Teacher roles in early years digital shared reading contexts

As digital tools become increasingly integrated into early years education, teachers’ roles in mediating children's digital literary experiences require deeper examination. This multimodal ethnographic study investigates how early years teachers adapt and transform pedagogical roles when mediating children's engagement with two narratives apps (The Hat Monkey and The Monster at the End) on an iPad. Drawing on multimodal social semiotics, the research theoretically explores how diverse teacher roles are enacted within digital reading contexts where text, audio, visual, and interactive elements converge simultaneously. Findings reveal that digital environments fundamentally transform teacher mediation practices, requiring educators to dynamically orchestrate multiple communication modes while navigating technological affordances.