This study explored secondary English Language Arts teachers' experiences using digital technologies in their classrooms, as presented in two key journals in the English Education field: the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (JAAL), sponsored by the International Reading Association, and English Journal, sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English. Specifically, this study examined and analyzed the published narratives of teachers who had written about their experiences integrating digital technologies into their curriculum. These teachers were defined as the "early adopters" of digital technology use in the secondary English Education discipline in that they played an integral role in the diffusion of innovative teaching practices regarding classroom digital technology use through the writing and publishing of their experiences in the field's major journals. This study utilized a textual analysis of the articles published in the two key journals from 2008-2012, a time period selected due to NCTE's formal position on 21st century literacies published in 2008. One issue per journal per year was randomly selected for analysis, as well as any special editions focused on secondary ELA teachers' experiences with digital technology use in the classroom. All articles were coded using an open coding scheme to allow themes to emerge from the data. Next, an inter-coder agreement session consisting of four outside coders was conducted to ensure the researcher's developed coding scheme accurately reflected the data. Furthermore, grounded theory was used to construct a theory of how narratives of teachers' experiences with technology contribute to the diffusion of technological innovations in the 21st century classroom. Four themes emerged from the data in this study: Power Dynamics, Interconnectedness, Shifting Perspectives, and Challenges. These themes illustrated the purposes as well as challenges for secondary ELA teachers' integration of digital technologies into their classrooms. Combined, these themes depicted the current trends regarding secondary ELA teachers' digital technology integration efforts in their classrooms. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2013. / February 25, 2013. / diffusion of innovations, English Language Arts, secondary education, teacher
education, technology / Includes bibliographical references. / Shelbie Witte, Professor Directing Dissertation; Melissa Gross, University Representative; Lawrence Scharmann, Committee Member; Kathy Froelich, Committee Member; Pamela Sissi Carroll, Committee Member; Don Latham, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_183915 |
| Contributors | Thayer, Kelly Keener (authoraut), Witte, Shelbie (professor directing dissertation), Gross, Melissa (university representative), Scharmann, Lawrence (committee member), Froelich, Kathy (committee member), Carroll, Pamela Sissi (committee member), Latham, Don (committee member), School of Teacher Education (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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