A social constructivist approach to enhance the literacy skills of English as Second Language pre-service students

Abstract

This study was undertaken with the primary aim to provide language practitioners, particularly literacy educators and teachers with a theory-driven pedagogical framework that could be used to teach literacy using emerging technologies. This undertaking was motivated by the realization that literacy pedagogy in many educational institutions in Uganda is gradually becoming obsolete, as it is no longer adequate to address the contemporary needs of learners in the 21st century classrooms. The challenge is attributed to the way literacy is taught using predominantly behaviourist pedagogies which significantly reduce active learner engagement and have little connection with the way today’s students’ process information. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory has been employed to advocate for social interactions and dialogical conversations between educators and students in constructing meanings in writing of English as Second Language (ESL) texts, mediated by emerging technologies, particularly the Wikis. Thus, the study has been guided by three research questions: first, to what extent does the Wiki intervention foster social interactions and collaborative dialogues among ESL pre-service students? Second, how do social interactions and collaborative dialogues mediated by the Wiki intervention impact on ESL pre-service students’ literacy skills? Third, what design principles will guide the pedagogical framework for enhancing ESL pre-service students’ literacy skills? The study has been framed within the four-phased Design Based Research (DBR) approach by Reeves (2006). This approach allows for iterative testing and refining of the Wiki design solution as well as the development of a new set of design principles to guide the teaching of literacy mediated by the Wiki technology. Data from observations, interviews, researcher’s field notes and students’ reflections and Wiki artifacts have been analyzed through a sociocultural theory-driven analytical framework during the third phase of DBR. Key findings indicate that the Wiki intervention largely fosters social interactions and dialogical engagements between students, peers, and educators. Meanings of the Wiki-generated artifacts were specifically obtained through collaborative exchanges of ideas, negotiations and shared understandings on the Wiki online platform. The contribution of this study is two-fold, namely, the practical and theoretical contribution. The practical contribution is reflected in the creation of new design principles including: supporting online presence, building online cultural experiences, validating information, promoting dialogue in literacy pedagogy, and applying literacy. This has led to a pedagogical framework that could be used to support students’ literacy mediated by technologies. The theoretical contribution of this study, on the other hand, is in the approach of utilizing Design Based Research methodology to implement the sociocultural theoretical aspects, such as social interactions, dialogue and collaboration. These were tested and refined through two cycles of implementation at an authentic language education context in Uganda.