Beyond Borders - Digital Tablets as a Resource for Pre-school Children’s Communication in a Minority Language - Research

Oct 15, 2026

Ethnographic study using a social semiotic approach explores how digital tablets in preschools may enable children’s communication in a minority language. Findings highlight children using tablet affordances to act as producers of minority-language activities, building on prior knowledge. Skype supports peer communication in a mutual language beyond geographic preschool boundaries. The study also discusses limitations, including scarce minority-language applications, and proposes broader views on what multilingual activities can include.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Digital resources and multilingualism

Petersen, P. (2018). Beyond Borders-Digital Tablets as a Resource for Pre-school Children’s Communication in a Minority Language. Designs for Learning, 10(1),88–99. DOI: [https://doi.org/10.16993/dfl.87](https://doi.org/10.16993/dfl.87) | RESEARCH
Beyond Borders-Digital Tablets as a Resource for Pre-school Children’s Communication in a Minority Language
Petra Petersen | | --- | | In this video ethnographic study, a social semiotic approach has been used to explore how the use of digital tablets in preschools may enable children’s communication in a minority language. The results show how preschool children use the emerging affordances of digital tablets in order to act as producers of minority language activities, where their prior knowledge is acknowledged. Applications such as Skype enable peers to communicate in a mutual language beyond the limitations of geographic preschool boundaries. Limitations, such as the lack of appropriate applications available in minority languages, are also discussed. Furthermore, a proposal is made to broaden the understanding of what could constitute multilingual activities. | | Keywords: Digital tablets; minority language use; Skype, pre-school children; Design for Learning | Introduction The main scope of this study is to examine how the use of digital tablets may facilitate preschool children’s possibilities to participate in minority language activities. The study is conducted in Sweden, where five official minority languages are stated in national, as well as European Union, legislation: Finnish, Yiddish, Meänkieli, Romani Chib and Sami (SFS, 2009: 600) . In this article, the minority language Finnish is in particular focus, and the data is collected in an administrative area for Finnish. Sweden has around 200,000 Finnish speakers (Parkvall, 2009) and Finnish has had minority language status since 1995 for historical and cultural reasons (SFS, 2009: 600) . Twenty-three municipalities in Sweden are administrative areas for Finnish, which means that, among other things, children have the right to speak Finnish in schools and preschools (SFS 2009: 724) . The preschool curriculum also states that: The preschool should strive to ensure that each child with a mother tongue other than Swedish develop their cultural identity and the ability to communicate in both Swedish and their mother tongue. (Lpfö 98, rev. 2016: 10) Even though minority-language-speaking children in Sweden have a right to speak their language in schools and preschools (SFS 2009: 724; Skolverket, 2016), living up to these aims has proven a challenge for preschools. In practice, this means that many of the minority-language-speaking children have no real access to native language instruction (Konstitutionsutskottet, 2012) . The lack of Finnish-speak- University of Stockholm, SE [Petra.petersen@buv.su.se](Petra.petersen@buv.su.se) ing teachers and the fact that Finnish-speaking children go to separate preschools, and therefore seldom get to meet and speak Finnish with each other, also contribute to these challenges. Even though the administrative areas for Finnish provide for all-Finnish-speaking preschool groups, many Finnish-speaking children go to other preschools.1 At the same time, the possibilities of using digital resources as means for creating opportunities for language learning and communication is discussed in various fields of research (cf. Edwards, 2010; Agirreazkuenaga, 2012; Jones, Cuncliffe & Honeycutt, 2013; Sauro, 2016) . In this study, a municipality project2 was started in an administrative area for the minority language of Finnish involving 15 preschool groups. The main aim was to explore how the use of digital tablets in preschools may enable children’s communication in a minority language, with a particular focus on children’s participation in multilingual activities. This study also poses an alternative to the focus on problems concerning a lack of knowledge of the majority langu

FAQs

What is the main focus of the study in preschools?

The study examines how using digital tablets can facilitate preschool children’s participation in minority-language activities, with attention to multilingual participation.

How do the results describe children’s role when using digital tablets?

Children use emerging tablet affordances to act as co-producers of minority-language activities, with their prior knowledge recognized in those interactions.

What limitations are discussed regarding minority-language communication with tablets?

A key limitation is the lack of appropriate applications available in minority languages, which constrains opportunities for communication and learning.

Oct 15, 2026

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