Using digital texts in classrooms

Honan, E. (2009). Fighting the rip: Using digital texts in classrooms. English Teaching, 8(3), 21-35.

Background

The author observed that students’ knowledge of the ways that digital texts are created in the out-of-school realm of work and leisure are not being fully utilised in classrooms in ways that would enhance students’ knowledge, skills and understanding of new literacy practices.

Aims

The study investigated the use of digital texts in schools and reported the patterns of practice that occurred in classrooms when students and teachers engaged with digital texts during literacy lessons.

Sample

Four Australian primary schools in Brisbane participated. Two schools were located in low socioeconomic communities, and the other two located in high to middle socioeconomic communities. The author observed five literacy sessions conducted by one Year 7 teacher from each school.

Method

Data included audio-taped interviews of the classroom teachers and a focus group of five to six students. These interviews focussed on discussions about the context of the lessons observed, as well as teachers’ and students’ understandings of the connections between their home use of digital technologies and the observed practices in the classroom.

Findings

The author used the patterns of complexity, fragility, continuity, conservation, and authenticity to explain the practices in the classrooms. Complexity theory postulated that the introduction of new technologies into a complex system such as a classroom might alter the routines in the system, in this case the classroom. However, some routines remained unchanged – the same task was organised for the pupils to engage in and the teachers taught in the same didactic manner. Moreover, the distance between the external technical support and the schools and the method of technical service increased the fragility of the classroom system. There were discontinuities in student learning when teachers were unfamiliar with the new technologies. The teachers emphasised conventional academic literacies to improve students’ academic performance. The concept of authenticity seemed to have led to the assumption by teachers that students would automatically be engaged by activities that involved computers, which was not the case in these schools. The teachers also did not consider the prior knowledge students had of digital literacies that they might have brought from home.

Implications

As the teachers experience tensions between helping their students participate in life outside of the classroom and helping them successfully participate in school life, they need to rethink their pedagogical routines before implementing the use of digital texts in the classroom.

Original article retrieved from Google Scholar.