Technology-Based Literacy Approach for English Language Learners

There is a growing need to implement an alternative and viable solution in U.S. K-12 schools that will address the ever-growing gap that the rapidly growing English Language Learner (ELL) population presents. This chapter examines various technology-based tools and their potential impact. These technology-based solutions could help to alleviate an already taxed educational system, as well as significantly aid in improving and increasing English language acquisition among the nation’s K-12 ELL population. A review of recent research provides evidence and a strong foundation that supports the integration of these solutions. An ELL Design Quadrant ensures that one follows best practices when integrating technology, and a practical applications section presents examples of contemporary technology with accompanying instructional strategies that educators can utilize in the everyday classroom. Throughout the chapter, references to language acquisition and learning theories provide the evidence and background knowledge necessary to integrate technology into the ELL literacy curriculum, based on sound judgment.

Facilitating Multimodal Literacy Instruction through Digital Curation

It is becoming clearer that multimodal literacies (specifically textual, visual, and digital) will frame classroom instruction for the near future. The mission of this chapter is to highlight the potential of digital curation as a means for facilitating multimodal literacy instruction and the subsequent creation of dynamic digital learning resources by both students and teachers. Over the past several decades, there has been a tremendous shift in how educators and students communicate, learn, and share ideas. As society moves more toward creating and sharing information through the aggregation, filtering, and customization of digital content, it is imperative that educators create opportunities for students to do likewise. Drawing on recent research on the cognitive benefits of multimodal literacy instruction and its potential for increasing opportunities for student engagement, this chapter will provide a rationale for, and subsequently sketch, a practical approach for teaching collaborative digital curation using Web 2.0 resources.

Using Digital Tools to Teach Writing in K-12 Classrooms

The purpose of this chapter is to provide four examples from K-12 classrooms that use a variety of current, research-based online tools for teaching the following writing pedagogies: (1) process writing, (2) cultural studies, (3) content area writing, and (4) collaborative writing. Each classroom example includes supporting research, a teacher story, variations and barriers of technology tools, and additional website resources. These examples adapt five of Leu’s (2002) new literacies principles: (1) change is a defining element of the new literacies, (2) literacies build on and complement previous literacies, (3) new literacies require new forms of strategic knowledge, (4) new literacies are socially constructed, and (5) the teacher’s role becomes even more important within the new literacies. The chapter concludes with future research directions for using digital tools to teach writing.

“Gotta Love Technology!”

As universities move more and more classes online to accommodate a growing online-centered learning environment, the researchers as instructors want to be sure that they still adhere to good teaching and learning strategies and that their pre-service teachers not miss out or lose the richness associated with lively and meaningful book discussions. This article examines how the researchers integrated Glogster, an online interactive poster creation website with social networking aspects, in a blended (online and face-to-face) multicultural literature course to augment book discussions. Upon analysis of personal reflections and the class’ online forum discussions, the researchers identified three major themes that captured how these pre-service teachers responded to, and, in some cases, were transformed by the reader-response transaction of creating a “glog.” These themes were responses to new technology, reading new ideas and critical reading.

Three Instructional Models to Integrate Technology and Build 21st Century Literacy Skills

Does using technology as a supplemental resource in today’s classroom sufficiently complement current practices or can technology form an integral component of instruction and learning? Traditionally, the American education system consisted of classroom learning with the teacher as the primary source of content delivery and textbooks as the chief resource. Presently, technology influences instruction, and its impact will only increase. Many students have constant access to technology via the Internet at home and mobile devices. Therefore, today’s learners must develop information literacy and media literacy skills to communicate by way of 21st Century tools. Whereas the availability of technology in the classroom varies among states and districts, instructional strategies, such as problem-based learning, can frame technology as an integral component of education. This chapter will focus on project-based learning, problem-based learning, and challenge-based learning as pedagogies that readily integrate technology to promote new literacies.

Teacher Candidates’ Perceptions of Technology Used to Support Literacy Practices

This study explores teacher education candidates’ perceptions of technologies used to support K-12 student literacy development. Candidates selected technologies for future adoption based on impressions of each technology’s ability to support student literacy development. Technologies included broad-based applications (blogs, wikis, podcasts, digital storytelling) as well as more specific applications (Prezi, Glogster, Voicethread). Results indicate that candidates selected first those technologies they saw as useful in presenting content in a teacher-directed paradigm. They then considered technologies that allowed for student authoring and manipulation representing more student inquiry-based approaches. Data were disaggregated for secondary versus elementary candidate populations.

Enhanced Picture Books

This chapter provides a rationale for using digitally Enhanced Picture Books (EPBs), electronic texts which pair text narration with animated pictures, with young children in the classroom and as a home-school connection tool. First, we synthesize the research on shared reading with young children. Next, we detail the research literature in the area of digital text use with young children. We suggest substantive variables to consider when selecting EPBs. Finally, we recommend practices for integrating EPBs into the primary and early childhood classroom in a manner that will advance young children’s literacy development.

Pedagogy and Use of Apps for Early Literacy

As early childhood education professionals increasingly integrate apps into their classroom settings to support literacy development, they are challenged to effectively connect Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles with apps and a pedagogy that leads to outcomes. The EXPECT IT-PLAN IT-TEACH IT conceptual framework for integrating apps and other 21st Century technologies into the curriculum provides guidance for making such connections. An overview of the framework and its relationship to instructional strategies and assessment is presented, coupled with descriptions of three prominent apps having UDL features and which hold potential to support literacy development. Examples of how the apps are connected to instructional methods and integration strategies are provided.

Reading Beyond the Borders

Many adolescents resist reading texts for academic purposes because they perceive books as isolated and primitive; furthermore, they feel assigned readings hold little interest for them. An alternative is the digital ebook reader, which offers users the ability to instantly access and read a wide variety of books. As part of the discussion on integrating technology into classrooms to enhance Language Arts instruction, this chapter highlights general findings from a semester-long case study involving high school students using Kindle® ebook readers. The purpose of the study was to determine whether ebooks are a preferable medium for younger users, and whether ebooks influence reading behaviors and practices among adolescents in both academic and non-academic contexts. The study yielded insight into students’ purposes for academic and for leisurely reading, as well as the benefits, and drawbacks, to using digital ebook readers. By understanding the relationship between technology and classroom pedagogy, educators can foster students’ critical engagement in reading tasks and actively contribute to curricular reading lists.

Evaluating iPad Applications

Traditional classrooms based solely on textbooks and print-based reading material no longer fit ways students gain knowledge. Advances and innovations in technology are changing the way students of all ages learn. The latest innovation, smaller tablet style computers such as iPads, is further changing the way technology is used in schoolrooms. Popularity of these devices and the ability to download applications to them opens a world of uses for such devices in classrooms. The appropriate use of these devices and choice of appropriate applications for educational purposes provides a new realm of research opportunities for scholars. Educators and administrators need to feel confident capital expenditures on tablet devices will fulfill the promise of a positive impact in classrooms. This chapter explores the readability of one of the more popular applications for iPads in an attempt to discover whether reading levels of the application are appropriate for students in elementary, middle, and high school.