceptual framework

Starting from a social constructivist perspective with focus on the strategies employed by preschool teachers to support multilingual children’s language learning in play-activities, the data analyses are based on the theoretical foundations of bioecological and sociocultural theory (Barton, 2007; Bronfenbrenner, 1999; Vygotsky, 1962).

Paradigm, methodology and methods

The study has a mixed methods design where qualitative data were derived from the preschool teachers descriptions of their didactic strategies in supporting multilingual children, as well as quantitative data scoring eighteen dimensions of strategies in play-activities,  by using the scoring and  analysis tool, Social Language Environment - Domain, SLE-D (Norling, 2015).

Ethical Considerations

The study was carried out in accordance with the ethical principles of social sciences research (Ministry of Education and Research, 2017).

Main finding or discussion

Results regarding preschool staff’s descriptions and scored strategies to support multilingual children’s language and literacy learning in preschool play- activities will be presented.

Implications, practice or policy

This paper will contribute to a better understanding of how preschool teachers develop didactic strategies to support multilingual children’s language and literacy learning in preschool play- activities.

Keywords: social language environment, emergent literacy, multilingual, preschool, and play

This study is a part of a small research project designed as action research project. The aim of this study in which six preschool teachers participated in focus group interviews, is to increase understanding about preschool teachers’ didactic work to create conditions for multilingual children’s emergent literacy development in preschool. The preschool teachers’ descriptions show that multilingualism is seen as part of everyday life and not for specific occasions. In the analysis of the preschool teachers’ statements, four important conditions for literacy development emerge; learning environment, language practices, text practices and play activities. In terms of support for multilingual children, preschool teachers say that cooperation with parents has a significant role for children’s emergent literacy development.

This study highlights the importance of paying attention to multilingual children’s emergent literacy processes already in preschool.