Engaging 21st Century Learners in Literature
Tawnya Olen
Reading has become more media driven; text has shifted from traditional printed materials to a variety of media, including the Internet, film, and television. It’s become important to create ways to motivate reluctant readers to obtain the traditional literacy skills important. The availability of digital technologies brings schools a different set of literacy practices and experiences that is often not recognized or utilized by educators. Considine (2009) explained, in order for students to succeed in the 21st century, educators must begin to focus on the intricate, media environments that are part of life today. A vital part of this process includes understanding what media and technology do to today’s young people along with what they do with it.
Motivation & Engagement
According to Guthrie as cited by Pitcher (2007) motivation is described in terms of “beliefs, values, needs and goals that individuals have. Thus, the closer that literacy activities and tasks match these values, needs, and goals, the greater the likelihood that students will expend effort and sustain interest in them” (p. 378). There have been few studies that have attempted to increase reading engagement of elementary students. As indicated by Wigfield (2008) the few presented studies of this age group have revealed that four variables influence students’ reading motivation: autonomy support and choice, use of interesting texts in classroom instruction, having conceptual goals for reading instruction, and supporting collaboration in reading. The role of motivation in engaging struggling readers is vital in instructional preparation and interventions. Within one of the studies exploring motivation in readers, data analysis shows
Students find new literacies practices (particularly the multimediating, collaborative activities, using digital tools, and producing digital products or performances) more engaging than traditional ones (e.g., reading school texts and reading passages and responding to questions in the supplemental reading program, writing in journals). (O'Brien, 2007, p. 69)
Connecting motivation to one’s assessment of self-esteem, attitudes, and perceptions, resulted in the difficulties coming across in teaching text-based communications skills. Gunter (2008) compared this to motivating students to learn a second language when its significance is called into question. Awareness of the fact that digital is the favored first language of the media nation may be of some assistance leading the way to achievable solutions to conquering literacy deficiencies.
Multimedia Tools
Out-of-school reading involves a range of multimedia. “Thus, motivation to read is a complex construct that influences readers’ choices of reading material, their willingness to engage in reading, and thus their ultimate competence in reading, especially related to academic reading tasks” (Considine, 2009, p. 474). Educators could extend their range of reading material. “Film clips, websites, photographs, graphic novels, music, editorial cartoons, lyrics, and advertisements can be both informational and motivational” (Considine, 2009, p. 475). By expanding their reading material to include multimedia students “become critical consumers of texts” (Pitcher, 2007, p. 395).
Incorporating mass media, popular culture and digital media and technology into learning enhances motivation and engagement. Ormiston (2010) stated that bringing multimedia into the classroom, educators were able to reinvigorate their curriculum and deliver instruction in the way students today learn best. Hobbs (2010) clarified another benefit of utilizing multimedia is that when used well; multimedia texts can support the achievement of literacy skills including comprehension, inference-making, analysis and prediction. Hobbs (2010) further explained that by taking part in digital and media literacy activities children and young people are empowered by opportunities to express themselves using language, images, sound and interactivity.
Thoman & Jolls (2004) agreed stating that these activities also build teamwork skills, acceptance for another’s perspective, organization and designation skills, and an appreciation for the variety of talents it takes to complete a large-scale project, as well as, increase the level of engagement in the classroom. Even though mediated tools have been proven to enhance motivation and skills in reading in the studies that have been done, there are still some set backs
Research into effects of multimedia relating to comprehension of and motivation toward reading have suffered due to a lack of rigor, affected by the classroom teacher’s ambivalence toward the relative effectiveness of technology and by the fact that the teacher is often too heavily invested in text-based forms of communications. (Gunter & Kenney, 2008, p. 87)
Web 2.0 Tools
Technology has been present in schools, but the focus of curriculum in the schools has still been based on traditional forms of text. By taking advantage of students’ out-of-school literacies (incorporating still and moving visual images, song lyrics, Internet sites, and other media into classroom learning to support and extend traditional academic language arts practices) it will make lessons more relevant for them. According to Williams (2009) careful selection and incorporation of technology provided relevance to students and allowed educational goals to be supported with student preferences. The following shows three examples of successful integration of web 2.0 tools used to increase motivation in literacy. By incorporating Digital Booktalks into the literacy curriculum educators were able to engage students in obtaining the literacy skills they need. Digital Booktalks are video trailers used as an effort to successfully match potential readers. Gunter & Kenny (2008) found that Digital Booktalks were successful in motivating students to read and complete books. Digital Booktalks concentrated on students’ strengths in a digitally mediated, visual experience. Setting the idea that students should read the book as if they are going to make a movie out of it was a positive way to reinforce a personal concept of literacy by creating their own original content. “The fact that anyone with access to the Internet could view their work encouraged students to get the information right and to tempt readers through visuals, music, sound effects, and the story” (Tarasiuk, 2010, p. 549).
A short trailer (90- to 120-seconds) required students to focus on the main points of the book- a standard practice when teaching comprehension. Having to create their own video provided an appealing purpose for reading and was an activity in which student producers must know enough about the main characters, setting, and the context in order to determine which scenes to include in the trailer. A study revealed “student attitudes toward the value of reading and writing were significantly more positive after participating in the activities, as were students’ understanding of the value of storytelling as a way of knowing” (Gunter & Kenney, 2008, p. 93). Ormitson (2010) explained that the blending of digital pictures, videos, and music engaged students and pushed them to read the message present through the media. This type of instruction helped cross the cultural divide while still aligning to the standards.
WebQuests can assist when tasks are cautiously selected, organized, and delivered. Various tasks provide occasions for collaboration, thoughtful connections, and critical reading. “Such tasks increased students’ engagement and motivation as well as built search, retrieval, multimedia, and hypertext reading skills” (Ikpeze, 2007, p. 647). Student choice should be made priority whenever possible. Choices will often reflect individual interests and desires, which motivate them to take ownership of their learning. According to Ikpeze (2007) when students are engaged in activities that are centrally motivating, they are enthusiastically engaged in learning through exploring, discussing, questioning, and creating their own knowledge. Wikis allowed students to collaborate and support each other genuinely as they work to complete their website. Tarasiuk (2010) stated this knowledge made students more deliberate and thoughtful as they add information and edit each other’s work. Students are motivated to put more effort into the work they complete on their wiki pages than they are on regular worksheets. Since they add information as a group, students need to collaborate and consider each other’s ideas through discussion. Luce-Kapler (2007) found that utilizing web 2.0 tools increased the level of engagement in learning. In her study students were engaged in processes designed to encourage connections, and the skills necessary to understand and work within a group. Tarasiuk (2010) found that students often return to their Wikipedia to see if anyone had edited their work. They were pleased of what they had done and the fact that they were suppliers to a bigger, common knowledge base.
Conclusion
Students in today’s world are learning many of their literacies through video sharing, social networking, and other web 2.0 technologies, and engage best when these capabilities are used in the classroom. Therefore, educators must think carefully about the way in which they teach. Educators must think more about engaging their students in the process of learning and less about teaching the content. Research has shown that incorporating media and various forms of technology can increase student motivation and engagement in literacy. With the digital nation of students in classrooms today utilizing the technology that students already use will motivate students to read.
References
Considine, D., Horton, J., & Moorman, G. (2009). Teaching and reading the millennial generation through media literacy. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(6), 471-481. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.
Gunter, G., & Kenny, R. (2008). Digital book talk: Digital media for reluctant readers. Contemporary Issues in Technology & Teacher Education, 8(1), 84-99. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.
Hobbs, R. (2010). Digital and media literacy: A plan of action. The Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program. Washington D.C.: The Aspen Institute
Ikpeze, C., & Boyd, F. (2007). Web-based inquiry learning: Facilitating thoughtful literacy with WebQuests. Reading Teacher, 60(7), 644-654. doi:10.1598/RT.60.7.5
Luce-Kapler, R. (2007). Radical change and wikis: Teaching new literacies. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 51(3), 214-223.
O'Brien, D., Beach, R., & Scharber, C. (2007). "Struggling" middle schoolers: Engagement and literate competence in a reading writing intervention class. Reading Psychology, 28(1), 51-73. Retrieved from ERIC database.
Ormiston, M. (2010). Presentations. Retrieved from http://techteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Presentations-PDF-2010-2-17.pdf March 7, 2011.
Pitcher, S., Albright, L., DeLaney, C., Walker, N., Seunarinesingh, K., Mogge, S., et al. (2007). Assessing adolescents' motivation to read. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50(5), 378-396. Retrieved from Literary Reference Center Plus database.
Tarasiuk, T. (2010). Combining traditional and contemporary texts: Moving my English class to the computer lab. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(7), 543-552. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database
Thoman, E., & Jolls, T. (2004). Media literacy—A national priority for a changing world. American Behavioral Scientist, 48(1), 18-29. Retrieved April 10, 2011, from http://myweb.facstaff.wwu.edu/
Wigfield, A., Guthrie, J., Perencevich, K., Taboada, A., Klauda, S., McRae, A., et al. (2008). Role of reading engagement in mediating effects of reading comprehension instruction on reading outcomes. Psychology in the Schools, 45(5), 432-445. Retrieved from ERIC database.
Williams, J., & Chinn, S. (2009). Using Web 2.0 to support the active learning experience. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20(2), 165-174. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database
