The Efficacy of Working E-Portfolios to Assess Emergent and Digital Literacies Congruently in Social Contexts

摘要

Early childhood education instruction and assessment practices for emergent literacy were established in an era that prioritized standardization of knowledge based on age and stage of development. The evolution of 2.0 technologies has shifted culture within developed societies to prioritize digital literacy that is synonymous to political, social and economic capital. This article asserts two positions: the first is to shift the pedagogy of early childhood toward cultivating both emergent and digital literacies using traditional strategies in conjunction with technology. The second position is the efficacy of working e-portfolios to develop and assess multi-literacy. Fundamental attributes of working e-portfolios are outlined and applied to goals for multi-literacy in democratic early childhood classrooms. The three-pronged theoretical framework is the learner-centered approach espoused with Vygotsky's social-constructivism, and Marie Clay's theory of emergent literacy development in social contexts.