| Summary: | Demographic changes in Iceland, like almost everywhere in the world, have influenced the linguistic and cultural landscapes of preschools. The objective of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of how preschool can serve as an inclusive and socially just learning space for multilingual children's language and emergent literacy development, where voices and identities are affirmed and partnership with parents is enhanced. This qualitative case study explored how learning spaces for multilingual children were created. The study is concerned with a comprehensive view on the complex reciprocity of linguistic, contextual, social, and cultural factors affecting multilingual children’s learning and development. The study looks at the interplay of these factors and highlights successful practices in a preschool that was purposively chosen. The theoretical perspective of the study lies within critical pedagogy (Nieto, 2010), multicultural education (Banks, 2010), sociocultural theories (Rogoff, 2003; Vygotsky, 1978), and theories on multilingual children’s language and literacy development (Arnbjörnsdóttir, 2008, 2010; Brooker, 2002a; Chumak-Horbatsch, 2012; Cummins, 2004, 2021a; De Houwer, 2009; García & Wei, 2014). The study was carried out between 2016 and 2017 and the design of the research is a single case study. I employ qualitative methodology to generate data and analyse and write up my findings (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Heath et al., 2010; Tracey, 2010). Data was generated through interviews with teachers and parents, observations and video recordings, written documents, pictures, and artefacts. Part of the analysing process of the video recordings was a collaborative analysis with the participating teachers. Such a collaboration moves practice towards theory and situates teachers as knowledge generators (Cummins, 2021a). Findings illustrate that the development of learning spaces for multilingual children at The Circle was a multi-faceted, emergent process that included multiple diverse practices. ...
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