Original Research

‘They help each other’: How might preschool children’s out-of-school literacy and language activities support classroom practice?

Kate Fox

Received: 18 Jan. 2026; Accepted: 24 June 2026; Published: 04 Sept. 2026

Copyright: © 2026. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Abstract

Background: Foundational learning policy and practice does not adequately consider preschool children’s literacy and language (LaL) activities outside of school in rural, multilingual areas. Children are thus unable to draw on prior experiences and existing knowledge of language and literacy when learning in monolingual classrooms.

Aim: Preschool children’s (aged 3–7) out-of-school LaL activities were explored in detail. Teacher perceptions and value of these activities were recorded to understand their potential as pedagogical tools and strategies.

Setting: The study took place in four multilingual rural and semi-rural villages in Mtwara region, Southern Tanzania.

Methods: Interviews, observations, participant diaries, fieldnotes and photographs were used to collect data in homes, community spaces and preschools. A translanguaging and multiliteracies lens was used to analyse data.

Results: Children participate in a wide range of everyday activities which support LaL development. However, teachers do not perceive these activities as beneficial for learning. A notable exception is learning with peers and siblings, used strategically by teachers to support in-school literacy.

Conclusion: When teachers perceive utility in children’s out-of-school activities, they are willing to integrate these into teaching. Drawing attention to what children already understand about language and literacy can reposition this knowledge as an asset to be drawn on.

Contribution: Preschool children’s everyday activities can be effective pedagogical tools. In the context of lower literacy outcomes for rural and multilingual children, understanding better how children learn outside of school should be a research and policy imperative.

Keywords: early literacy development; multilingualism; multiliteracies; translanguaging; Tanzania; pedagogy; rural contexts; foundational learning.

Introduction

A global ‘literacy crisis’ – in which some 70% of children in LMICs (lower- and middle-income countries) are assessed as unable to understand ‘a simple age-appropriate text’ – is placing increasing pressure on preschools to deliver improved literacy outcomes (Schweisfurth 2023). Global policy responses relating to poor school literacy outcomes have centred on foundational literacy learning delivered in schools by teachers – for example United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank’s RAPID framework encompassing ‘literacy policy packages’, structured pedagogy and teacher training focused on synthetic phonics-based teaching methods (World Bank et al. 2022). In Tanzania, the location of this study, similar policy is proposed at national level in response to low literacy levels which particularly affects rural, multilingual areas (Chanzo 2026). However, scant attention in either research or policy has been paid to children’s literacy and language (hereafter LaL) activities out of school and how these might support in-school literacy development as potential pedagogical strategies for teachers, especially in contexts where there is language divergence between home and school communities. In rural, multilingual contexts, where children’s preschool learning does not reflect lived multilingual realities, better understanding how children learn outside of school should therefore be a policy and research imperative.

This article documents children’s LaL activities and practices outside of school in a rural region of Tanzania. It draws on multiliteracies and translanguaging theories to argue that children’s everyday activities can and does support their LaL development. Understanding better how children actually use language and print in activities such as play, religious, livelihood and family activities holds great potential for development of supportive in-school resources, particularly in rural and low resourced classrooms.

Research on these activities is particularly relevant for rural sub-Saharan African preschool classrooms where bi- and multilingual children struggle to learn new content in new languages they are unfamiliar with, and associated literacy attainment is lower (Mapunda & Gibson 2022). Also discussed are teachers’ perceptions and value of these practices, and how this might affect uptake of practices and activities as pedagogical classroom tools in multilingual contexts.

Early language and literacy development in rural Tanzanian contexts

Tanzania is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with around 150 languages spoken (Amani & Mgaiwa 2025). However, Tanzania’s Preschool Curriculum stipulates that children learn communication skills (listening, interaction with peers, speaking, reading and writing) in Swahili or English only, which they may have had no, or very limited, experience of hitherto (Wedin 2010). This presents particular difficulties for children from minoritised language groups, who often live in rural areas of Tanzania away from majority Swahili-speaking larger towns and cities. As understanding the language of instruction is so critical for learning, especially foundational reading and writing, rural children are especially at risk of poorer school outcomes (Mapunda & Gibson 2022). Compared to urban and peri-urban peers who live in Swahili-speaking communities, children from rural areas are also more likely to repeat a year, be absent from school and achieve lower literacy outcomes in preschool and primary level (Tandika, Ndibalema & Lawrent 2025). In response, the Tanzanian government has developed the Scientific Strategy for Building Reading, Writing and Arithmetic (hereafter Foundational Learning Strategy; United Republic of Tanzania 2026), focused almost exclusively on developing in-school systematic phonics provision for improving reading and writing in Swahili and English only, which is partially aimed at addressing the gap between rural and urban literacy levels in preschools.

As noted here and in previous studies on children’s experiences in Tanzanian schools (Lauwo 2018), phonics-based policies such as the 2026 Foundational Learning Strategy do not support multilingual children to draw on prior linguistic knowledge and experience where this diverges from Swahili, in order to make sense of new learning in school. Rather, policies which advocate monolingual phonics instruction present particular barriers for children in non-Swahili speaking rural communities and can be highly isolating for young children starting formal school in these areas (Mapunda et al. 2024).

Home and community environments and early literacy and language development

That children develop LaL skills in their home and community environment well before they start formal school is widely acknowledged in research literature (Chansa-Kabali, Serpell & Lyytinen 2014; Melhuish et al. 2008). Activities such as play, singing, use of rhymes and spending time doing family activities support language development and early literacy skills as children begin to link spoken language and semiotic systems in activities such as drawing, reading print or writing. Children’s everyday activities also provide a context for children’s LaL development. As noted by Twum-Danso Imoh, Tetteh and Yaa Oduro (2022), young children participate actively in a huge variety of activities which involve communicating for purpose – playing with friends, shopping, visiting relatives, cooking, doing chores and attending religious services. The potential of these everyday activities to support literacy development is well recognised in family and indigenous literacy research in Global South contexts; recent examples in research and practice being UNESCO’s report on family and intergenerational literacy and learning initiatives (UNESCO 2025) and Compare journal’s Special Issue on Family Literacy (cf. Acharya, Mjaya & Robinson-Pant 2025). These studies foreground the LaL learning practices of families and communities in rural and multilingual contexts, which are underpinned by social relationships. They detail a wide range of ways in which young children come to experience, understand and participate in literate practices through these relationships, for example through work and religious activities.

Specific to rural sub-Saharan African communities, there is extensive research on LaL supportive resources in home and community environments, including non-print and locally available materials, children’s languages and their relationships with others. Studies on oral storytelling in South Africa (Bloch & Mbolekwe 2021; Kamiya & Mndende 2024), imaginative and self-made toy play in rural pastoralist communities in Kenya (Ng’Asike 2019) and peer and sibling teaching and learning frameworks across Africa (Mitchell 2023) underline the importance of participation in relationships and everyday activities for language and literacy development of young children. These studies detail activities and materials which are often overlooked in educational discourses on LaL development of young children, conceptualised here as children’s gradual refinement of meaning making processes through languages and semiotic materials ‘to hand’ within their environments and communities.

Home and community environments and early literacy and language development in rural Tanzanian contexts

Conversely, potential of home and community environments in rural Tanzanian contexts to support children’s LaL development is more narrowly understood in existing research literature. Broadly, studies focus specifically on presence of print material in Swahili, parent–child reading and parental language and literacy skills (Koltermann et al. 2026). The lack of books in Swahili and/or writing materials due to material household poverty in rural areas thus indicates unsupportive learning environments (Ndijuye & Beatus 2024; Ndijuye & Rao 2018; Ngorosho 2010, 2011; Ngorosho & Lahtinen 2010). Minoritised, non-Swahili languages and concomitant lower levels of parental and family ‘support’ for learning how to read and write in Swahili are also considered to limit quality of home and community environment. For example, Ndijuye and Rao (2018) explicitly link parental lack of education in Swahili to the absence of ‘mentally stimulating learning activities’ (Ndijuye & Rao 2018:366), defined as story-book reading, doing homework and practising writing between children and parents. The link between material practices such as book reading is made more explicit in further studies such as Ndijuye and Beatus’ (2024) which attributes rural children’s poorer literacy outcomes to severe ‘limitations’ in ‘basic needs that stimulate a child’s engagement in literacy activities’ and ‘unsupportive home learning environments’ (pp. 11–12) found in rural areas. Everyday activities, languages and relationships – such as those outlined above in international studies and which are more readily available in rural and multilingual contexts – are not considered and are thus undocumented.

While studies by Ngwaru and Opoku-Amankwa (2010), Wedin (2010) and more recently Lauwo (2018) detail some home and community ‘everyday’ activities in rural areas in Tanzania, preschool children’s out-of-school LaL activities remain underexplored and undervalued as pedagogical tools for supporting early literacy learning. The findings from this study extend this literature. There are currently no studies which look at preschool children’s languages and literacy activities in rural Tanzanian communities in the context of clear policy imperatives at national and international levels to improve foundational literacy learning, making this research particularly relevant.

Theoretical framework

This study draws on García and Kliefgen’s (2019) translanguaging and ‘multiliteracies’ framework, theorising children’s language and literacy practices and activities as a ‘dynamic interaction of signs, objects, worlds and bodies’ through which children develop an understanding of how to communicate with others (García & Kleifgen 2019:567). This framework posits that multilingual children develop what Kleifgen and García call ‘a unitary repertoire of multiple semiotic resources’ – essentially a bank of knowledge based on experience about linguistic and literate behaviours and actions, and how these can be used to communicate for specific purposes (p. 568). Most relevantly for this study, García and Kleifgen argue that multilingual children use this ‘toolbox’ or ‘repertoire’ of communicative practices when learning new languages or reading and writing practices, as they must do in rural preschools where Swahili is not their mother tongue. When they are able to, young children use their entire ‘unitary repertoire … to maximize their meaning-making potential’ (García & Kleifgen 2019:567). This supports a wider framing of children’s LaL development than learning decoding and encoding skills, and repositions children’s everyday activities in rural, multilingual contexts as potential resources for supporting in-school literacy learning.

Of additional relevance to this study are social and relational aspects of translanguaging and multiliteracies theories. These assume that the process through which children begin to communicate (and begin to develop their communication ‘repertoire’) is driven by their need to participate in social relationships with people and in activities which are meaningful to them. Becoming literate is therefore inextricably connected to social activity for young children and part of a communicative and language-supported process in which children are supported by people in their homes and communities.

Research methods and design

Study context

Mtwara region is in Southern Tanzania, on the border with Mozambique. It was selected for the study due to high prevalence of rural and multilingual households. 76% of households are in rural areas and work in fishing or agricultural adjacent activities (United Republic of Tanzania 2018). The region is multilingual and multicultural; Swahili and English are national languages and thus dominate official and institutional contexts such as pre- and primary schools, and Makonde and Yao are also widely spoken. As an indicative measure, around 60% of children were registered as primarily Makonde speakers at preschools visited. Islam and Christianity are both practised; all participant families were practising Muslims.

Study design

The study was designed to explore out-of-school LaL activities of children aged 3–7 in rural areas. Data on activities involving printed and digital material of any kind and complex language-rich activities where children must negotiate, explain, retell, and so on (in any language) were recorded. Teachers’ perceptions and value of children’s out-of-school activities were also explored to understand whether they were seen as potential pedagogical tools and strategies for teaching in multilingual areas.

All research activities were guided by the following research questions:

• What literacy and language practices and activities do children engage in their homes and communities?
• How are these practices and activities perceived by teachers?

The study took place in four villages in the Mtwara region. The villages were chosen due to rural and semi-rural location and the prevalence of bilingual (Makonde and Swahili) families. Ethnographic approaches were used, including interviews, family activity diaries and informal observations, discussions and visits which were used to develop ‘thick’ description of a wide range of children’s LaL activities, and the meanings attached to these practices by participants (Gerard Forsey 2010).

Participants

Data were gathered from five school communities (‘Schools 1–5’) in the four villages, ranging from 4 km to 20 km from the nearest town centre (Mikindani). Six parents and 10 preschool and primary teachers took part, two of whom were headteachers. Two colleagues working with a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) which trains preschool teachers were also interviewed. Parents recruited through preschools had a child in their household between the age of three to seven. All parents were employed in the local informal economy in small family-owned businesses; two spoke Makonde as their home language and all were fluent in Swahili. All teachers spoke Swahili with limited Makonde, and two spoke English. All interviews were conducted in Swahili and/or English with a translator, as my first language is English with some Swahili. Interview data were recorded as field notes from translations with verbatim quotations, with participants’ original language indicated in this article by Swahili translations. My position in relation to participants was as a NGO education employee and pre-primary teacher, having worked in Tanzania for around 5 years.

Data collection

Data collection was conducted intensively over one month in May 2023 and June 2023. Caregivers were given a ‘family activity diary’ to complete over a week, logging any activity completed with or between children in their household which involved interaction with print, or activities such as counting, storytelling, singing or playing and helping with chores or work. This was followed by semi-structured interviews with teachers and parents to explore these activities further. Observational data via fieldnotes and photographs were gathered from informal visits to homes, community settings (streets, play areas and open spaces, community meetings, community celebrations, religious spaces, markets and shops) and preschools.

Data analysis

All data gathered were translated into English where necessary, transcribed and coded using NVivo software. Themes were developed and refined using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke 2006), in dialogue with both the theoretical framework and research questions of the study. Four themes were identified which describe domains of children’s out-of-school meaning making activities and teacher perceptions of these: community livelihood and work activities, play and peer interaction, religious practices and teacher acceptance of and resistance to out-of-school activities and practices.

Ethical considerations

The study received research permission from the University College London Institute of Education Ethics Advisory Committee on 08 February 2023 (no number given) and the Tanzanian government Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) on 04 May 2023 (COSTECH research permit number: 2023-344-NA-2023-676). Local permissions for research activities were sought from district and ward education officers, and participants gave informed consent for all research activities including photographs. Confidentiality and anonymity were maintained throughout the research including in this article, and pseudonyms have been used to protect the identity of participants.

Results

The aim of this study was to understand how young children use LaL within their everyday activities outside of school. It also aimed to explore teacher acceptance or resistance to using these activities as potentially supportive pedagogical tools or strategies in multilingual classrooms. Contrary to existing research in rural Tanzanian contexts outlined above, findings from this study suggest that children live in home and community learning environments with rich material and relational support for LaL learning. However, the data also highlight significant divergence in how teachers value and interpret these activities.

Community livelihood and work activities

Children were expected to support and join their families in community and work-based activities. These involved purposeful uses of and exposure to different languages and printed materials through activities such as farming, cooking, shopping, political and community meetings, selling things in small shops outside their houses and travelling on buses to visit relatives. Neema, a cook at the local school, described the chores her 5-year-old daughter helped her older siblings with:

‘Ninawapeleka dukani kununua vitu; namwandikia orodha na yeye anaenda huko. Au namwambia ninachohitaji, na wanasoma maandishi kwenye vifurushi huko. Wakati mwingine wao huenda sokoni na wananunua vitu huko’. [‘I send them to the duka {small shop} to buy things, I write her a list and she goes down there. Or I tell her what I need, and they read the packets there. Or they go to the market and buy things there’.] (Neema, parent of a 16 year old, 12 year old, 13 year old, 10 year old and 5 year old, Swahili speaker)

Other parents reported children handling money and shopping, usually with older brothers and sisters:

‘Yeye huenda dukani na kuwasaidia kununua vitu. Nafikiri anaelewa ni bidhaa zipi za kununua na anaweza kusaidia kwa pesa. Hawezi kusoma, lakini anazijua sarafu na huwaona kaka na dada zake wakitumia pesa’. [‘He goes to the shop and helps them to buy things. I think he understands which ones {products} to buy and he can help with the money. He can’t read but he knows what the coins are and he sees his brothers and sisters using money’.] (Magreth, parent of a 3 year old, 6 year old and 13 year old; Swahili speaker)

For these trips to the market and duka (village kiosk; a typical duka is shown in Figure 1; amounts of rice, flour, beans, etc., are bought in portions), children need to use a variety of LaL skills – reading shop and packet signs and instructions (which are occasionally in English), selection of correct products by branding, collecting, using and counting correct coins and sometimes dealing with shopkeepers in both Makonde and Swahili depending on the geographical location of the village. Children are ‘apprenticed’ into these jobs, initially going with older brothers and sisters and watching shopkeepers weigh, measure and portion correct amounts, giving them practical experience of comparison and counting, and are then expected to go themselves when older. Parents expected children to understand what proportion of goods were needed from a larger amount to be bought from shops (for example, of rice) and adjust money needed and change received accordingly.

FIGURE 1: Inside a duka window.

Parents also reported children’s involvement with various jobs to support family livelihood – counting, organising and bunching vegetables by size for sale in small informal shops outside their house or for taking to larger markets, or sorting and taking money and taking orders from customers. As with activities such as shopping, children learn to do this initially through watching older siblings or parents. Juma, a tailor, described how his children help with his tailoring shop, his expectations related to their increasing contribution and participation, as well as the LaL skills they would need to do this effectively:

‘Yeye huangalia kila wakati, anaanza kuelewa jinsi biashara inavyofanya kazi. Nachukua vipimo vya wateja na kuviandika kwenye daftari langu la kumbukumbu; ninapokuwa na shughuli nyingi, watoto wawili wakubwa husaidia kuweka kumbukumbu na kuandika vipimo’. [‘He {six year old} is watching all the time, starting to understand how the business works. I take measurements of customers and write these down in my record book, when I am busy the two older children help with keeping records and writing down measurements’.] (Juma, parent of a 13 year old, 12 year old and 7 year old, Swahili and Makonde speaker)

Some children also joined families at village meetings and assemblies, where social issues are discussed which affect the village such as water and health initiatives. Parents Subira and Musa both spoke Makonde as a first language. Meetings in their village were in Makonde and Swahili, with Makonde used to ‘emphasise important things’ (Musa). Information on posters and leaflets is translated for Makonde speakers. Musa said it was important for children to be at these meetings and to understand the Makonde being spoken:

‘Huenda asiwe makini kila wakati, lakini kuelewa taarifa kuhusu eneo lako ni muhimu, hata kwa watoto. Kama kuna mkutano wa kijiji, watu watalalamika ukiongea Kiswahili na kukuomba uzungumze Kimakonde ili waelewe! Watu wengi hapa wanazungumza Kimakonde na Kiswahili. Lugha ya Kimakonde ni sehemu muhimu ya utambulisho wetu’. [‘She might not be paying attention all the time, but understanding information about your local area is important, also for children. If there is a village meeting, people will complain if you speak Swahili and ask you to speak in Makonde so that they understand. Most people speak Makonde and Swahili here. Makonde language is an important part of our identity’.] (Musa, parent of a 25 year old, 14 year old and 7 year old, Makonde and Swahili speaker)

In multilingual villages such as Musa’s and Subira’s where children must speak and understand Swahili and Makonde in order to participate in community activities, parents indicated that it is expected that children will navigate and use these languages to achieve specific communicative purposes, for example when speaking with different groups of people such as grandparents or other village members. As noted by Musa, above, the use of Makonde also plays an important role in forming and enacting community identity which ensures its continued usage for social functions, as well as for more practical communication purposes such as translation of information.

Play and peer interaction

Children in all four villages regularly play with peers and siblings involving complex multimodal interaction around chat, singing, counting and roleplay. They do this in Swahili and Makonde (and occasionally English) depending on languages spoken in the community, in the street and other communal areas after school and in the school playground. Subira and Musa described their children playing roleplay games in which they give and receive complex instructions in Makonde and Swahili depending on interlocuter, such as kimamama (‘house’ or ‘family’) and ‘school’. Parents also mentioned children playing counting and clapping games, such as Musa’s daughter:

‘Tunaishi katikati ya kijiji, hivyo watoto wote huja hapa kucheza. Wanacheza sana kuruka kamba na michezo ya kupiga makofi. Pia wanacheza michezo ya kujifanya - kama “gari,” na husafiri wakijifanya hivyo. Mara nyingi wanacheza kwa lugha ya Kimakonde. Kuna kuhesabu na kuchagua kwa wingi kama sehemu ya michezo yao’. [‘We live in the middle of the village, so all the children come here to play. They play a lot of skipping and clapping games. And pretending games - something like “car,” and they travel around in that. They play in Makonde, most often. There’s a lot of counting, choosing, that they do as part of their games’.] (Musa, parent of a 25 year old, 14 year old and 7 year old, Makonde and Swahili speaker)

Magreth, whose first language is Swahili, said her three children occasionally used English expressions in play:

‘Wanapenda kucheza michezo ya kupiga makofi na kuhesabu, kuruka kamba, na kujificha na kutafutana. Wakishinda, husema “mapala o-ye!”. Wanafundishana nyimbo hizo. Katika baadhi yake hutumia Kiingereza, kama “O my baby!”’ [‘They like playing clapping and counting games and skipping, and hide and seek games. When they win, they say “mapala o-ye!” {well done Mapala}. They teach each other those songs. They use English in some of them, like “O my baby!”’] (Magreth, parent of a 13 year old, 6 year old and 3 year old, Swahili speaker)

Complex, structured role and language play games such as those described above are inherently enjoyable for children and can support situated language learning. This is particularly important for emergent Swahili learners, where play can provide a risk-free and scaffolded space to make mistakes and learn from peers (Ang et al. 2025). For example, games such as mdako (see Figure 2) involve repetitive practice of numbers, addition and multiplication as well as following instructions for the uninitiated player (both following instructions and basic understanding of number are important elements of the preschool curriculum; United Republic of Tanzania 2023).

FIGURE 2: Mdako is a popular counting game requiring use of multiples (similar to the game ‘jacks’). It involves counting in multiples and participants keeping verbal track of players’ scores.

Children used a variety of Swahili language supportive materials in their play, including digital tools such as phones and radios. Examples given by parents included listening to children’s radio programmes and watching videos and listening to music on YouTube for children on mobile phones or using a ‘flash drive’ (or USB; a portable data stick which can be used to transfer content between computers and other devices such as videos and music files) with a computer to watch videos in Swahili and occasionally English. Subira said her children liked watching children’s TV programmes in Swahili on the television they had in their home, which she thought was good for their learning. Not all parents wanted their children to engage in digital activities however and would not let them use their mobile phones.

Non-digital materials that children used for play were often found or made toys, such as those in Figure 3 and Figure 4. The truck depicted in Figure 3 was made by an older brother, a further example of the role family members other than parents play in caregiving and apprenticed participation in this region, particularly older siblings. The materials and tools children use for play often feature print in some capacity such as the truck (the letters ‘Tz’ feature on Tanzanian car registration plates) and the black gate in Figure 4. Children’s use and repurposing of these found objects for play is extremely creative, denoting the ‘remaking’ and ‘remixing’ of signs and symbols in creating new meaning and their developing understanding of semiotic representation – a precursor to writing (Bloch 2019).

FIGURE 3: A 4-year-old child plays with a car his brother has made for him, with replica ‘Tz’ registration plates.

FIGURE 4: A house gate used as a blackboard for playing close to Neema’s house.

As already noted, siblings played an extremely important role in young children’s learning. It was clear from interviews that sibling care and interaction is partially a logistical concern – most parents were busy with work and had less time to spend with younger children, suggesting a degree of prevalence in this practice. Sibling relationships and the activities they did together were always described as being underpinned by language and materials for specific communicative purposes. For example, parents reported older children acting as ‘literacy brokers’ or mediators (Papen 2010), teaching younger siblings how to use book and print materials. Neema and Magreth described older children helping younger ones with reading and writing, sharing exercise books and school materials with them. Magreth described this in more detail:

‘Wanamsomea hadithi kutoka kwenye daftari zao na kumwonyesha jinsi ya kugeuza kurasa. Kwa kawaida wanasaidiana’. [‘They read him stories from their exercise books and show him how to turn the pages. They help each other, usually’.] (Magreth, parent of a 13 year old, 6 year old and 3 year old, Swahili speaker)

Subira described how her older children (18 year old and 12 year old) helped her 5 year old son with his reading in Swahili:

‘Watoto husaidiana na zoezi la nyumbani. Mtoto mkubwa humsaidia wa kati - zamani alikuwa akimwadhibu asipofanya zoezi lake la nyumbani! Yule wa miaka mitano alipokuwa mdogo alikuwa akiwasumbua wale wakubwa wawili, hivyo walimpa kalamu na karatasi acheze nazo. Walimwonyesha mwelekeo wa herufi. Walimfundisha kuhesabu na kuandika kidogo. Sasa anaweza kuandika namba 1-5, na pia baadhi ya herufi. Mimi huwa sina muda wa kutosha kwa kufundisha mambo hayo’. [‘The children help each other with homework. The older one helps the middle one - she used to punish her if she didn’t do her homework! The five-year-old would disturb the older two when he was younger, so they gave him pens and paper to play with. They showed him which way the letters go. They taught him to count, and some writing. He can write numbers 1-5, and some letters now. I am usually too busy for that kind of teaching’.] (Subira, parent of an 18 year old, 12 year old and 5 year old, Makonde and Swahili speaker)

Through these learning interactions, younger children develop a sense of how print and printed materials ‘work’ and how to use them, as well as their purpose within the lives of their older siblings. Peer learning was also observed in community spaces such as churches, where older siblings and peers would help younger children to read and follow religious texts, as seen in Figure 5.

FIGURE 5: An older child reads a Bible in Swahili to a younger child in a Christian Sunday school.

Religious practices

All participants described religion as an important aspect of their lives, and this is also evident from the fact that in every village was a mosque and madrasa (a religious school where children learn to read and write in Arabic); one village was also close to a church. Both Christianity and Islam are widely practised in Mtwara, and children spend a lot of their time in madrasa schools or Sunday schools (see Figure 5). In coastal areas such as Mtwara, Islam is linked by its followers to social cohesion and values and community and personal identity (Sakata et al. in press). It was integral to daily rhythms of life in the villages in the study. All participant parents were Muslim and placed high value on children’s attendance of madrasa, essentially an informal, parallel education system often with its own curriculum. Some children attended every day after school:

‘Watoto wangu wote wanaenda madrasa. Wanaenda kujifunza kuhusu maadili sahihi na jinsi ya kuwa mtu mwema. Mtoto wangu wa miaka 3 bado haendi, lakini wakati mwingine kaka na dada zake wakubwa humchukua’. [‘All of my children go to the Madrasa. They go to understand about correct values and how to be a good person. My 3-year-old does not go yet but sometimes her older brothers and sisters take her’.] (Magreth, parent of a 13 year old, 6 year old and 3 year old, Swahili speaker)

‘Kwa kwenda msikitini wataelewa jinsi ya kuishi katika jamii na kuwa wanajamii wema. Shule pekee haitoshi kuwafundisha mila na maadili - wanapaswa pia kujihusisha na jamii pana nje ya shule, na ni muhimu wawe wanajamii wazuri’. [‘By going to the mosque they will understand how to live in society and be good community members. School is not enough to teach them values and ethics - they must also concern themselves with the wider community outside the school, and it is important for them to be good community members’.] (Musa, parent of a 25 year old, 14 year old and 7 year old, Makonde and Swahili speaker)

Children learn to read, recite and write in Arabic to read the Koran. Children also learn spoken ceremonial Arabic, to be able to say prayers or understand what is happening in communal activities and celebrations:

‘Binti yangu anajifunza kusoma Kurani, ndiyo. Hata wadogo huko wamejifunza kuisoma kwa kukariri - ni vizuri kwao kujifunza maadili na mila huko, na jinsi ya kuswali’. [‘My daughter is learning how to read the Koran, yes. Even the young ones there learn to recite the Koran - it is good for them to learn ethics and values there, and how to pray’.] (Yusuf, parent of a 7 year old, Swahili speaker)

My NGO colleague confirmed that children were reading and writing in local madrasas:

‘At the age of even 3, they are taken to madrasa. That’s where they are taught how to write using the Koran, to read and write Arabic. The vowels – the alphabet, the consonants, they will learn it all from very young. When they come into the school, they already have a knowledge of reading and writing, but in Arabic. Not in Swahili’. (Elizabeth, Programme Manager, NGO)

She said local madrasas follow a curriculum which looks remarkably like that taught in preschools and primary schools in terms of focus on reading and writing. Parents described reading and writing completed by children in their madrasa schools and that this was also brought home. Parents reported children as young as three involved in these practices, as they are so closely connected with cultural identity and what is understood as meaningful social participation in this area. Literacy practices were closely linked in interviews to children’s social and spiritual development by their parents, highlighting the important role of relationships and languages other than Swahili in becoming literate in rural villages in this region:

‘Wale watoto wawili wakubwa wanaenda madarasa na mtoto wangu wa miaka mitano ataenda madarasa mwaka ujao. Wanawafundisha watoto jinsi ya kuwa mwislamu na mwanajamii mwema. Wanajifunza kusoma na kuandika Kiarabu. Wao hutumia daftari na hulileta nyumbani. Wanafanya kujisomea sana’. [‘The two older children go to the madrasa and my five-year-old will go next year. They teach children about how to be a good Muslim and community member. They learn to read and write in Arabic. They use an exercise book and they bring it home. They do a lot of self-study’.] (Subira, parent of an 18 year old, 12 year old and 5 year old, Makonde and Swahili speaker)

While not necessarily understood by parent participants as literacy ‘education’ in the conventional sense of classroom-based reading and writing in Swahili, what children are learning in madrasas seem clearly to be activities which support the development of their ability to make meaning from abstract semiotic symbols – the basis of reading and writing (Stein 2008).

Teacher perceptions of out-of-school activities

Teachers were aware of children’s activities and took a deficit rather than asset-based view of these practices, describing them in interviews as problematic barriers to children’s learning. This was foregrounded by an ontological view of Swahili as foundational learning:

‘Si watoto wote wanaozungumza Kiswahili wanapokuja shuleni. Wanahitaji kujifunza Kiswahili ili waweze kusoma, kuandika na kuhesabu. Kwa wengi wao, Kiswahili si lugha yao ya asili; wanapofika shuleni hawakizungumzi, wanajifunza shuleni. Sera ya lugha ya shule ni kuwabadilisha kutoka wazungumzaji wa Kimakonde kuwa wazungumzaji wa Kiswahili. Tunafanya hivyo kupitia “KKK”. Walimu huwaambia watoto waache kuzungumza Kimakonde wakiwasikia darasani au katika uwanja wa shule’. [‘Not all children speak Swahili when they come to school. They need to learn Swahili so they can read and write and count. Swahili is not many of these children’s first language and when they get into school they do not speak it – they learn it at school. The school language policy is to transform them from Makonde to Swahili speakers. We do this through using reading, writing and maths {“KKK” – Swahili for the “three Rs” of foundational learning – “kusoma, kuandika, kuhisabu”: reading, writing, maths}. Teachers tell the children to stop speaking Makonde if they hear them in class or in the grounds of the school’.] (Yasru, Headteacher, School 1)

‘“KKK” is the foundation for all learning in school and every subject builds on this after Standard 3 [the third year of primary school]. They need this knowledge so they can learn other subjects. It is the goal of the nation for children to complete standards 1 and 2 being able to read and write – this is why we send children to school … If they don’t read and write they will not be able to lead a life that is of value’. (John, Headteacher, School 2)

In all five preschools, children were actively stopped from leveraging existing language skills in Makonde to deal with new learning, as languages other than Swahili were understood as ‘a big problem’ for teachers:

‘Baadhi ya watoto wanazungumza Kimakonde pekee. Wanajifunza Kiswahili kutoka kwa wenzao na pia kutoka kwangu na walimu wengine. Najua kidogo Kimakonde lakini sitawajibu kwa Kimakonde wala kuwahimiza wakitumie. Vinginevyo hawatajifunza vizuri. Hatuwaadhibu wanapokitumia, lakini hatukiruhusu. Vinginevyo kufundisha kunakuwa kugumu sana. Situmii Kimakonde kufundishia shughuli au kueleza mambo. Wanapoanza darasa, nitazungumza Kimakonde kidogo ili waelewe na waweze kutaja majina yao, kisha nitapima uelewa wao. Lakini kwa sababu ya sera ya shule, tunawazuia kuzungumza Kimakonde darasani tukiwasikia’. [‘Some children only speak Makonde. They learn Swahili from each other and from me and other teachers. I know a bit but I won’t respond to them in Makonde and I don’t encourage them to speak it. Otherwise, they will not learn properly. We do not punish children when they speak it but we don’t allow it. Otherwise teaching is too difficult … I don’t use it in my teaching for activities or explaining things. When they first come into the class, I will speak some Makonde so they understand and can say their names and then I can assess their level of understanding about things. But the school has a policy about language, so we stop them from speaking it in class when we hear them’.] (Maisha, Preschool teacher, School 5)

Activities such as play with peers and digital devices and work with family were also considered unhelpful by some teachers in interviews. Timetabling was suggested by both Aysha and her headteacher in School 2, so children have enough (Swahili) homework and they are not ‘wasting time’ on TV or the internet. When discussing perceptions of teachers on out-of-school learning in religious institutions, an NGO colleague shared his thoughts about madrasa learning:

‘I think most teachers would say that Arabic disrupts the learning process, it disrupts the learning of the child. Because of the direction of the script. So if the child attends madrasa at the same time as school, most of the teachers say that the child would mix things – the teachers see it as a problem. … [It] does not match what they are trying to do at school’. (Daniel, Programme Manager, NGO)

Where teachers did recognise the value and importance of out-of-school practices to support LaL development however was peer and sibling support. There was widespread recognition of the prevalence and importance of sibling and peer involvement in younger children’s out-of-school learning, and teachers used it as a deliberate teaching strategy. For example, Eliza (School 5) mentioned leveraging relationships with older children as a way to support school-based reading and writing practice, particularly for children in pre- and lower primary classes:

‘Nimeanzisha programu ya usomaji inayowaunganisha watoto wa darasa la 2-7 na wale wa darasa la 1 ili wawe na “marafiki wa kusoma” wa kufanya mazoezi ndani na nje ya shule. Daima huwaomba kaka na dada wakubwa kufanya kazi na wadogo. Pia natuma mazoezi madogo nyumbani kama kusoma silabi au maneno mafupi’. [‘I set up a reading programme with children from standard 2-7 and standard 1 children so they have “reading friends” they can practice in and out of school with. I always ask older brothers and sisters to work with younger ones. And I send home small exercises like reading syllables or small words’.] (Eliza, preschool teacher, School 5)

Both headteachers and six teachers also mentioned strategically using brothers, sisters, neighbours and relatives to support children from low-literate families to support home reading. Using peers was also a common strategy to support Makonde speaking children in class with their understanding of lesson content:

‘Wanasaidiana kutafsiri. Wanajifunza haraka’. [‘They help each other to translate. They learn quickly’.] (Hadija, preschool teacher, School 2)

This highlights teacher awareness of both the relational and social nature of young children’s learning out of school and their understanding that children who do not speak Swahili in their class need some form of support to understand classroom learning, reflecting both material realities and the creative responses of teachers in low resource contexts (Mitchell 2023). However, teachers valued the practice of sibling and peer support because it was being used to support and reinforce Swahili and existing school literacy activities, as noted by my colleague in his reflection on madrasa teaching. Broadly, activities such as play, religious practice and community languages were not perceived as assets for in-school literacy learning, as shown by attempts made to either regulate or stop children from using them. These general perceptions of children’s experience and knowledge denote very clear ideas about what is understood to be beneficial for children’s LaL, as well as how where and how reading and writing is taught and learnt.

Discussion

This article has presented children’s language and literacy activities outside of school in a rural region of Tanzania, using García and Kleifgen’s (2019) translanguaging and multiliteracies framework as a theoretical lens. It documents children’s activities across three domains – in their communities and family activities, their play and interactions with peers and siblings and religious practices. The findings extend and refute existing literature on children’s out-of-school literacy and learning activities in rural Tanzanian contexts where studies suggest that the affordances of rural environments are not supportive of young children’s LaL development. Also highlighted by findings is preschool teachers’ acceptance and resistance of children’s out-of-school LaL practices, indicating both constraints on and opportunities for their use in the classroom as pedagogic strategies in multilingual classrooms.

Preschool children in the rural areas of this study were engaged in a wide range of activities supporting language and literacy development. Multilingual language development was supported by interactions occurring through relationships and activities with others. Activities such as community meetings, negotiations with shopkeepers and customers, play with others in community spaces and time spent at the madrasa were underpinned by children’s developing understanding of the use of written and spoken languages: Swahili, Makonde, Arabic and very occasionally, English. Notably, participants framed many of these activities in terms of their relevance to children’s sense of identity, belonging and community, which highlights both the relational nature of these LaL activities and their meaning within children’s lives. Through these activities, some children develop pre-writing and reading skills, for example learning to read and write in the madrasa in Arabic or spending time reading and writing in Swahili with older siblings. This contradicts existing literature on home learning environments in rural Tanzanian contexts which suggests that children face inherent limitations in ‘basic needs that stimulate [their] engagement in literacy activities’ due to ‘unsupportive home learning environments’ (Ndijuye & Beatus 2024:11–12). There is very limited literature on the contribution of children’s religious practices to children’s language and literacy development in rural areas of Tanzania (see Sakata et al. in press), although findings in relation to children’s participation in madrasa literacy supports recent research on links between literacy and religious practices more widely (Acharya & Robinson-Pant 2025). This suggests a potentially fruitful area of further research in exploring how preschool children’s religious practices might be better leveraged to support foundational literacy learning.

Play and peer interaction in activities including roleplay, games, toy play and digital material play was integrally social and complex, often involving communication in more than one language. Children used a variety of languages and semiotic systems to communicate effectively with each other and to signal purpose to others through play materials, for example through the creation of blackboards and car registration plates (see Figure 4 and Figure 5). The materials and tools used by children in their play show their developing understanding of the symbolic function of objects and signs within this community, what Bodrova and Leong (2011) call a ‘mastery of cultural signs and symbols’ (p. 83). As noted, this developing understanding of how meaning is made through symbols can be thought of as an important step towards reading and writing (Stein 2008). These findings support existing studies in African contexts on children’s roleplay, games and drawing which show how these activities might be meaningfully integrated into preschool classrooms in ways which support children’s language and literacy development and enriches curricula provision (Bock 2016; Jones & Matumba 2019; Madondo & Tsikira 2022; Ng’Asike & Swadener 2019). Of particular note is the importance of peers and siblings within these activities; peer learning both inside and outside of classroom contexts is an under researched area which receives limited attention in international education discourse. Findings from this study indicate that it is a prevalent practice in this region and was widely used by teachers as a pedagogical strategy for supporting early literacy development. The activities explored in this article hold potential for similar use in Tanzanian contexts and indicate an area for future research on peer and sibling learning frameworks in rural Tanzanian contexts. Consonant with wider literature on children’s everyday lives in African contexts (Twum-Dansah Imoh et al. 2022), children in Mtwara region also participate in work and other livelihood activities which supports their families. Parents reported a wide variety of activities in which understanding and using Swahili, Makonde and occasionally English (in spoken and written form) was a necessary part of activity and participation, such as selecting goods from shops and markets, using money and participating in community meetings. In some villages, community activities such as meetings were conducted in Swahili and Makonde simultaneously.

Children were expected to use and understand both languages as an integral part of their identity as well as more practical activities requiring multilingual skills such as attending bilingual village meetings in which leaflets and posters were read out or helping older siblings to do shopping. Parents reported children moving fluidly between these languages and semiotic systems, displaying natural disregard of what Makalela (2015) calls ‘linguistic boxes’. As with other activities explored in this study, children’s competency in these activities is facilitated by the social relationships they have with others, particularly older siblings. Findings suggest that children learn to complete activities and tasks successfully over time by watching older family members complete the same activities, before taking responsibility themselves, for example in the case of children selling vegetables and helping to take measurements. This can be thought of as both a pedagogic model for LaL learning and way in which children learn actual literacy content, for example through counting, reading and writing while engaged in work and livelihood activities. Findings from this study on children’s livelihood activities and how these might support preschool learning thus add to those from rural communities in Kenya (Ng’Asike & Swadener 2019), Nigeria (Olinyole 2022) and Malawi (Mjaya et al. 2025).

While children’s out-of-school activities offer exciting possibilities to support further leaning in multilingual classrooms in rural areas, interviews with teachers indicate that a key piece of work towards integrating these practices is teacher recognition and value of these activities as assets rather than deficits (Makoe 2018). Teachers interviewed for this study were disparaging of children’s activities and languages out of school and actively try to stop their use in school. This supports existing research related to teacher’s active resistance to using community languages in primary schools for teaching and learning (see for example, Reilly et al.’s [2022] study on language ‘boundaries’ and punishment in Tanzanian primary schools; Tandika, Ndibalema & Lawrent [2025] and Lauwo [2022] note similar teacher resistance). Where this study extends this literature is the finding that when teachers feel there is utility in children’s language and literacy practices – such as young children’s learning with older peers and siblings at home – they actively pursue these as pedagogic strategies to support in-school literacy learning. This suggests that where teachers can be sensitised and supported to reframe children’s out-of-school LaL activities as useful pedagogic supports and materials in multilingual areas there is possibility to change classroom practices. As in this study, Mapunda et al. (2024) note that Tanzanian teachers well understand the issues facing multilingual children constrained by a monolingual curriculum and want more training on strategies to support them. Making visible the utility and potential of multimodal activities focused on language and literacy practices such as those documented above could be a key piece of any such professional training. Supporting teachers to move towards recognition and value of children’s activities out of school is therefore an important step in the process of developing language and literacy inclusive teaching practices and improving literacy outcomes in preschools. A ‘best practice’ model of this training might be found in South Africa, where NGO programmes such as the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA) provide excellent models of how practical, scaffolded sensitisation and professional development might support teachers in multilingual and rural areas of Tanzania (Bloch & Mbolekwa 2021).

Conclusion

This article has argued that young children’s out-of-school language and literacy activities are assets and can be reframed as pedagogical resources and strategies for teachers in rural, multilingual Tanzanian classrooms.

It has provided evidence of children’s activities with people in their homes and communities which is supporting their developing understanding of semiotic systems and language use, key to further literacy achievement in school. Play, work and livelihood and religious activities can thus be thought of as a ‘readily available resource for learning’ in new contexts (Barrett et al. 2025:9), namely their preschools – as children begin to develop their understanding of language and its relationship to printed materials through doing them. Much of this activity is not in Swahili and does not look like the school literacy practices expected in preschool classrooms, but activities documented above have clear overlap with expected outcomes for children’s communication outlined in Tanzania’s Preschool Curriculum (United Republic of Tanzania 2023) and therefore potential implications for use in classroom practice. As shown in this study, teachers are willing to use resources and strategies where they perceive their value and utility, and this will require training and sensitisation related to the learning potential of children’s everyday activities.

Findings from this study also have implications for how future research is conducted on children’s literacy development in rural multilingual regions such as Mtwara, as the current body of literature on the potential of children’s home and community environments for supporting LaL learning in rural Tanzanian contexts does not explore alternatives to book-based activities in Swahili. In an international policy environment in which international development organisations and national governments are paying increased attention to children’s foundational literacy outcomes in preschool and early primary classrooms, not enough attention is paid to the ways in which children actually use LaL outside of school, or the ‘bridges’ which might be built between home and school LaL practices, achievements and competencies. This article suggests ways towards building those bridges which are consonant with children’s social and multilingual lived realities in rural areas.

Acknowledgements

This article is based on research originally conducted as part of Kate Fox’s master’s thesis titled ‘Building bridges or barriers? A study of home, community and school literacy practices in rural Tanzania’, submitted to University College London in 2023. The thesis was supervised by Alexandra Lewis. The supervisor was not involved in the preparation of this article and was not listed as co-author. The thesis was reworked, revised and adapted into a journal article for publication. The original thesis is currently unpublished and was not publicly available online at the time of publishing this article.

The author would like to thank Dr Alex Lewis for her guidance and supervision, the NGO EdUKAid who supported fieldwork in Mtwara, and Donovan McGrath for his help with translation. I am also very grateful to Professor Angeline Barrett and Dr Rafael Mitchell who provided insightful comments on earlier drafts of this article.

The author declares that no financial or personal relationships inappropriately influenced the writing of this article.

Kate Fox: Conceptualisation, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Validation, Visualisation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. The author confirms that this work is entirely their own, has reviewed the article, approved the final version for submission and publication and takes full responsibility for the integrity of its findings.

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, Kate Fox. The data are not publicly available due to privacy protection of research participants.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and are the product of professional research. They do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated institution, funder, agency, or that of the publisher. The author is responsible for this article’s results, findings, and content.

References