Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / Christy Craft / The increasingly integrated presence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on university campuses in recent decades has prompted calls for a better understanding of how students use ICTs in higher education, including the transition to college. While research indicates that students with higher self-efficacy are more likely to persist in college, current research makes few connections between students’ self-efficacy with ICTs and persistence. Additionally, researchers in the area of student retention call for educators to understand how their students perceive the college’s cultural environment so as to help students fit in at an institution and persist. Exploration of ICTs as part of a student’s social, academic, and cultural experiences at the university offers educators and administrators the possibility of modifying the college’s cultural properties in response to student needs. This qualitative study investigated first-year college students and their use of technologies to address the following research question: How do first-year college students perceive their experiences using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the higher education environment? Employing interviews and a phenomenological approach, this study explored the experiences of 19 undergraduate students. Six faculty members or instructors were interviewed about their teaching experiences with first-year students and the extent to which ICTs were incorporated in those experiences in order to provide triangulation of data. Through the analysis of interview transcripts and open coding, three themes emerged regarding how students experience ICTs in higher education. Statements from students and faculty suggest that students experienced ICTs in higher education as: a process of academic integration; situations for which they held internal or external loci of control when using them for academic purposes; and tools to use when becoming socially integrated into the university. The findings of this study have the potential to assist university faculty, instructors, and other staff who are designing courses and services for first-year students. First, the study’s findings indicate that instructors need to be as explicit as possible with their expectations of student use of technology. When students are expected to demonstrate certain behaviors with ICTs those behaviors should be both supported and modeled by faculty and instructors. Secondly, when using ICTs for academic purposes, faculty can help students feel more responsible for their learning by providing them with opportunities to make decisions about how ICTs are used or to incorporate their own problem-solving or learning techniques with ICTs when completing coursework. Finally, faculty, instructors, and other staff should be aware that when first-year students are using ICTs socially, they are trying to create and maintain in-person relationships. Faculty, instructors, and other staff can guide first-year students to events and resources that will help them meet people and locate a social group in which they feel like they fit in.

The present study explores informal English language teaching and learning (ELTL) on the social media platform of Facebook. In contrast to a formal second/foreign language (L2/FL) education setting which is institutionally sponsored and highly structured, the context of informal ELTL under investigation is "recreational" (Chik, 2015) in the sense that it is unconstrained by institutional structures and largely driven by personal interests and goals. With the unprecedented success of social media and social networking sites (SNSs), this new form of learning and teaching can be found in a variety of languages and discourses across diverse digital landscapes. This study pays particular attention to the context of Thai speakers in three ELTL communities formed on Facebook Pages (FPs). The aim is to describe the participants' SNS-mediated L2 literacy practices as informed by Thai culture, beliefs, and values. This research project is grounded in the concept of new literacies (Lankshear & Knobel, 2011) and the multimodal social semiotic approaches to analyzing digitally-mediated communication (Kress, 2010; Jewitt, 2009; Van Leeuwen, 2005). The analysis is also informed by the interpretative framework of positioning theory (Davies and Harré, 1990; Harré & van Langenhove, 1991) and sociolinguistic approaches to stances (Du Bois, 2007; Jaffe, 2009a). The integration of various theoretical and analytical models offers a holistic understanding of the participants' Facebook-based literacy practices from different perspectives. A mixed method approach that combines qualitative (e.g., multimodal analysis, online ethnographic observation) and quantitative (e.g., survey, user statistics) data analysis also helps describe the users’ semiotic productions and interactions from a diachronic point of view. While the purpose of the project is to examine contemporary L2 literacy engagement in an underexplored historical and cultural context, the analysis does not simply discuss the way Thai SNS users teach and/or learn English online. Rather, the findings also shed light on other important issues relating to digital literacies including multimodal production, identity construction, social relationship formation, stance-taking acts, and language ideology. These emerging literacy practices are presented in three separate but interrelated analysis chapters. They are comprised of: 1) the multimodal analysis of the interplay between Facebook affordances and the users' semiotic activities; 2) the investigation of the participants’ self- and other-positioning strategies; and 3) the discussion of the participants' stance-taking acts in various aspects relating to English language teaching, learning, and use in contemporary society. Altogether, the findings pinpoint the complex and interconnected relationships among digital media, self, community, and ideology as fundamental to meaningful learning experiences on SNSs. They also support the view of language learning as a social practice, which highlights the fact that meaning and knowledge are socially and culturally situated, shaped by contexts, and shared by members within particular communities (Gee, 2010; Lankshear & Knobel, 2011; Thorne, 2013). The dissertation, therefore, has implications for pedagogies and practice because it provides insights about how to design equitable learning materials and activities that address these contemporary social practices. Ultimately, the research suggests the use of a social media-enhanced ELTL site to develop meaningful interactions between learner, language, media, and community during the process of learning.

Os ensinos técnicos e tecnológicos estão em pauta nas discussões e decisões governamentais. Esta pesquisa investiga o encontro entre a educação de língua inglesa e esses ensinos. Por meio de metodologias qualitativas de cunho etnográfico, analiso as visões de dois professores e de diversos alunos de duas escolas, uma escola técnica de nível médio e uma faculdade de tecnologia do ensino superior, pertencentes a um centro educacional tecnológico no Estado de São Paulo. Nesta, respondo a duas perguntas de pesquisa: qual é a percepção dos alunos e professores do segmento escolar técnico/tecnológico da presença da língua inglesa na sociedade? E qual é o reflexo da relação língua inglesa e sociedade neoliberal globalizada nos contextos de educação técnica/tecnológica, considerando-se a premissa da formação crítica na sociedade atual? Com base nas interpretações de dados, esta tese defende que as duas escolas investigadas têm realizado um trabalho educacional por meio das aulas de inglês que visa, concomitantemente, a formação tecnológica/instrumental, cidadã e crítica. A contribuição desta pesquisa é mostrar que esses contextos constituem espaços de mudança e que visam uma formação cidadã dos alunos, como indicado em suas diretrizes. Exponho este estudo em duas partes. A primeira parte apresenta uma introdução, na qual contextualizo o campo e as metodologias envolvidas na investigação sobre a língua inglesa, e as raízes teóricas desse estudo, embora a teorização se estenda ao longo dos capítulos, tecidos com dados, análise e reflexões. A segunda parte se constitui por cinco capítulos. Os sentidos construídos nesta parte se pautam em dados que me levaram a interpretações e compreensões sobre: as questões acerca do neoliberalismo que influencia os discursos sobre a língua inglesa, discutidas no primeiro capítulo; o ensino de língua inglesa e a educação na sociedade atual, ensino este analisado no contexto das relações globais-locais (glocais) e que é apresentado no segundo capítulo; a relação pedagogia convencional/tradicional e a pedagogia crítica analisada no ensino de língua inglesa no referido contexto de investigação, o que me permitiu reflexões e revisitas conceituais no terceiro capítulo; a adequação de uma proposta de formação crítica no contexto de educação técnica/tecnológica, numa análise que conta com as teorias dos novos letramentos e das novas tecnologias (NTICs) para a investigação da prática, compondo o quarto capítulo e da problematização da prática dessas teorias e respectivas perspectivas culturais no desenvolvimento de uma cidadania ativa, o que constitui o quinto capítulo. Ancorado nos movimentos educacionais contemporâneos, concluo afirmando que os novos letramentos, somados às práticas pedagógicas existentes nos ensinos técnicos/tecnológicos, podem colaborar com propostas educacionais renovadas. / The technical education and the technology/vocational education are at stake in government decisions and discussions. This research investigates the encounter between English language education and the technical and vocational education. Based on qualitative ethnographic methodologies, I analyze the discourses of two teachers and several students from two schools - a secondary level technical school and a faculty of technology both belonging to a technology educational institution in the State of São Paulo . Through this approach I seek to answer two main research questions: what is the perception of students and teachers from these schools in relation to the presence of English language in society? And how is the relationship between the English language and globalized neoliberal society reflected in technical/technology education, with regard to the premise of the necessity of critical education in today\'s society? Based on interpretations of data, this thesis argues that both schools have developed a pedagogical approach aimed at instrumental teaching at the same time as it focuses on citizenship and critical education. The contribution of this thesis is to suggest that these contexts provide spaces for change and that vocational education can contribute to students citizenship education, as indicated in its official orientations. I present this study in two parts. The first one comprises the introduction, the contextualization, the methodologies, and some theoretical roots of this research. The second part comprises the analysis of data intertwined with more theoretical grounding. In the first chapter, I discuss the influence of the neoliberal discourse on English language teaching and learning. In the second one, the interpretative analysis focuses on English language teaching and education in current society, in particular the notion of the global-local, or the glocal. In the third part I present an analysis based on a revisited critical pedagogy. I reflect upon some views of conventional/traditional pedagogy and critical pedagogy through English language education. The new literacies and new technologies (ICTs) are the focus of the fourth chapter. In the fifth and final chapter I reflect upon the concepts of culture and citizenship within foreign language education contexts. I understand that education, culture and citizenship should be in dialogue if they are to contribute to new teachings and new learnings. Based on contemporary educational movements, I conclude by stating that the new literacies, added to the existing pedagogical practices of this educational institution, might produce new educational proposals, which comprise the transformative dimensions of schooling.

"Interactive fiction" has been used to describe many of today's multimedia products. In reality, there is not a universal understanding of what interactive fiction is or what it should entail. The meaning of "interactive" is often interpreted in different ways. Many stories are considered to be interactive because they are placed on the computer. Meanwhile, such stories may lack most of the essential qualities for good literature. Interaction fiction should be upheld to the same standards as traditional texts. Following this belief, this research covers the underlying theories of interactive fiction, examples of misleading "interactive fiction" studies, and guidelines for design pulled from the fields of writing, children's literature and instructional technology. I have used these guidelines to develop a prototype of interactive fiction, which was be tested and revised in several cycles. First, I revised the prototype based upon reviews by several groups of experts from the areas of instructional technology and childhood education. The prototype was then pilot-tested by two participants from the target market. Based upon the pilot-test results, I revised the prototype. Finally, several participants read the prototype. In this final stage, I observed the participants and conducted interviews with open-ended questions. Using the prototype that was developed according to proposed standards, I was able to gain insight into the target market's perception of interaction fiction. All details of the design and development of the prototype are included in effort to provide guidelines for building future interactive fiction. Additionally, several themes emerged when participants from the target market were observed and interviewed. Among the most prominent were the themes of storybook characters and identifying with those characters. Children in this study were able to identity themselves as the protagonist, making the main character's decisions throughout the story. Further, participants added their own elaborations of the story. In the end, the evidence of this research showed that participants were able to go beyond reading the story. The submersion into to story can be rooted in several existing literacy theories, which are discussed. Lastly, this research provides suggestions for future research, development and implementation of interactive fiction.

Contemporary English language arts (ELA) teachers engage students who have been born into a digital world where emergent literacies challenge the traditionally authoritative perspectives and physical boundaries of books and classrooms. This qualitative case study inquired into the classroom experiences of three senior English language arts teachers located in two western Canadian provinces in our digital-based communications age. Analyzed through a cultural studies lens, this inquirys data were collected through the methodological triangulation of classroom observation, semi-structured interview, and online journal responses. The studys findings reveal the significance of the three selected teachers textual stances and pedagogy to their students new literacies in this time of epochal communications and cultural change. A broadening horizon of textual choice and compositional possibilities complicated each of the three teachers classroom practice in a subject area whose content, traditionally, relies upon reading and responding to print-based canonical texts. Each of these teachers was working In medias res to understand which texts and textual practices should be held on to, and which could be relinquished for the benefit of their students language learning. A major concern that emerged for each of these three educators was a perceived loss of deep critical readings by their students. This concern was counter-balanced for the subject area specialists by an emergent understanding of the affordances of a broadening set of texts and textual practices a developing awareness that students critical literacies can emerge in a rhizomal manner, and that teachers and students can co-author their literacy experiences within the (con)text of the ELA classroom. For these three participants, teaching ELA has become an ellipsis in a digital-based age where certain previously privileged texts and a sense of authority need to be relinquished in order to achieve the co-constructed understanding of word and world so valued by these educators and their students. / Secondary Education

No description available.

I uppsatsens inledning påtalas att medier influerar samhället och därigenom människors sätt att vara och känna. För att utveckla arbetsmetoder som svarar mot samhällets syn på text framhålls att dagens bibliotekarier bör ta detta i beaktan. Syftet med undersökningen är att studera bibliotekariers arbetsmetoder i samband med lässtimulerande arbete i ett samhälle som ses stå inför ett nytt textlandskap. Resultatet är en kvalitativ fallstudie som undersöker bibliotekarierna i tvärgruppen Unggruppen på Uppsala Stadsbibliotek och deras upplevelser av fenomenet. I kapitlet ”Bakgrund och tidigare forskning” presenteras forskning om samtida text, lässtimulerande arbete för barn och unga och bibliotekariers arbete mot unga på folkbibliotek. Det teoretiska ramverket består av ett sociokulturellt perspektiv så som det beskrivs av Roger Säljö. Teorierna lyfter fram tankar om att människan kommunicerar och tänker inom en social kontext med hjälp av kulturella redskap. För att analysera de kulturella redskap som framträder används begrepp ur Colin Lankshear och Michele Knobels teorier inom forskningsfältet New literacies. Metodens analysmaterial består av sex kvalitativa intervjuer, en observation och en dokumentanalys. Undersökningen svarar mot frågeställningar om hur ett vidgat textbegrepp uppfattas, hur Unggruppen agerar genom sina kulturella redskap och om bibliotekets kontext påverkar Unggruppens arbetsmetoder. Slutdiskussionen visar på att Unggruppen anser att ett vidgat textbegrepp kan leda till att stärka ungas självförtroende och läslust. Slutsatsen förklaras via en metafor där ett vidgat textbegrepp liknas vid ett kretslopp som ses gynna både individ och medium. En institutionalisering av ett vidgat textbegrepp sätts i relation till Uppsala Stadsbiblioteks möjlighet att fungera som en kommersiellt neutral zon för samtida text. Resultatet visar även att Unggruppen främst medierar eller förmedlar nya kulturella redskap genom andras kompetenser varvid följderna av en sekundär eller direkt mediering behandlas. För att folkbiblioteket som fysiskt rum och kontext ska kunna erbjuda en plats för ungas literacyaktiviter framhålls avslutningsvis vikten av att utgå från innehållet i aktiviteten och den sociala handling som uppstår. / The introduction of this two years master´s thesis points out the influence of various media on society, and subsequent effects on human behavior and self-awareness. The modern day librarian needs to take this into account when developing new tools, which correspond to society’s view of text. The purpose of this study is to investigate how librarians engage in promoting reading in the changing textual landscape of today’s society. The result is a qualitative case study examining the views of the workgroup Unggruppen at Uppsala Public Library on this topic. In the chapter “Background and prior research” a presentation of research on contemporary text, the promotion of reading among children and teenagers and public library outreach towards the young is presented. A sociocultural perspective as described by Roger Säljö supports the theoretical framework. These theories highlight the idea of human subjectivity and communication within a social context by means of cultural tools. In order to be able to analyze the featured cultural tools, notions of theories by Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobels in the field of New Literacies are used. The material of the analysis consists of six qualitative interviews, one observation and an analysis of a document. This study approaches questions of how an “expanded concept of text” is perceived, how Unggruppen mediates its cultural tools and how the context of the library affects the development of tools employed by Unggruppen. The final discussion indicates that Unggruppen considers that the “expanded concept of text” might increase the rate of reading and self-confidence of young people.  The conclusion is explained trough a metaphor depicting the “expanded concept of text” as a cycle benefitting both individual and media. An institutionalization of the ”expanded concept of text” is put in relation to Uppsala Public Library’s role as a non-profit zone of contemporary text. The result of the study also shows that Unggruppen mainly mediates new cultural tools through the competence of others. Thus the effect of a secondary or a direct mediation is discussed. Finally, the importance of considering the content of young people’s literacy activities while preparing a space for this within the physical context of the public library is emphasized.  The overall conclusion, looking at the case of Unggruppen, is the democratic empowerment of young people within the library. This is made possible by the librarians’ continuous notion of emerging cultural tools within and outside the context of the library.

abstract: In the real world outside of schools, contemporary students are routinely reading, writing, communicating, acting, and learning internationally, translingually, and multimodally, thanks to the prevalence of digital online communication; this has taken place across students’ racial, ethnic, and linguistic identities and national affiliations. Today, the global online contexts are considered as one of essential literacy environments, and the globally networked online contexts might become a main stage of future literacy practices. In this sense, this study develops new three theories about literacies studies from the perspective of the New Literacy Studies in an increasingly digitalized and globalized contemporary world. To achieve this, first, I introduced the features of a global online affinity space as a new concept. Second, I developed the theoretical claim of “complexified diversity.” Finally, I developed the theoretical concept of “Border-Crossing Discourses” on the basis of Gee’s (1990/2015) seminal idea of capital “D” Discourses. I expanded the concept of capital “D” Discourses, looking across borders at a variety of languages, nations, and broader cultures under the global view. The concept of Border-Crossing Discourses was established on the basis of the new concepts that I put forth previously of global online affinity spaces and complexified diversity. As an example of possible supplementary empirical studies, I conducted a small piece of discourse analysis. I observed and examined literacy practices in two global online affinity spaces. They are sites devoted to K-pop fanfiction sharing (hereafter, Asianfanfics) and to Japanese anime (hereafter, Crunchyroll). In particular, I explored the aspects of multimodal and translingual practices in these spaces. Both theoretical and empirical future research will contribute to the elaboration of these theories. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Learning, Literacies and Technologies 2018

abstract: As digital media practices become readily available in today's classrooms, literacy and literacy instruction are changing in profound ways (Alvermann, 2010). Professional organizations emphasize the importance of integrating new literacies (New London Group, 1996) practices into language-arts instruction (IRA, 2009; NCTE, 2005). As a result, teachers search for effective ways to incorporate the new literacies in an effort to engage students. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the potential of digital storytelling as participatory media for writing instruction. This case study was conducted during the fall semester of 2012 in one first-grade classroom and one second-grade classroom in the Southwestern United States. The study addressed ten interrelated research questions relating to how primary-grade students performed in relation to the Common Core writing standards, how they were motivated, how they formed a meta- language to talk about their writing, how they developed identities as writers, and how they were influenced by their teachers' philosophies and instructional approaches. Twenty-two first-grade students and 24 second-grade students used the MovieMaker software to create digital stories of personal narratives. Data included field notes, interviews with teachers and students, teacher journals, my own journal, artifacts of teachers' lesson plans, photographs, students' writing samples, and their digital stories. Qualitative data were analyzed by thematic analysis (Patton, 1990) and discourse analysis (Gee, 2011). Writing samples were scored by rubrics based on the Common Core State Standards. The study demonstrated how digital storytelling can be used to; (a) guide teachers in implementing new literacies in primary grades; (b) illustrate digital storytelling as writing; (c) develop students' meta-language to talk about writing; (d) impact students' perceptions as writers; (e) meet Common Core State Standards for writing; (f) improve students' skills as writers; (g) build students' identities as writers; (h) impact academic writing; (i) engage students in the writing process; and (j) illustrate the differences in writing competencies between first- and second-grade students. The study provides suggestions for teachers interested in incorporating digital storytelling in primary-grade classrooms. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction 2013

Os ensinos técnicos e tecnológicos estão em pauta nas discussões e decisões governamentais. Esta pesquisa investiga o encontro entre a educação de língua inglesa e esses ensinos. Por meio de metodologias qualitativas de cunho etnográfico, analiso as visões de dois professores e de diversos alunos de duas escolas, uma escola técnica de nível médio e uma faculdade de tecnologia do ensino superior, pertencentes a um centro educacional tecnológico no Estado de São Paulo. Nesta, respondo a duas perguntas de pesquisa: qual é a percepção dos alunos e professores do segmento escolar técnico/tecnológico da presença da língua inglesa na sociedade? E qual é o reflexo da relação língua inglesa e sociedade neoliberal globalizada nos contextos de educação técnica/tecnológica, considerando-se a premissa da formação crítica na sociedade atual? Com base nas interpretações de dados, esta tese defende que as duas escolas investigadas têm realizado um trabalho educacional por meio das aulas de inglês que visa, concomitantemente, a formação tecnológica/instrumental, cidadã e crítica. A contribuição desta pesquisa é mostrar que esses contextos constituem espaços de mudança e que visam uma formação cidadã dos alunos, como indicado em suas diretrizes. Exponho este estudo em duas partes. A primeira parte apresenta uma introdução, na qual contextualizo o campo e as metodologias envolvidas na investigação sobre a língua inglesa, e as raízes teóricas desse estudo, embora a teorização se estenda ao longo dos capítulos, tecidos com dados, análise e reflexões. A segunda parte se constitui por cinco capítulos. Os sentidos construídos nesta parte se pautam em dados que me levaram a interpretações e compreensões sobre: as questões acerca do neoliberalismo que influencia os discursos sobre a língua inglesa, discutidas no primeiro capítulo; o ensino de língua inglesa e a educação na sociedade atual, ensino este analisado no contexto das relações globais-locais (glocais) e que é apresentado no segundo capítulo; a relação pedagogia convencional/tradicional e a pedagogia crítica analisada no ensino de língua inglesa no referido contexto de investigação, o que me permitiu reflexões e revisitas conceituais no terceiro capítulo; a adequação de uma proposta de formação crítica no contexto de educação técnica/tecnológica, numa análise que conta com as teorias dos novos letramentos e das novas tecnologias (NTICs) para a investigação da prática, compondo o quarto capítulo e da problematização da prática dessas teorias e respectivas perspectivas culturais no desenvolvimento de uma cidadania ativa, o que constitui o quinto capítulo. Ancorado nos movimentos educacionais contemporâneos, concluo afirmando que os novos letramentos, somados às práticas pedagógicas existentes nos ensinos técnicos/tecnológicos, podem colaborar com propostas educacionais renovadas. / The technical education and the technology/vocational education are at stake in government decisions and discussions. This research investigates the encounter between English language education and the technical and vocational education. Based on qualitative ethnographic methodologies, I analyze the discourses of two teachers and several students from two schools - a secondary level technical school and a faculty of technology both belonging to a technology educational institution in the State of São Paulo . Through this approach I seek to answer two main research questions: what is the perception of students and teachers from these schools in relation to the presence of English language in society? And how is the relationship between the English language and globalized neoliberal society reflected in technical/technology education, with regard to the premise of the necessity of critical education in today\'s society? Based on interpretations of data, this thesis argues that both schools have developed a pedagogical approach aimed at instrumental teaching at the same time as it focuses on citizenship and critical education. The contribution of this thesis is to suggest that these contexts provide spaces for change and that vocational education can contribute to students citizenship education, as indicated in its official orientations. I present this study in two parts. The first one comprises the introduction, the contextualization, the methodologies, and some theoretical roots of this research. The second part comprises the analysis of data intertwined with more theoretical grounding. In the first chapter, I discuss the influence of the neoliberal discourse on English language teaching and learning. In the second one, the interpretative analysis focuses on English language teaching and education in current society, in particular the notion of the global-local, or the glocal. In the third part I present an analysis based on a revisited critical pedagogy. I reflect upon some views of conventional/traditional pedagogy and critical pedagogy through English language education. The new literacies and new technologies (ICTs) are the focus of the fourth chapter. In the fifth and final chapter I reflect upon the concepts of culture and citizenship within foreign language education contexts. I understand that education, culture and citizenship should be in dialogue if they are to contribute to new teachings and new learnings. Based on contemporary educational movements, I conclude by stating that the new literacies, added to the existing pedagogical practices of this educational institution, might produce new educational proposals, which comprise the transformative dimensions of schooling.