Dr Dylan Yamada-Rice BA, MA, MA, PhD
Lecturer in Early Childhood Education
Tel: (+44) (0)114 222 8162
Fax: (+44) (0)114 222 8105
Email: d.yamada-rice@sheffield.ac.uk
Room: 7.12
Teaching
Dylan directs the full-time MA in Education: Early Childhood Education and the Social and Historical Constructions of Childhood module on the BA in Education, Culture and Childhood. She also teaches sessions on the distance MA in Early Childhood Education and across a number of modules on the wider BA in Education, Culture and Childhood. On both of the courses her teaching is strongly influenced by her research (see below). Therefore amongst other things she teaches sessions on topics such as literacy, multimodality, cultural and social constructions of childhood and visual means of data collection and analysis.
Through her teaching Dylan encourages students to reflect on their own knowledge and experiences in relation to their individual personal and cultural upbringings. At the same time she encourages students to interact with the taught sessions, literature and peers to critically reflect upon their existing beliefs.
Research interests
Dylan’s research interests are concerned with early childhood literacy and multimodal communication practices. Her PhD focuses on young children's interaction with and comprehension of the visual mode as one aspect of contemporary multimodality. This work extends discourse to date on the connection between children’s exposure to environmental print and emerging literacy practices in young children. Specifically it views communication practices as multimodal and therefore young children’s knowledge of reading and writing emerges alongside their understanding of other modes such as image, gesture and space, and the ways in which modes combine.
Her previous research has explored children´s access to digital technologies that foregrounded the visual mode, the way in which family members support engagement with digital technologies and differences in texts using the visual mode in the urban landscapes of Tokyo and London. As a result new media, digital technologies, visual and multimodal research methods also connect to her work. Much of Dylan’s research to data has been undertaken in Japan and therefore her work has also been concerned with how Japanese communication practices, particularly Japanese semiotics support current multimodal discourses, such as the ways in which visual and written modes can be combined in texts.
Activities
• Regular reviewer for a variety of journals and publishers including The Journal of Early Childhood Research and Sage.
• Awarded an ESRC Studentship to complete an MA in Educational Research and doctoral programme of study at the University of Sheffield.
• Was awarded the UKLA post Graduate Research Prize, 2010.
Publications
Yamada-Rice, D. (2013) The Semiotic Landscape and Three-Year-Olds' Emerging Understanding of Multimodal Communication Practices. Journal of Early Childhood Research. Vol. 11, No. 1.
Levy, R., Yamada-Rice, D. and Marsh, J. (2013). Digital Literacies in the Primary Classroom. In: Hall, K., Cremin, T., Comber, B. and Moll, L. (eds) (in print) International Handbook of Research in Children's Literacy, Learning and Culture. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Yamada-Rice, D. (2012) The Traditional Thesis and Researching Contemporary Multimodal Communication Practices: a Student’s Perspective on the Widening Gap. In: Andrews, R., Borg, E. , Boyd Davis, S., Domingo, M. and England, J. (Eds) (2012) The Sage Handbook of Digital Dissertations and Theses. London: Sage.
Yamada-Rice, D. (2011) New Media, evolving multimodal literacy practices and the potential impact of increased use of the visual mode in the urban environment on young children’s learning. Literacy, Vol. 45, No. 1, p.32-43.
Yamada-Rice, D. (2011) A Comparative Study of Visuals in the Urban Landscapes of Tokyo and London, Visual Communication, Vol. 10, No. 2, p.175-186.
Yamada-Rice, D. (2011) The Benefits of Sign Language in the International Preschool Curriculum. In: Murphy, E. (ed) (2011). Welcoming Linguistic Diversity in Early Childhood Classrooms. London: Multilingual Matters. p.112-124.
Yamada-Rice, D. (2010) Beyond words: An Enquiry into Children’s Home Visual Communication Practices. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy Vol.10, No.3, p. 341–363.
Book reviews
Yamada-Rice, D. (2013) Review: Learning from the children: childhood, culture and identity in a changing world. Edited by J. Waldren and I. Kaminski. British Journal of Educational Studies. p. 1-2
Research students
Mona Alhinty - Tablets as Educational Tools for Learning English by 4th Grade
Saudi Primary School Students; An Investigation of iPad’s Usage and Learner Perceptions