How Adolescents in an Alternative School Program Use Instructional Technology to Create Meaning While Reading and Writing

The purpose of this qualitative case study research was to investigate how adolescent students constructed meaning while using instructional technology tools in an alternative school setting. Participants included six students who attended a small alternative public education program in the Midwest. Three of the participants were in the intermediate grade level (grades 4-5), two were in the middle grade level (grades 6-8), and one attended the high school (grades 9-12) levels of the program. The participants had been identified with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). They were attending this program because they had been unsuccessful in a traditional school setting Two research questions guided data collection and analysis: 1) How do six adolescents use instructional technology to construct meaning while reading and writing in an alternative setting and; 2) What are these students’ perceptions of how instructional technology is used in an alternative setting? Data collection included observations, interviews, and pertinent or documents. Data was analyzed using the constant comparative method (Merriam, 2009)), with the goal of identifying patterns within the data that could be organized into categories. Comparison of the categories to one another resulted in theory that is grounded in these findings and this context. Data analysis revealed four major findings: 1) Participants used technology to enhance, deepen and/or facilitate their meaning-making process. The technology itself, however, did not drive the meaning-making process; 2) Technology that was used during the study’s reading and writing events enhanced these responses by providing support for the participants which allowed them to engage with texts in new or deeper ways. As they read poetry and fiction, for example, students favored affective responses. Digital poetry enabled the participants to forge unique interpretations of the text by choosing from a wide range of visual and audio effects. While the technology appeared to enhance or deepen their meaning-making with poetry and fiction, participants enlisted few of its resources when engaging with expository text; 3) Technology used during the study’s writing events provided support for the participants as they moved recursively through stages of prewriting, drafting and revision and; 4) Although these participants did not perceive themselves as technologically savvy outside of school, in school they viewed themselves as confident users of technology when given multiple opportunities to use technology in sophisticated ways. Two ancillary findings are also of note: 1) The nature of the assignment itself appeared to have a significant influence on both the quality of participants’ meaning-making and their use of technology and; 2) While research has found that students with EBD frequently display disruptive classroom behaviors (Fitzpatrick & Knowlton, 2009), participants in this study demonstrated no such behaviors. In fact, not only were participants consistently engaged by most of the activities, but they also consistently used features of the available technology to support their meaning-making efforts. For decades, scholarly research has confirmed that in their transactions with text, readers drive the meaning-making process (Galda, 2010; Goodman, 1995; Rosenblatt, 1995/1938, 1978; Martinez & Riser, 1991). Ultimately, results of this study add to and deepen this body of research by confirming readers’ primacy in the meaning-making process, even with new digital literacies available to them through the use of technology.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Elementary Education

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Akron

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Webber, Kristin

Contributors dc:contributor

• Newton, Evangeline

• Education
• Literacy
• Reading Instruction
• Special Education
• Teaching
• Technology
• reading
• writing
• new literacies
• alternative education
• emotional and behavioral disorders
• special needs

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1365806315

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:akron1365806315