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ICT poses significant opportunities and challenges for English as a subject
As new communicative practices become increasingly commonplace in the wider world the meanings of ‘English' and ‘Literacy' are being redefined. Teachers and students working in ICT rich environments are very aware of the discrepancy between school and leisure/work literacies.
The multi-modal dimensions of digital communication challenge the notion of English Language and Literacy as being about words, sentences and texts
The verbal aspect of communication is only part of what is communicated. There is often a tension between the verbal act of meaning-making, and the meaning-making which comes from layout and from the other resources intrinsic to the materiality of digital texts (e.g. hyperlinks). Working in multimedia can be empowering especially for students with lower levels of attainment in traditional literacy skills. For example year 9 pupils with low attainment in traditional literacy at John Cabot CTC were able to communicate effectively showing understanding of audience, purpose and genre in the creation of multimedia texts.
ICT enables a re-representation of language as a symbolic system
Abstract ideas about the internal structures of words can be shown graphically and manipulated kinaesthetically. The re-presentation of language in multi-modal texts allows abstract ideas about the structure of language to be embodied. In Year 6 work on word structure, students were able to move morphemes around a white board and in their PowerPoint slides.
Using ICT changes the nature of writing
The writing process becomes more fluid when students use computer software to create texts. Students creating both traditional and multimodal texts using ICT will often attend to the visual and spatial qualities of text creation early in the design process as in selecting fonts, templates or choosing images. At the same time, students were often unaware of word-processing editing functions which could support their redrafting of texts.
ICT creates increased possibilities for the production of authentic texts for ‘real' purposes and audiences
This revisiting of a tenet of English teaching has had empowering effects for students. Teachers working with ICT have often been drawn to student centred approaches with more open objectives which can counter or complement the explicit and targeted Literacy Strategy approach. This has been productively explored in the production of a school newsletter; PowerPoints advertising an English department for open evening; and holiday brochures for a class ‘Travel Agents Corner'.
The open user-navigated structure of the Worldwide Web poses particular problems in pedagogical contexts
ICT creates increased possibilities for searching information, but such information is still more chaotic, multifarious and extensive than that found in paper-based libraries. The absence of ‘gatekeeping', or authenticated provenance, for the texts leads to difficulties in assessing the value of the sources accessed.
Use of well-designed ICT environments can help pupils grasp abstract concepts such as imagery, literary relations and morphology
For instance, Rachel Yates and Sam Mills have looked at what happens when pupils produce PowerPoint representations of poems combining image and text. Sam Mills reported that pupils' subsequent GCSE writing has shown a stronger attention to and ability to describe imagery.
This strand of the InterActive Education Project provided English teachers with a variety of developed,
exemplified models for integrating ICT and English for effective learning.
We believe that these approaches are making an informed contribution to research and
pedagogical debates in English studies, including those around multi-modal text and the
related ideas associated with the New London Group. In particular the research is
raising questions, grounded in our investigation of teaching and learning processes, about
the deployment of ICT in different forms and locations and about the incorporation of
authentic texts and contexts.
We have found that the work has implications for thinking about assessment, for example in
considering the place of ICT and multi-modal texts in SATs, GCSE and GCE. Our
findings have been presented to exam boards and QCA and have contributed to the current discussions on "what is English?".
Our initiative also had a capacity building function in the development of a group of
teachers working across the age range with shared experience and expertise and able to
disseminate to colleagues and to local and national bodies. Five teachers were granted
DfES Best Practice Scholarships to research their Design Initiatives in more depth and
went on to present ICT and English approaches in conferences
and papers.
Teacher and University Researchers found that the opportunities for reflection
and experiment provided by the project opened up the whole area of ICT in English
and, as well as the impact on schools in highlighting the issues and possibilities, there
has also been an impact in the changes made to the University of Bristol PGCE English
programme.
We feel confident that this work had a positive impact on
pupils' attitudes and attainment.
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