Silence and observation in early childhood education : the pedagogical basis of a symbol literacy approach

Abstract

Two main assertions of the Symbol Literacy Approach are that humans live in a symbolic reality and that they employ various reasoning processes in order to learn. This study aims to explore if and how ‘silence’ and ‘observation’ may be used as pedagogical tools to heighten children’s cognition, awareness and ability to better “read” and interpret reality, using a positive perspective. Furthermore it aims to equip children in enriching their ability to increase their symbolic repertoire. A theoretical framework was adopted to tackle the first research question which assured a solid basis for the development of an empirical study to tackle the second research question. The empirical study formed part of a collaborative action research practice which applied a quasi-experimental design by using convenience sampling. It was conducted with two kindergarten 1 classes, namely, their respective qualified early childhood educators and the fourteen, three to four year old children in their classroom. The study embraced an epistemology of a sociocultural nature and a sociocultural historical activity theory as a theoretical perspective. A qualitative approach was adopted with data gathered through participant and naturalistic observations. Findings were analysed through an inductive and thematic approach. A coding procedure was used and similar nodes were knotted into six main themes. A number of recommendations for further practice and research were also made. The findings of this study provide fresh knowledge and insight for educators to grow professionally and deduce the potential ways in which the pedagogical tools of silence and observation help children to process, interpret and access reality.