scholarly journals The Techno-literacy Practices of Young Children from Diverse Backgrounds

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Nicola Friedrich ◽  
Laura Teichert ◽  
Zipporah Devadas

To complicate the notion of a digital divide along economic and cultural lines, this paper describes techno-literacy practices within the homes of children from diverse backgrounds. Data were drawn from two ethnographic case studies examining the home literacy practices of pre-school aged children. Participants were three Karen refugee families and two English-speaking, middle-class families. The findings suggest that children initiate interactions with digital tools within the cultural and economic landscapes of the home. In so doing, they develop operational competencies to access digital texts in order to scaffold their current learning and enable their participation in 21st century society.

1997 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah J. Mccarthey

I present the cases of 5 students from diverse backgrounds and conclude that home and school are more connected for some students than for others. Home and school were tightly connected for middle-class European-American students who read at home and school, shared their writing with the class, and brought items from home to show peers. In contrast, students from non-mainstream backgrounds participated in home literacy activities that did not match school experiences. These students were more reticent in the classroom, did not share items from home, and experienced home and school as separate. In the analysis, books, tasks, and participation structures contributed to some students making stronger connections than others. Teachers having more information about some students than others; their own middle-class European-American backgrounds and the need to treat all students “equally”; and their assumptions that students could make the connections between home and school on their own contributed to the curriculum being more congruent with middle-class, home literacy experiences than working-class experiences. Although I suggest that learning about students' cultures and backgrounds is essential, I delineate some of the challenges that accompany learning about students.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 1148-1161
Author(s):  
Camilo Maldonado ◽  
Alejandro Ashe ◽  
Kerri Bubar ◽  
Jessica Chapman

Background American educational legislation suggests culturally competent speech and language services should be provided in a child's native language, but the number of multilingual speech-language pathologists (SLPs) is negligible. Consequently, many monolingual English-speaking practitioners are being tasked with providing services to these populations. This requires that SLPs are educated about cultural and linguistic diversity as well as the legislation that concerns service provision to non-English or limited English proficiency speakers. Purpose This qualitative study explored the experiences of monolingual, American, English-speaking SLPs and clinical fellows who have worked with immigrant and refugee families within a preschool context. It investigated what training SLPs received to serve this population and what knowledge these SLPs possessed with regard to federal legislation governing the provision of services to culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) communities. Method Ten American clinicians with experience treating CLD children of refugee and immigrant families in the context of preschool service provision participated in the study. Semistructured interviews were utilized to better understand the type of training clinicians received prior to and during their service delivery for CLD populations. Additionally, questions were asked to explore the degree to which practitioners understood federal mandates for ethical and effective service provision. The data collected from these interviews were coded and analyzed using the principles of grounded theory. Findings The results of this study revealed that there was a general sense of unpreparedness when working with CLD clients. This lack of training also attributed to a deficiency of knowledge surrounding legislation governing service provision to CLD populations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 356-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Genesis D. Arizmendi ◽  
Mary Alt ◽  
Shelley Gray ◽  
Tiffany P. Hogan ◽  
Samuel Green ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine differences in performance between monolingual and Spanish–English bilingual second graders (aged 7–9 years old) on executive function tasks assessing inhibition, shifting, and updating to contribute more evidence to the ongoing debate about a potential bilingual executive function advantage. Method One hundred sixty-seven monolingual English-speaking children and 80 Spanish–English bilingual children were administered 7 tasks on a touchscreen computer in the context of a pirate game. Bayesian statistics were used to determine if there were differences between the monolingual and bilingual groups. Additional analyses involving covariates of maternal level of education and nonverbal intelligence, and matching on these same variables, were also completed. Results Scaled-information Bayes factor scores more strongly favored the null hypothesis that there were no differences between the bilingual and monolingual groups on any of the executive function tasks. For 2 of the tasks, we found an advantage in favor of the monolingual group. Conclusions If there is a bilingual advantage in school-aged children, it is not robust across circumstances. We discuss potential factors that might counteract an actual advantage, including task reliability and environmental influences.


Author(s):  
Michael S. Mills

Multimodal literacies are an essential construct of the 21st century classroom, and mobile technology will serve to facilitate the collaborative creation of multimodal digital content. The mission of this chapter is to highlight the potential of mobile technology as a means for enabling collaborative activities and fostering effective communication. Over the past several decades, there has been a tremendous shift in how educators and students communicate, learn, and share ideas. The proliferation of mobile computing devices to a near-ubiquitous level has amplified this shift and compels educators to seek ways to harness the power of these devices to break down the barriers of the traditional classroom in an effort to make way for a more collaborative, reflective learning experience. Drawing on recent research on the cognitive benefits of multimodal literacy instruction and its potential for increasing opportunities for student engagement, this chapter provides a rationale for and subsequently sketches a practical approach for fostering collaborative, multimodal literacy practices through mobile technology.


Author(s):  
Bianca Vitalaru

This chapter analyzes teaching strategies that English-speaking Language Assistants (LAs) enrolled as students in the ‘Teach and Learn in Spain' Program at Instituto Franklin-Universidad de Alcalá, considering their curriculum designs developed as Master's Theses between 2014 and 2017. It is based on the assumption that they focus on the aspects they perceive as essential for developing Spanish students' oral communication skills in English in the context of their relationship with other types of skills that are specific for the 21st century in particular. Specifically, after describing the basic context for developing competences in the Spanish and North American education systems, the chapter analyzes several aspects: the teaching strategies their academic papers focus on, the proposal of guides and guidelines as a strategy to solve difficulties, and some of the other types of solutions they provide to motivate the students and improve specific skills.


Author(s):  
Shadrack Gabriel Msengi

This case study is an investigation of cultural and linguistic diverse perspectives among parents, children, teachers, and teacher candidates. Survey and interview data were collected and analyzed to determine how these diverse perspectives affect teachers' application of culturally responsive literacy practices to develop a community of learners. Findings suggest that teachers and teacher candidates knew little about their students' diverse backgrounds. Their participation in the study and initial discussions among teachers, teacher candidates, children, and parents had a positive effect on experienced and novice teachers' knowledge of students. This knowledge included the ability to begin planning and managing instruction, as well as determining appropriate assessments and instructional strategies. Findings also suggest ways these teachers could engage students, families, and teachers in social justice practices.


Author(s):  
Jaime Breilh

This chapter presents a panoramic analysis of the roots and landmarks of the Latin American critical scientific tradition, explaining the historical conditions—from colonial times to 21st-century society—that determined the distinct periods of the Latin American social medicine/collective health movement, its philosophy, and its ethics. It explains how opposing perspectives and methodological differences arose during those periods, creating a paradigm clash that expresses the interests and views of scholars and decision-makers adhering to different philosophical and practical postures. It describes the fundamental influence in the conceptual and practical shaping of epidemiology of local specific conditions and pressures and also highlights the fundamental influence of and parallelism with outstanding contributions from the North. This chapter provides English-speaking audiences firsthand knowledge of an innovative scientific tradition, explaining its substantial contributions and potentialities for health transformative research, teaching, and community-based agency.


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