Language Arts - Volume 103, Issue 4, 2026

Grounded in Bakhtin’s heteroglossia and Rosenblatt’s reader response theory, this semester-long case study of one kindergarten classroom examined students’ transactions with nonfiction picturebooks through play.

This qualitative case study examines how young children’s playful languaging shapes literacy acquisition during a ninety-minute literacy block in a kindergarten classroom.

Fostering play(ful) writing in upper elementary classrooms can reestablish the cohesion and connection that are often missing across a school day for students.

This piece explores using digital stickers to engage multilingual learners in joyful literacy-play, fostering creativity, translanguaging, and equity through inclusive, multimodal meaning-making in classrooms.

Grounded in notions of Vivian Gussin Paley’s storytelling curriculum, this article describes the author’s experiences working with preservice teachers and their community partners in a field-based early literacy course.

Featuring the experiences of first-year teachers as they try to navigate the tension between the beliefs and practices they developed in college and the mandates that awaited them as they entered the classroom.

Playful translanguaging through picturebooks fosters meaningful, equitable learning by honoring children’s language practices, affirming their linguistic brilliance, encouraging curiosity about languages, and creating joyful classrooms for learners and educators.

Even in a highly managed educational climate, novice teachers craft their look at the nuances, conditions, and rapport necessary to joyful and playful literacy learning.

Literacy play can crack open a little space in science of reading blocks, allowing teachers to comply with reading mandates while providing more agency for children.