Expanding multilingual children’s discursive repertoires: ethical and methodological considerations of an artefactual approach

Our understanding of the multilingual child is enriched when the voice of the child is respected, valued and heard. In research with children, material tools offer interesting avenues for investigating early multilingualism through the creative ways in which they communicate. From an ethical perspective, this methodological approach has the potential to position children as knowledgeable and active agents in the research process, thus respecting their insights into their experience of multilingual living. In this session, I will present a study that included artefacts, that is, physical objects and multimodal texts, as data collection tools. I will highlight the benefits and challenges of working with material tools, as they provide an alternative symbolic space for deconstructing monolithic and fixed representations of language and reconstructing a complex, dynamic and multifaceted multilingual identity. They give the children the means to reflect on and create their personalised stories about living with multiple languages.