Drawing on theoretical perspectives related to play and identity, play as a literary
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centred on the theme of playing house. The narrative exemplifies the
interconnections between literacy and identity in the social and cultural world of a
young girl growing up in a multilingual, multi-literate household in an inner-city
area of a western Canadian city. The example brings to the forefront how systematic
examinations of children’s play narratives have the potential to
contribute to current thought on literacy learning and self-construction in early
childhood. Understanding the imagined identities children portray in play may be
particularly revealing in terms of understanding how they position themselves in the world.
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