ERIC Number: EJ1143468
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1642-1027
EISSN: N/A
The Power of Story: Using Personal Narrative, Computer Technology and Podcasting with Young Adult English Language Learners
Pierson, Susan Jacques
Teaching English with Technology, v14 n4 p3-16 2014
One way to ensure a high quality, personalized literacy program for English language learners is to use the learners' own lives and experiences as curriculum. Creating spaces for students to compose and share stories results in a strong sense of community facilitates the development of authentic literacy skills and increases student motivation and achievement. Present day, multimedia, networked computers provide a range of informational communicative and publishing tools that can be used to dissolve classroom walls, bringing the students out and the world inside. Moreover, students who work on projects using computers demonstrate increased cooperation and collaboration. For this project, young adult learners from diverse cultures, studying English as a second or other language at a community college made use of computer technology to compose personal narratives and share them with others. Results indicate that using student stories as texts and sharing those texts via podcasting enhances literacy skills, increases student confidence and self-efficacy, and inspires them to work for the common good. The study involved only two small classes of multicultural students, but the strong success of the project suggests using students' life stories as curriculum and computer technology as a means of sharing is a powerful model of instruction.
Descriptors: Personal Narratives, Educational Technology, Computer Uses in Education, Handheld Devices, Multimedia Materials, Young Adults, College Students, Community Colleges, English Language Learners, Writing (Composition), Information Dissemination, Literacy, Self Efficacy, Multicultural Education, Foreign Students
IATEFL Poland Computer Special Interest Group / University of Nicosia / Maria Curie-Sklodowska University. Ul. J. Sowinskiego 17, 20-041 Lublin, Poland. Web site: http://tewtjournal.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Two Year Colleges
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Pennsylvania
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A