Language and Literacy (Journal)
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Silly Putty: Mobilization of the Known Across Technology-Enhanced Learning Spaces
No full textIn technology-enhanced classrooms, due to the affordances of technologies, English Language Learners (ELLs) are moving between learning spaces; boundaries are never clear. Questions arise with regards to how students’ non-sanctioned experiences might mediate classroom learning. Using a multiliteracies (New London Group, 2000) and learning by design (Cope & Kalantzis, 2015) theoretical lens, this ethnographic case study explores the technology-enhanced learning experiences of Grade 6 ELLs. Data including field observations, artifacts, and interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis (Saldaña, 2016). Findings of this study indicate that ELL students were engaged in learning experiences that encouraged them to mobilize their known (knowledge) across learning spaces
Access and Use of Digital Technologies in Early Childhood: A Review of Mixed Messages in Popular Media
No full textThis paper reports on an analysis of 60 print and online articles collected in a metropolitan area in Canada that describe children’s digital engagement through a focus on ‘early literacy’ or ‘digital literacy’. Findings reveal mixed messages about children’s use of digital technology that create competing frames for adults supporting (or not) young children’s digital literacy practices. Digital technology was often characterized as something to limit/control, except in school, where digital literacy was characterized as holding a proper place when controlled by educators. Consistent across media messaging was the promotion of traditional, print-based texts as an essential early literacy practice
Remembering Professional Commitments: Trusting in Teachers
No full textIn England statutory expectations for literacy education place little emphasis on contemporary modes and media of communication and, as such, are out of step with contemporary life. We explore how open-ended, collaborative pedagogies can provide rich contexts for authentic everyday communication even in the context of such reductionist curriculum and assessment frameworks. This leads us to claim that the success of such approaches depends on the enthusiasm, experience and creativity of teachers and that remembering longstanding professional commitments in language and literacy teaching is at least as important as rethinking the curriculum when advocating for literacy provision more suited to current times
“You’re the boss, yo!”: Role-Play in Digital Multimodal Composition of Newcomer Youth
No full textThis case study explores how two 16-year-old newcomer youth in a Canadian secondary school navigated the digital multimodal composition process through role-play in their first digital video production at school. Employing a qualitative, case-study design, the study shows how the youth playfully accentuated collaborative over coercive power relations, as well as repositioned and represented their imagined identities as they played different assigned roles in the filmmaking process. The implications of these findings are discussed for educators and researchers considering digital multimodal composition as a classroom literacy practice
Les effets d’une approche littératiée sur la communication orale en classe de mathématiques de 7e/8e année dans un programme d’immersion française
No full textThis article reports the primary results of a study exploring the effects of a literacy-based approach on oral accuracy in second language during a Grade 7/8 mathematics class in a French Immersion program in Manitoba, Canada. Some of the parametric tests showed a positive effect on sentence structure in oral communication, which suggests that a literacy-based approach can play a key role in the facilitation of oral communication in mathematics in an immersion setting.Cet article traite des principaux résultats d’une étude ayant comme objectif de mesurer les effets d’une approche littératiée sur les habiletés de communication orale en langue seconde lors d’un cours de mathématique dans une classe de 7e/8e année dans un programme d’immersion française précoce au Manitoba, Canada. Certains tests paramétriques ont démontré un effet positif sur la structure syntaxique à l’oral, ce qui suggère que l’approche littératiée peut jouer un rôle clé dans la facilitation du raisonnement mathématique en contexte immersif.
“Everyone Has Their Own Places”: Mapping as a Storied Approach to the Study of Youth Identity
No full textThis article highlights part of my work with ten 16 and 17-year-olds at two Canadian secondary schools. My multiple case study sought to make visible my participants’ stories of place: how did they construe the role of place within their own lives? How did they record their journeys within, through, and between places? I share how my participants articulated their place-identities as dynamic encounters rather than fixed surfaces (Massey, 2005; Ingold, 2016). Employing story-mapping as a research method encouraged my participants to articulate their lives in their own terms, affording me the opportunity to understand how they negotiated their identities
Genre Expectations and Viewer Reaction to Our Planet: Are Audiences Motivated to Act More Sustainably?
No full textAs more people turn to documentaries to learn about environmental issues it becomes even more important to consider the ways in which genre and its representational patterns, such as the use of images, affect viewers. Re-examining the multiliteracies framework and grounded in rhetorical genre studies, this paper explores the first two episodes of Our Planet, a Netflix docu-series that catalyzed strong responses based on two jarring image sequences. The purpose of this paper is to examine how our familiar understandings of particular genres impacts our understanding of particular issues and what happens when the familiar patterns of a genre are challenged
Literary Scholars’ Disciplinary Literacy Orientations
No full textThis study examines how four university-based literary scholars in the United States read literary texts. Findings suggest that the scholars used four related literary literacy orientations in their reading: They attended to their affective experiences with literature, built recursive interpretations of literature, contextualized literature, and recognized and managed literary complexity. As broad-level disciplinary ways of navigating literature, these literary literacy orientations included the scholars’ meaning-making practices as well as their beliefs, feelings, and attitudes about literature and making sense of it. Findings support and build upon existing scholarship on English disciplinary literacies and offer paths for further research
K-12 ESL Writing Instruction: A Review of Research on Pedagogical Challenges and Strategies
No full textWriting is an important early literacy skill for English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ academic success, underlining the importance of effective ESL writing instruction at the K-12 level. However, there is little empirical research on ESL writing instruction in school settings. The goal of this systematic literature review is to examine the extant empirical evidence of the challenges teachers encounter in teaching ESL writing and the strategies that can be adopted to help teachers overcome the challenges. Our search yielded 49 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters published between 2010-2019. A content analysis (Stan, 2009) of these materials indicated that teachers encounter the following challenges in teaching K-12 ESL writing: (a) lack of pre-service training in ESL writing, (b) lack of writing pedagogy skills, (c) lack of time, (d) lack of professional development opportunities, (e) standardized tests, and (f) unique L1 influences on L2 students’ text production. The content analysis also revealed the following strategies that can be recommended for addressing these challenges: (a) incorporating an ESL writing course into teacher education programs, (b) creating opportunities for writing pedagogy support by mentor teachers and researchers, (c) incorporating integrated skills development in the writing classroom, (d) providing students with opportunities to write more, (e) adopting explicit writing instruction, and (f) creating professional development opportunities for teachers. Based on our findings, we discuss implications and recommendations for ESL writing instruction in K-12 schools
Reimagining Professional Development for Digital Literacies: Old, New and Pandemic
No full textDuring the COVID-19 pandemic teachers have been expected to learn new digital literacy skills, often applying them immediately. While professional development structures within school districts and professional associations are organized to offer supports, teachers may be challenged to gain digital skills within existing professional development models. Within our study, teachers explored technologies with the aim of rethinking frames for teaching and learning literacy. Following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic they shared their experiences, insights and challenges. In our article, we address implications for digital literacy teaching and learning and the need for new ways of approaching teacher development