The Role of Literary Texts in Relation to The Development and Respect of The Child’s Identity

Abstract

Identity is a very complex structure. There are many aspects of identity and those start to form and develop in early childhood This study explores specific age-related characteristics of children which influence the forming and shaping of different layers of identity and points out the important role that legislature and various social environment factors have in this process. Special attention is dedicated to the positive influence that preschool teachers and institutions have and to a range of possibilities that literary texts offer in this whole process. Concrete examples illustrate how complex semantic structure of a literary text can initiate conversation about different layers of identity. The advantages of this kind of work are numerous and are reflected in the fact that the development and the strengthening of the identity is approached from an integrative standpoint, given the fact that we are simultaneously working on children’s speech development through reading activities and literary text analysis. The main implication of this study is 1) the need for conducting future research with the aim of identifying literary texts which, apart from their aesthetic quality, also possess semantic potential as a tool for learning about identity and 2) further work on strengthening the competences of preschool teachers so that they can integrate activities directed towards development of the child’s identity in all the areas of their educational activities within preschool institutions and carrying them out with continuity.