Language and Life: Going into Space

As “objects” of study, babies, toddlers, and young children have historically been thought of as creatures dissociated from the worlds they live in, as if they were not inextricably woven into the worlds they (and we) inhabit, as if they were not both products and producers of their worlds. Addressing this perceived dissociation is at the heart of many rights of young children. Arguably, overcoming the impact of this alleged divide between our youngest citizens and the worlds they live in is also at the heart of sustainable, impactful, and meaningful early childhood education. Drawing on Australia’s early childhood learning framework principles of belonging, being, and becoming, this chapter explores how a practice perspective may help to study very young children as living parts of their worlds and ours, as living denizens of the community of life on the planet. In doing so, it explores babies’ and toddlers’ language learning and theoretical and practical issues of listening to and honouring the languages and lives of very young children in spaces we share with them.