Empowering Farsi-speaking immigrant and refugee communities: the use of a multimodal and gesture-based language learning pedagogy

• In Event: Experiences of Immigrant Families and Students in Inclusive Education

Proposal

Introduction
Farsi is one of the majorly spoken languages of Iran. Reading is one of the most basic ways for a child to connect with the world around them and progress in life, education, and work. However, Farsi is a complex language; its reading and comprehension come with its own challenges.
There are many Farsi-speaking Iranian families who have migrated to other countries, and they want their children to learn Farsi to connect with their culture and to communicate with them in their mother tongue, which nowadays seems a big challenge for 1st or 2nd generation immigrants. Refugee children may experience even more barriers, as they don’t have access to their support communities and their parents might not have time, skills, and resources to help them read. As language is a conduit for comprehending and embracing a culture, this slow drift from Farsi is eventually causing immigrants to feel marginalized and disconnected. Regrettably, the availability of Farsi learning resources is limited, not engaging for children and not matched with their current school learning experiences. In addition, there are no innovative pedagogies in the available resources to effectively cater to the nuances of Farsi. Eventually which leads to disengagement and inability to complete the learning journey.
To address these challenges, this project aims to equip gesture-based videos and digital interactive games to make learning how to read Farsi easier, faster, and more accessible. The educational approach employed in this project is based on the method invented by Ali Sedaghaty (http://amookhayat.com/) focusing on simplifying the process of learning Farsi. This method has been tested and used by community facilitators over the past 12 years to teach children, youth, and adults in Iran and Afghanistan. Most participants started to read Farsi in their first month. This project will explore the following questions:
• How can we make the Farsi learning experience effective, engaging and fun for learners with limited daily exposure to Farsi?
• How can a learning design supported by gesture-based videos and multimodal games be effectively utilized to enhance the learning process?
The mobile application will be for children aged 6-10 can use independently to learn Farsi. The complete mobile app aims to provide flexibility and simplicity for the users. Flexibility would help immigrant children to have access to a learning resource at their own convenience, since they may be required to be involved in different activities and learn languages other than Farsi in school.
Theoretical Frameworks
Gesture-based pedagogy has proven a great deal of potential in STEM education and language learning in recent years (Alibali & Nathan, 2012; Goldin-Meadow, 2011; Kita et al., 2017). It is a form of learning and expression that has been proven effective in many educational contexts (Alibali & Nathan, 2012; Cook et al., 2008; Crowder, 1996; Kita et al., 2017).
Multimodal learning emphasizes the integration of multiple-sensory modalities, such as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic to facilitate effective learning. Mixed modality can make the learning process more effective as it engages different senses of children (Moreno & Mayer, 2007). Through digitizing and multimodal games in this project that include visuals, audio, video, and gestures, the learning process would be more accessible and engaging for children. Below is the plan to investigate the effectiveness of the prototype in the learning process of Farsi-speaking children.
Methods
The content development started in spring 2022 followed by designing and developing the prototype of the app in summer 2023 for the first user testing and data collection in fall 2023. After the analyses of the data and users’ feedback, the results will be used to scale the design of the remaining parts of the app.
The mobile app will comprise 6 modules focusing on vocabulary knowledge building, introduction to the Farsi alphabet, introduction to reading exceptions, word building, reading skills, and comprehension. Moreover, the cultural context has been considered in content development incorporating cultural events and culturally relevant gestures associated with specific Farsi words.
Data collection and study plan
The prototype of the app is ready for testing. It includes the vocabulary building module and teaching 5 letters of the Farsi alphabet through gesture-based videos and 5 games for each letter.
30 children, born in immigrant Farsi-speaking families living in the US or Canada who have some familiarity with Farsi would participate in the user testing of the prototype of the app.
We will obtain IRB approval before starting the data collection. We will monitor children’s interactions while using the app and playing the games. Parents will be asked to fill out a questionnaire about the learning experiences of their children before and after the user testing session. The sessions will be conducted individually with each child in the presence of a parent and two researchers. Children will be asked questions about their experience using the app at the end of the session.
By user testing, we want to investigate the learning gain and other cofactors like motivation, engagement, and excitement. The data from user testing sessions would include parents’ questionnaires and children’s interviews before and after using the app. Moreover, qualitative data will be gathered through the screen recording and note-taking of the interaction between children, the screen, and their environment.
Future Goals and Findings
By using the proposed approach, this study attempts to understand the impact of the multimodal pedagogy employed in the app's design on the engagement of children in the language learning process. In addition, given the use of culturally inspired content, we want to explore specific design elements that would support the objectives of this project toward connecting the children to their cultural identity.
Conclusion
This study's purpose is aligned with the theme of CIES2024, “Power of Protest” focusing on the role of technology in inclusive learning by empowering immigrant and refugee communities who speak Farsi to address racial injustices and educational disparities they experience. This study aims to discover effective educational tools to increase literacy among these communities and foster a sense of belonging in their new environment by connecting them to their cultural roots.

Authors

• Shafagh Hadinezhad, University of Illinois Urbana-Champ

• Sourabh Garg, University of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign

• Sepideh Shahi, Seed foundation

• Aviral Singh Halsi, Tootak