Young children’s digital literacy practices in homes : Past, present and future research directions

Abstract

The changing nature of childhood in the digital age is attracting major attention among researchers, educators, health care professionals, parents and policy-makers. In this chapter, the authors summarize how research published in 2016 and 2017 has added to the findings of their earlier review of literature. In order to develop a conceptual picture of the latest studies in the field in terms of how these have addressed and approached young children’s digital literacy practices in the home, focusing on three interrelated dimensions of literacy, namely the operational, cultural and critical. The authors turn the key findings of their conceptual analysis based on the 3D model of literacy, focusing on how studies in the field situate themselves in terms of understanding children’s digital literacy practices in the home. Their conceptual analysis of literature reveals that to date there is scant research focusing more directly on the operational dimension of children’s digital literacy practices in the home.