Challenging dominant views of early childhood language development and knowledge, this thought-provoking volume illuminates the importance of place, the body, and movement in opening space for young children’s improvisatory, creative, playful language practices.Bringing together a rich collection of contemporary research and diverse perspectives, the book centers on the premise that ‘where’ talk happens—be it spoken, mimed, signed, or assisted through one or more communication tool...

More-Than-Human Literacies in Early Childhood draws on a long-term ethnographic research into the role of place, materiality and the body in the literacies of young children aged 12-36 months. It builds a picture of how children participate in, or become caught up in, literacies and language in the contexts of their everyday lives.Throughout the book, recognised understandings of young children are decentred in favour of experiential knowing of parents and communities, bod...

This is a book that challenges contemporary images of ‘place’. Too often we are told about ‘deprived neighbourhoods’ but rarely do the people who live in those communities get to shape the agenda and describe, from their perspective, what is important to them. In this unique book the process of re-imagining comes to the fore in a fresh and contemporary look at one UK town, Rotherham.Using history, artistic practice, writing, poetry, autobiography and collaborative ethnography, this...

Working with Young Children in Museums makes a major contribution to the small body of extant research on young children in museums, galleries and heritage sites.Bridging theory and practice, the book introduces theoretical concepts in a clear and concise manner, whilst also providing inspirational insights into everyday programming in museums. Structured around three key themes, this volume seeks to diverge from the dominant socio-cultural learning models that are general...

Drawing from a wide range of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, architecture and geography, and international contributors, this volume offers both students and scholars with an interest in the interdisciplinary study of childhood a range of ways of thinking spatially about children's lives.

Exploring Intercultural Communication investigates the role of language in intercultural communication, paying particular attention to the interplay between cultural diversity and language practice. This second edition increases and updates the coverage on emerging key topics, including symbolic power, communicative turbulence, conversational inequality, stereotypes, racism, Nationality and Ethnicity talk and the impact and role of technology in intercultural communication. Includ...

Bringing together a collection of chapters from international experts in the field of early childhood education, Rethinking Play and Pedagogy in Early Childhood Education seeks to explore how play in the Early Years is valued as a means of learning. The book discusses how play is presented, transformed by institutional and pedagogical discourses and ultimately experienced by children. Adopting cultural, conceptual and contextual approaches to play and pedagogy across its chapters,...

Do the arts improve academic achievement? What does it mean to ‘teach’ art? What should the balance of classic and pop be in the music curriculum? Should we encourage young children on the stage? How do we judge whether what a child produces is good? How do we justify the arts in the curriculum? What should be the balance between form and content when teaching art?The arts in education inspire considerable commitment and passion. However, this is not always matched by clarity of un...

Although educators are increasingly interested in art education research, there are few anthologies tackling the subject. Research in Art & Design Education answers this call, summarizing important issues in the field such as non-text based approaches and interdisciplinary work. Contributions from internationally renowned researchers explore a broad range of topics in art education, highlighting particular problems and strengths in the literature. The collection features examples of resear...

Artist, Researcher, Teacher explores the relationship of three professional identities that often intersect in the lives of art practitioners, educators, and students.Challenging conventional wisdom about specialization and professional identity, Alan Thornton shows that many individuals have complex, varied, and evolving relationships with visual art—relationships that do not fit into any single category. Against the backdrop of an expanding research culture and current e...

The unremitting explosion of reality television across the schedules has become a sustainable global phenomenon generating considerable popular and political fervour.The zeal with which television executives seize on the easily replicated formats is matched equally by the eagerness of audiences to offer themselves up as television participants for others to watch and criticise. But how do we react to so many people breaking down, fronting up, tearing apart, dominating, empathising,...

Is language sexist? Do women and men speak different languages?Gender, Language and Discourse uniquely examines the contribution that psychological research - in particular, discursive psychology - has made to answering these questions. Until now, books on gender and language have tended to be from the sociolinguistic perspective and have focused on one of two issues - sexism in language or gender differences in speech. This book considers both issues and develops the idea ...