Understanding Adolescent English Learners' Language Development in Technology-Enhanced Classrooms: A Mixed-Methods Analysis

• In Event: 35.078 - MTCC Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: 35.078-11 - Technology and Second Language Learning

Abstract

Despite their demographic importance in US classrooms, little is known about how the strengths and needs of immigrant youth who are still learning English are engaged through school-based technologies, particularly ubiquitous one-to-one devices such as iPads and Chromebooks. This study used qualitative and quantitative classroom observations to explain variation in English learner’s language development at an urban secondary school. Findings show that the features of technology-enhanced classrooms that best supported language development were aligned with student-centered and strengths-based teaching and that the use of technology in the classroom alone was insufficient. Our findings also bring to light some of the unique factors from the lived experience of English learners that affected how they interacted with technology in their classrooms.

Authors

• Avary Carhill-Poza, University of Massachusetts - Boston

• Jie Chen, University of Massachusetts - Boston