Frame play for literacy
Submitted by:
Dr. Tuva Bjørkvold
Abstract:
Early schooling is dominated by the appropriation of literacy, raging from coupling of grapheme and phoneme, to metacognition about language, reading and writing short texts and listening to books read aloud. A challenge in emergent literacy education is to offer social situations where the students can act through texts, not primarily practice reading and writing (Gee, 2015). This study explores literacy practices among students age 5-9, connected to a systematic concept of frame play during school hours. Frame play is characterized by free play within a planned frame, a frame being for instance a hospital, a shopping mall, an amusement park or a small community (Broström, 1999). Students and teachers negotiate and agree on a frame before the session starts. Both the students and the teacher are active engaged in the play in roles they choose, they play freely, interact, and improvise. In this study, the frame is a hotel in England, in a dedicated room for frame play with artifacts such as costumes, play-food, tables and chairs. The theoretical foundation is New Literacy Studies, suggesting that literacy is something you do with text in a social setting, not a decontextualized competence (Barton, 2007). The research question is “How is literacy used to frame play and by students in a play frame in early schooling?”.
The study is a case study of a school where frame play has been part of the local curriculum for all students grades 1-4 since 2012. The data material consists of systematic observations of play sessions throughout a school year in all grades and with different student groups, a total of 15 observations. Because of the vulnerability of children and their imaginary play, only partly participatory observation and research log was used. We have also collected artifacts and taken anonymous photographs in a way that would not disturb the play. The researcher has not intervened in the sessions, only been present. The aim was to map the literacy events that occur spontaneously, either through the framing or by the students. Therefore, no processing or work on the classroom afterwards is included.
Preliminary findings suggest that literacy is used to a large degree in framing the play, both by teachers and students. There are typical texts connected to a hotel and travel, such as signs, menus, lists, brochures, passports, security information and forms. The students read, write and use these texts in their play, for instance to register at the hotel, order food or go on sightseeing. Further, the students create texts themselves, as writing letters from the hotel, writing prescriptions as doctors, or making secret notes as an undercover detective. The students act through texts, writing and reading in both conventional and invented language.
References
Barton, D. (2007). Literacy: An introduction to the ecology of written language. Blackwell Publisher.
Broström, S. (1999). Drama games with 6-year-old children: Possibilities and limitations. In Y. Engeström & R. L. Punamaki (Eds.), Perspectives on activity theory (pp. 250-263). Cambridge universtity press.
Gee, J. P. (2015). Literacy and education. Routledge.
Contact information:
Tuva Bjørkvold
Oslo Metropolitan Univsersity
tuvbj@oslomet.no