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EFFECTIVE LITERACY PEDAGOGY: AMPLIFIED BY TECHNOLOGY?

Lisa Kervin lkervin@uow.edu.au

Faculty of Education,

University of Wollongong, NSW

With acknowledgement to my colleagues:

Irina Verenikina and Pauline Jones

BACKGROUND

 The pedagogical practices of many teachers are now being influenced by the introduction of the technology

 What does this mean for literacy?

In recent years there has been large-scale investment of technology (computers, laptops, wireless connectivity, IWBs, mobile communication devices …) in many Australian schools

BACKGROUND

 Learning and communicating (Castek, 2008, Leu et al 2004)

 New dispositions and discourses (Gee, 2007; Kress, 2003)

 Semiotic contexts characterised by multimodality (New London Group, 1996; Hull & Schulz, 2001)

We see technology in the literacy

classroom as a way to mediate:

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THE QUESTIONS WE ASK:

 What technologies do teachers use in their literacy pedagogy?

 For what purposes are these technologies used?

 Who uses the technologies?  What literacy knowledge and

skills are enabled by the use of these technologies?

What is the relationship between technologies and literacy pedagogy?

WHY ACTIVITY THEORY?  Teacher as a subject of a pedagogical

activity  Captures the complexity of the use of

technologies in the classroom  Identify and analyse contradictions

between the subject and various elements of the activity

 Views technology as a tool to achieve pedagogical goal

 Pedagogy driven, not technology driven

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The literacy teacher

The delivery of a literacy experience using

technology

Technology, lesson materials,

assessment, teaching practices

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The wider school community - leadership, other teachers, students

Classroom regulations and conventions (behaviours,

theory), as well as school policy,

The division of power between the subject and the community

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The transformed object - improved?

Not improved?

Activity theory provides a framework for understanding the dynamic and cyclical relationship of application and evaluation, as

the subject (teacher) applies a tool (such as laptops, IWB, mobile

communication device) to accomplish a goal (improved literacy based teaching and

learning).

Is the literacy leading the technology?

Or the technology leading the literacy?

How can we know?

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Literacy teaching in the ‘digital revolution’ is not merely

business-as-usual with a new tool.

There are possible synergies and disjunctions between technology,

school culture and literacy pedagogy.