ABSTRACT

This chapter describes facets of two arts-based inquiry projects that use theatre/drama as a means to foster and interrogate multiliteracies among preschoolers and their intricate contexts. It highlights language acquisition practices and orientations as primary manifestations of agency, oppression, and the spaces between in early childhood settings. Enlivening select scenarios to both capture and question the politics of language in these particular preschool contexts, authors pay particular attention to how choice, power, inclusivity, and identity play out in what counts and doesn’t count—as arts-infused language assessment.