EXPLORING, ANALYZING, INTERPRETING, AND (RE)PRESENTING POSITIVE VISIONS OF YOUNG CHILDREN’S LITERATE IDENTITIES

This chapter synthesizes and contrasts the authorial decisions and research processes across two studies focused on young children’s positive literate identity negotiations. The studies are grounded in sociocultural theories, using three related but distinct theoretical frameworks to ground the research: mediated action cultural tools, communities of practice, and positioning theory. The author explains how the theories informed her decision to collect rich qualitative data (video recordings, interviews, artifact collection, etc.) in each study for the duration of an academic year. She details the theory-driven decision-making process for data analysis and, specifically, discourse analysis tools as a means to analyze and interpret literate identity negotiations among primary-aged children. Using examples of preliminary coding and analysis, discourse analysis, and ways of (re)presenting literate identities in writing, the author articulates how the theory, contexts, and data influenced the methodological approaches and ways of (re)presenting and honoring children’s identity work through detailed and transparent documentation of identity interpretations. Providing an inside look at this process offers useful information for graduate students, emerging literacy scholars, and established researchers who are new to literacy and identity work with young children.