Chapter 9: Technology in English and Language Arts Instruction

The internet and other forms of information and communication technology (ICT) such as word processors, Web editors, presentation software, and e-mail are regularly redefining the nature of literacy. To become fully literature in today's world, students must become proficient in the new literacies of ICT.

Introduction
* The "language arts" are those language-based processes by which we think, learn, and communicate.
* In elementary grades, the language arts curriculum focuses primarily on developing the fundamental skillsof reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
* Because literacy skills and processes are fundamental to success in most other disciplines, language arts instruction is often stressed in content-area courses.

Issues and Problems in English and Language Arts Instruction
* Reading, writing, and critically analyzing written texts are considered fundamental skills for a literate person.
* Specifically, we as teachers need to understand the importance of expanding the definition of literacy, exploring new instructional practices, making decisions on keyboarding instruction, creating social learning environments, working with diverse learners, motivating students, and teachers' growth as literacy professionals, all of which are discussed in the following subsections.

Expanding the Definition Literacy
* Students graduating from high school today use traditional hard copies of reading and writing materials, but they also use highly sophisticated electronic forms of literacy.
* These students are entering an era when they will spend the majority of their literacy time engaged in electronic forms of communication.
* Our charge as teachers is to recognize that traditional definitions of literacy are no longer sufficient and to shift our conception to new literacies.

Exploring New Instructional Practices
* There is a direct correlation between the emergence of new literacies and the need for new instructional practices.
* Teachers are expected to provide new forms of literacy instruction so that students know how to locate, critically evaluate, use, and communicate through technology resources.
* For instance, students need instruction on how to find appropriate electronic information sources to be incorporated into their research products and presentations, as well as how to access and use information stored in a variety of sources.
* Students also need knowledge about the hardware and how to use these devices to create and present mulitmedia products.
* In addition, there is a growing need for teachers to instruct students to comprehend language in the context of visual images since images play an increasing role in communication.
* Fortunately, a growing body of literature illustrates ways to implement new instructional practices.

Making Decisions About Keynoarding Instruction
* The most common way to write using a computer requires input through a regular QWERTY keyboard, so named because of the first six letters in the first line of a typewriter keyboard.
* Those against requiring keyboarding instruction as a prerequisite argue that too much student time and computer resources are spent on getting kids trained to type quickly, that students need only basic keyboard familiarization.
* Both arguments are legitimate and most teachers have resolved the issue, at least temporarily, by favoring keyboarding instruction if it is available and needed, but not preventing studnents from using the computer if they do not yet have good keyboarding skills.

Creating Social Learning Environments
* New forms of literacy are much contingent on social interactions with others than traditional literacies.
* One teacher emphasizes that technology has consented for student-teacher relationship.
* Another reason that new literacies demand a more social environment is because teaching and learning are no longer confined to a traditional classroom context.
* Networked technologies for literacy enable us to communicate with people around the world.

Working with Diverse Learners
* Our schools have more diverse student populations today than ever before.
* This cultural and linguistic diversity creates classrooms that are richer, yet more complex.
* Although we value and celebrate the opportunity to interact with students of different nationalities, races, and ethnicities, this creates new challenges and opportunities for English and language arts teachers.
* Students who typically experience this problem include children who begin school without a solid literacy foundation, learn English as a second language, live in literacy-impoverished homes, have attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or do not receive appropriate instruction in school.

Motivating Students
* The more students read, the better developed their language and writing skills become.
* However, we as teachers find it an ongoing challenge to motivate students to read - either fpr study or pleasure.
* Fortunately, one of the supporting finding from the research is that both students and teachers are highly motivated and interested in the new literacies.
* Teachers also find it an ongoing challenge to motivate students to express themselves in writing.
* Students especially resist the labor involved in revising research papers and compositions.

Teachers' Growth as Literacy Professionals
* Teachers who are skilled in the effective use of technology for teaching and learning,
* A literacy curriculum that integrates the new literacies of technology into instructional programs,
* Instruction that develops the critical literacies essential to effective information use,
* Assessment practices in literacy that include reading and writing with technology tools,
* Opportunities to learn safe and responsible use of information and communication technologies, and
* Equal access to technology.

Technology Integration Strategies for English and Language Arts Instruction
* Perhaps the most creative and prolific array of strategies and applications for enhancing teaching with technology us to be found in the English and language arts.

Language Skills Development
* Though technology uses in English and language arts clearly emphasize motivation and support for reading fluency and writing production, many programs are also in use to instruct or give practice in individual reading and writing skills.

Teaching decoding skills. We generally teach skills in decoding or "sounding out" words in the early primary grades, and according to a limited amount of research, students who have access to digitized speech support increase their decoding abilities.
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Developing other reading skills. A variety of other technology resources support teachers as they work to increase students' fluency with phonics, comprehension, and vocabulary skills:

* Software-based and online systems - the editors of technology and learning (2003) recommend several software-based and online systems for providing instruction in phonics, decoding, comprehension, and vocabulary skills to young learners.
* Reference resources - electronic dictionaries and thesauruses, discussed in Chapter 5, provide support to students as they learn vocabulary and spelling skills.
* Electronic devices - these include battery-operated devices such as Educational Insights' GeoSafari Phonics Pad, which has a collection of phonics games for preK-2 grades.

Creating everyday teacher activities. The large point size allows the teacher to see student responses at a distance while monitoring the class.
*Spreadsheets likewise can be used as a method to keep up with vocabulary words, definitions, and sentence usages.

Literacy Development
When teachers look for ways to motivate and support students' literacy development, they usually try to tap into students' own interests, present books in ways that students find compelling, and engage them in "book talks" about authors and stories to help them visualize the people and places in books.

* Networked literacy projects - activities like the one in the chapter opener example use internet sites to engage students in reading books.
* Activities with interactive storybooks (electronic books) and talking books - as described in chapter 5, these tools are regular literature books that have been placed into electronic format, usually on CD, DVD, or internet sites.
* Use of tracking system - accelerated reader, a popular system from renaissance learning, is among the most studied tools in educational technology.
* Digital storytelling - kajder and swenson (2004) find that good readers create "a mental movie of images evoked by the story."
* Connection to online reading materials to engage students - finally, an often-used strategy that teachers use is to locate book, stories, and internet sites that match up with students' interests and reading levels.
* Writing in blogs - one strategy that is currently increasing in popularity is having students respond to blogs.
* Motivating writing with video projects - just as Kajder and Swenson (2004) found that creating a narrated video parallels the reading process, Scot and Harding (2004) say that "the process of creating a digital video parallels the writing process."
* Threaded discussions at a distance - finally, many teachers find that having students participate in discussion boards instigates both reading and writing.

The Process Approach to Writing
* In reviewing two decades of research of writing skills, Bruning and Horn (2000) found that teaching writing requires special attention to motivational aspects, including fostering engagement using authentic writing tasks and providing a supportive context for writing.
* Fortunately, numerous online resources are available to help teachers conduct process writing.

Prewriting. Getting started is often one of the most difficult aspects of writing, and young writers find it particularly onerous.
* All types of prewriting activities can be facilitated by using information organizing software such as electronic outlining and concept mapping programs.

* Electronic outlining - these are now integrated into almost all major word processing programs and are easily accessible as planning tools....automatically generate headings and subheadings from typed information.
* Concept mapping software - also known as webbing software, concept mapping software is popular as a prewriting planning tool.
* Drafting. Drafting is the stage of the writing process when students put ideas and information into words, sentences, and paragraphs.The term drafting for this stage implies an impermanence to the product and therefore reflects the notion that students will continue to plan, rethink, and reorganize their ideas, even while producing text.
* Revising and editing. Revising is the stage during which students make changes in the paper's content or structure that reflect decisions about how to improve its overall quality. One of the best ways for teachers to assist in this process is to project a students' typed draft onto a screen, then model the thinking and decision making that goes into analyzing and revising the text.
* Publishing. Reports, newspaper articles, brochures, slide shows, and web pages are all publishing formats available to students for sharing their written work with peers, teachers, and the larger community.

* Traditional (paper) publishing - students produce paper products such as reports, books, newspaper articles, and brochures. Desktop publishing programs are designed to facilitate the production of professional looking printed products.
* Electronic publushing - students can also share their writing in electronic forms such as websites, electronic books, multimedia slide shows, and news broadcasts. Electronic penpal (keypal) projects are growing in popularity and provide creative and authentic opportunites for communication.