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ERIC Number: EJ946318
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Nov
Pages: 22
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0008-4506
EISSN: N/A
Learning about HIV/AIDS in Uganda: Digital Resources and Language Learner Identities
Norton, Bonny; Jones, Shelley; Ahimbisibwe, Daniel
Canadian Modern Language Review, v67 n4 p568-589 Nov 2011
While the HIV/AIDS epidemic has wrought havoc in the lives of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa, access to information about the causes, symptoms, and treatment of the disease remains a challenge for many, and particularly for young people. This article reports on an action research study undertaken in a rural Ugandan village in 2006. Twelve English language learners, all of whom were young women, participated in this study. The focus was a digital literacy course that sought to help the participants gain access to information about HIV/AIDS through global health Web sites available in English, Uganda's official language. Our conceptual framework is drawn from theories of investment and imagined identities in the field of language education, and our central questions are twofold: (1) What were the learners' investments in the language practices of the digital literacy course? and (2) What was the relationship between the learners' investments in the course and their identities? Our findings suggest that the learners' multiple investments in the digital literacy course derived not only from the significance of HIV/AIDS to their lives, but also from the opportunity to appropriate a range of imagined identities that offered enhanced possibilities for the future. (Contains 3 notes.)
University of Toronto Press. 5201 Dufferin Street, Toronto, ON M3H 5T8, Canada. Tel: 416-667-7810; Fax: 800-221-9985; Fax: 416-667-7881; e-mail: journals@utpress.utoronco.ca; Web site: http://www.utpjournals.com/cmlr/cmlr.html
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Africa; Uganda
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A