Nicola Friedrich - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Nicola Friedrich
Routledge eBooks, Mar 27, 2023
Brock Education Journal, Jan 19, 2023
Drawing from principles of ethical research derived from our review of national and international... more Drawing from principles of ethical research derived from our review of national and international policy documents, in this paper we reflect on our research experiences working in partnership with Indigenous educators in a project to support young Indigenous children's oral and written language development through collaborative action research. Then, acting on lessons learned from this first partnership project, we describe our efforts to attend to these ethical research principles in a second partnership project to support Indigenous children's writing and Indigenous language and cultural learning through teacher-initiated, culturally specific, play-based activities. We offer our reflections as a starting point for conversations that will inspire and call for the necessary ethical and relational responsibilities of doing partnership research with and for Indigenous communities.
International Journal of Early Years Education, 2021
ABSTRACT We report on our analysis of talk during an assessment task where we asked children livi... more ABSTRACT We report on our analysis of talk during an assessment task where we asked children living in northern Canadian communities to draw and write about activities they share with family and friends in their daily lives. We introduce a language as context approach to assessing young children’s (ages 4–6 years) literacy and sociocultural knowledge, defining context as understandings of the demands of creating texts through drawing and writing, the genre of classroom assessment, and the values and worldviews of their local community and family. From our inductive analysis of children’s (n = 64) talk during the assessment tasks in the fall and spring of one school year (n = 128), we conceptualise relationships between children’s oral language strategies and their understandings of the conventions of an adult-initiated, one-on-one classroom assessment, their strategies for carrying out the task, and of social meanings in everyday experiences with family and friends in their northern communities. We argue this form of assessment provides a comprehensive picture of children’s meaning-making that encompasses social and cultural practices of a diversity of contexts, including school and community.
English Language Arts Council of Alberta Teachers Association, 2018
Language and Literacy, 2019
In this paper, we report on the first phase of an initiative we undertook to develop a classroom ... more In this paper, we report on the first phase of an initiative we undertook to develop a classroom tool to document and describe children’s emergent writing. Here, we describe the process through which we developed an analytic framework to assist us in identifying patterns in young Indigenous and non-Indigenous children’s graphic representations in response to three formal tasks. Participating children lived in 11 northern, rural communities in two Canadian provinces. The resulting patterns, consistent with those described in the literature on children’s emergent writing, suggest the need to explore further how children use the verbal mode while representing meaning graphically.
Journal of Childhood Studies, 2018
In this paper, we describe a teacher-initiated imaginative-play scenario that took place in a kin... more In this paper, we describe a teacher-initiated imaginative-play scenario that took place in a kindergarten classroom in a small northern town in Ontario, Canada. The Fairy Door scenario afforded the 3- to 5-year-old children the opportunity to become writers in order to communicate with and make sense of an elusive visitor to the classroom. It presented the teachers with opportunities to scaffold the children’s writing attempts and provided them with valid assessments of the children’s understanding of texts and writing. We offer this unique form of pedagogical practice as a means to fulfill the play-based learning mandate of the Ontario provincial curriculum.
In this study, we offer a unique perspective of time spent in kindergarten and young children'... more In this study, we offer a unique perspective of time spent in kindergarten and young children's writing by presenting a multi-dimensional analysis of the writing of 72 children (5-years-old) living in northern communities in two Canadian provinces. We administered the Drawing, Writing, Talking Task (DWTT), a research-based classroom tool, in the fall and spring to children attending kindergarten in seven (six rural and one First Nations) schools. We assessed their writing in terms of their use of letters to write words, their spelling stage, and their intended content. Although the fall writing samples of children in their first year of kindergarten were significantly less developed than those of similar-aged children beginning their second year of kindergarten, by spring, the children's writing was comparable. Our research adds to the literature on children's learning and time spent in kindergarten by focusing on characteristics of young children's writing, rather t...
The Role of Place and Play in Young Children’s Language and Literacy
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada funded this project through a Partnersh... more Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada funded this project through a Partnership Grant.
Language, Learning, and Culture in Early Childhood, 2015
Literacy in the Early Years, 2016
In this chapter, we report on a bilingual family literacy program with 500 immigrant and refugee ... more In this chapter, we report on a bilingual family literacy program with 500 immigrant and refugee families of 3 to 5-year old preschool children from four different linguistic groups in the Greater Vancouver Area of British Columbia, Canada. We situate the work in socio-historical theory and draw on notions of intersubjectivity or shared understanding and additive bilingualism - the concept that there are benefits in maintaining one’s first or home language while acquiring a second or additional languages. Drawing on an analysis of focus group sessions, the Parents’ Perceptions of Literacy Learning Interview Schedule (Anderson, 1995), and field notes, we report on families’ perceptions of the benefits of the program, concerns and issues they raised, and changes in their perspectives of literacy learning over the course of the project.
International Journal of Early Years Education, 2020
In this paper, we describe patterns in and associations between the ways in which young (ages 3-7... more In this paper, we describe patterns in and associations between the ways in which young (ages 3-7) children living in northern rural and Indigenous communities in two Canadian provinces communicated ideas as they drew, talked, and wrote in response to researcher prompts. Prompting the children to draw and talk about a personal experience afforded them the opportunity to explore word meanings and relationships using their personal sign systems prior to communicating the experience using a new sign system, writing. We conclude with recommendations for teachers of ways to scaffold students' transition between the two sign systems in their classroom.
Language and Literacy, 2017
To complicate the notion of a digital divide along economic and cultural lines, this paper descri... more To complicate the notion of a digital divide along economic and cultural lines, this paper describes techno-literacy practices within the homes of children from diverse backgrounds. Data were drawn from two ethnographic case studies examining the home literacy practices of pre-school aged children. Participants were three Karen refugee families and two English-speaking, middle-class families. The findings suggest that children initiate interactions with digital tools within the cultural and economic landscapes of the home. In so doing, they develop operational competencies to access digital texts in order to scaffold their current learning and enable their participation in 21st century society.
Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 2010
The purpose of this article is to examine developments in the area of family literacy over the la... more The purpose of this article is to examine developments in the area of family literacy over the last decade. Acknowledging the bifurcation that has occurred in the field of family literacy, as well as changing conceptions of literacy and of families, we review naturalistic studies of literacy embedded and enacted in communities and families across different sociocultural context and also what we see as the evolving nature of family literacy programs. We conclude with an acknowledgement of some of the ongoing concerns, issues, and tensions in the field and a call for sensitivity on the part of all of us involved in family literacy research and programs.
The Reading Teacher, 2019
Literacy, 2014
Researchers have documented bilingual family literacy programmes in terms of their structure and ... more Researchers have documented bilingual family literacy programmes in terms of their structure and programming as well as their effect on children's language and literacy development and parents' ability to support such development within the home. What is missing from the discussion is a description of how facilitators mediate understanding within the programme. The purpose of this article is to describe how facilitators working with Karen and Iranian families mediated parents' understanding of the key concepts within the parent-only segment of a bilingual family literacy programme for immigrant and refugee families in western Canada. Drawing principally from observational field notes at two sites of the programme, we describe the activities and instruction that took place during the introduction to the session, Rhythm, Raps and Rhymes. Supporting data were drawn from a larger 3-year study. Our findings indicate that the facilitators at both sites mediated the parents' understanding of the benefits of rhythm and rhyme to early literacy by using culturally familiar and relevant content delivered in both the first language of the community and in English, and by drawing from culturally familiar pedagogical practices. Results of this study have implications for the delivery of family literacy programmes within culturally diverse communities.
The Role of Place and Play in Young Children’s Language and Literacy
Routledge eBooks, Mar 27, 2023
Brock Education Journal, Jan 19, 2023
Drawing from principles of ethical research derived from our review of national and international... more Drawing from principles of ethical research derived from our review of national and international policy documents, in this paper we reflect on our research experiences working in partnership with Indigenous educators in a project to support young Indigenous children's oral and written language development through collaborative action research. Then, acting on lessons learned from this first partnership project, we describe our efforts to attend to these ethical research principles in a second partnership project to support Indigenous children's writing and Indigenous language and cultural learning through teacher-initiated, culturally specific, play-based activities. We offer our reflections as a starting point for conversations that will inspire and call for the necessary ethical and relational responsibilities of doing partnership research with and for Indigenous communities.
International Journal of Early Years Education, 2021
ABSTRACT We report on our analysis of talk during an assessment task where we asked children livi... more ABSTRACT We report on our analysis of talk during an assessment task where we asked children living in northern Canadian communities to draw and write about activities they share with family and friends in their daily lives. We introduce a language as context approach to assessing young children’s (ages 4–6 years) literacy and sociocultural knowledge, defining context as understandings of the demands of creating texts through drawing and writing, the genre of classroom assessment, and the values and worldviews of their local community and family. From our inductive analysis of children’s (n = 64) talk during the assessment tasks in the fall and spring of one school year (n = 128), we conceptualise relationships between children’s oral language strategies and their understandings of the conventions of an adult-initiated, one-on-one classroom assessment, their strategies for carrying out the task, and of social meanings in everyday experiences with family and friends in their northern communities. We argue this form of assessment provides a comprehensive picture of children’s meaning-making that encompasses social and cultural practices of a diversity of contexts, including school and community.
English Language Arts Council of Alberta Teachers Association, 2018
Language and Literacy, 2019
In this paper, we report on the first phase of an initiative we undertook to develop a classroom ... more In this paper, we report on the first phase of an initiative we undertook to develop a classroom tool to document and describe children’s emergent writing. Here, we describe the process through which we developed an analytic framework to assist us in identifying patterns in young Indigenous and non-Indigenous children’s graphic representations in response to three formal tasks. Participating children lived in 11 northern, rural communities in two Canadian provinces. The resulting patterns, consistent with those described in the literature on children’s emergent writing, suggest the need to explore further how children use the verbal mode while representing meaning graphically.
Journal of Childhood Studies, 2018
In this paper, we describe a teacher-initiated imaginative-play scenario that took place in a kin... more In this paper, we describe a teacher-initiated imaginative-play scenario that took place in a kindergarten classroom in a small northern town in Ontario, Canada. The Fairy Door scenario afforded the 3- to 5-year-old children the opportunity to become writers in order to communicate with and make sense of an elusive visitor to the classroom. It presented the teachers with opportunities to scaffold the children’s writing attempts and provided them with valid assessments of the children’s understanding of texts and writing. We offer this unique form of pedagogical practice as a means to fulfill the play-based learning mandate of the Ontario provincial curriculum.
In this study, we offer a unique perspective of time spent in kindergarten and young children'... more In this study, we offer a unique perspective of time spent in kindergarten and young children's writing by presenting a multi-dimensional analysis of the writing of 72 children (5-years-old) living in northern communities in two Canadian provinces. We administered the Drawing, Writing, Talking Task (DWTT), a research-based classroom tool, in the fall and spring to children attending kindergarten in seven (six rural and one First Nations) schools. We assessed their writing in terms of their use of letters to write words, their spelling stage, and their intended content. Although the fall writing samples of children in their first year of kindergarten were significantly less developed than those of similar-aged children beginning their second year of kindergarten, by spring, the children's writing was comparable. Our research adds to the literature on children's learning and time spent in kindergarten by focusing on characteristics of young children's writing, rather t...
The Role of Place and Play in Young Children’s Language and Literacy
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada funded this project through a Partnersh... more Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada funded this project through a Partnership Grant.
Language, Learning, and Culture in Early Childhood, 2015
Literacy in the Early Years, 2016
In this chapter, we report on a bilingual family literacy program with 500 immigrant and refugee ... more In this chapter, we report on a bilingual family literacy program with 500 immigrant and refugee families of 3 to 5-year old preschool children from four different linguistic groups in the Greater Vancouver Area of British Columbia, Canada. We situate the work in socio-historical theory and draw on notions of intersubjectivity or shared understanding and additive bilingualism - the concept that there are benefits in maintaining one’s first or home language while acquiring a second or additional languages. Drawing on an analysis of focus group sessions, the Parents’ Perceptions of Literacy Learning Interview Schedule (Anderson, 1995), and field notes, we report on families’ perceptions of the benefits of the program, concerns and issues they raised, and changes in their perspectives of literacy learning over the course of the project.
International Journal of Early Years Education, 2020
In this paper, we describe patterns in and associations between the ways in which young (ages 3-7... more In this paper, we describe patterns in and associations between the ways in which young (ages 3-7) children living in northern rural and Indigenous communities in two Canadian provinces communicated ideas as they drew, talked, and wrote in response to researcher prompts. Prompting the children to draw and talk about a personal experience afforded them the opportunity to explore word meanings and relationships using their personal sign systems prior to communicating the experience using a new sign system, writing. We conclude with recommendations for teachers of ways to scaffold students' transition between the two sign systems in their classroom.
Language and Literacy, 2017
To complicate the notion of a digital divide along economic and cultural lines, this paper descri... more To complicate the notion of a digital divide along economic and cultural lines, this paper describes techno-literacy practices within the homes of children from diverse backgrounds. Data were drawn from two ethnographic case studies examining the home literacy practices of pre-school aged children. Participants were three Karen refugee families and two English-speaking, middle-class families. The findings suggest that children initiate interactions with digital tools within the cultural and economic landscapes of the home. In so doing, they develop operational competencies to access digital texts in order to scaffold their current learning and enable their participation in 21st century society.
Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 2010
The purpose of this article is to examine developments in the area of family literacy over the la... more The purpose of this article is to examine developments in the area of family literacy over the last decade. Acknowledging the bifurcation that has occurred in the field of family literacy, as well as changing conceptions of literacy and of families, we review naturalistic studies of literacy embedded and enacted in communities and families across different sociocultural context and also what we see as the evolving nature of family literacy programs. We conclude with an acknowledgement of some of the ongoing concerns, issues, and tensions in the field and a call for sensitivity on the part of all of us involved in family literacy research and programs.
The Reading Teacher, 2019
Literacy, 2014
Researchers have documented bilingual family literacy programmes in terms of their structure and ... more Researchers have documented bilingual family literacy programmes in terms of their structure and programming as well as their effect on children's language and literacy development and parents' ability to support such development within the home. What is missing from the discussion is a description of how facilitators mediate understanding within the programme. The purpose of this article is to describe how facilitators working with Karen and Iranian families mediated parents' understanding of the key concepts within the parent-only segment of a bilingual family literacy programme for immigrant and refugee families in western Canada. Drawing principally from observational field notes at two sites of the programme, we describe the activities and instruction that took place during the introduction to the session, Rhythm, Raps and Rhymes. Supporting data were drawn from a larger 3-year study. Our findings indicate that the facilitators at both sites mediated the parents' understanding of the benefits of rhythm and rhyme to early literacy by using culturally familiar and relevant content delivered in both the first language of the community and in English, and by drawing from culturally familiar pedagogical practices. Results of this study have implications for the delivery of family literacy programmes within culturally diverse communities.
The Role of Place and Play in Young Children’s Language and Literacy