Family, Technology, and Literacy: A Bangladeshi Ethnographic Case Study

• In Event: Literacy in the digital world, multilingualism and unemployed youth: diverse case studies from South Asia

Proposal

Relevance to the CIES 2025 Theme:
This ethnographic case study explores the ways in which Bengali Bangladeshi young children engage in digital literacy practices at home. I offer a multimodal reading of how the digital multiliteracy practices of the dominant colonial language are proposed to young children and acknowledged and practiced at home. Drawing from Louis Althusser's (1970) concept of Ideological State Apparatuses, it also addresses the influence of neocolonial literacy practices as an Ideological State Apparatus in postcolonial Bangladesh.
With the worldwide rapid growth in technology in education, the classrooms in Bangladesh have also embraced digital tools in recent years. The use of digital means for literacy is wider than in school. It goes beyond the school boundary and is present in the daily home environment of the students. However, much research has been conducted on Bangladeshi children's literacy proficiency and the development of a curriculum to ensure that competency; little attention has been paid to what occurs in non-western Bangladeshi homes, including parents' engagement and focus on using digital resources in supporting the achievement of English competency.
This study focuses on the production of literacy practices with digital resources and technologies and informs about the social and geographical context of a young learner in Bangladesh. This paper sheds light on the educational practices of a micro-unit of the society in this era of technological advancement, which is aligned with the CIES 2025 theme “Envisioning Education in a Digital Society.”
Theoretical Framework:
This study considers literacy to be a social practice. Literacy is no longer understood as people's ability to read and write; it is embedded in many aspects of life, including social institutions, power dynamics, and broad social-cultural practices (Perry, 2012). The emphasis on literacy as a social practice embedded in relationships, literacy purposes, power dynamics, and specific socio-cultural settings has ushered in a literacy perspective that allows us to question what literacy means in families, particularly out-of-school settings (Lynch & Prins, 2022). The study is informed by the concept of the social construction of literacy and considers children’s daily interactions with digital and non-digital tools as sources of literacy production-multiliteracy.
Additionally, it is informed by Althusser’s (1970) notion of ideology and Ideological State Apparatus (ISA). Fiske (1998) argued, "For Althusser, ideology is not a static set of ideas imposed upon subordinate by the dominant classes but rather a dynamic process constantly reproduced and reconstituted in practice." ISAs, such as family, education, and language, instill in people the desire to behave and think in socially acceptable ways.
Drawing from Althusser's concept of the Ideological State Apparatus and considering literacy practices as an ideology, this ethnographic case study offers an in-depth description of how the social production of literacy happens with digital resources at home and how the use of digital resources in multiliteracy practices works as an ideology in Bangladesh.
Sources of Information influencing Data Collection and Analysis:
An ethnographic case study is well-suited to investigating literacy dynamics because it provides an in-depth understanding of the diversity in children's social and cultural worlds (Dyson, 2018). I want to see how literacy practices occur in home contexts using their interaction with humans and digital resources. Literacy ethnographies provide insight into how social and cultural contexts shape literacy practices and learning and how these practices shape individual and collective identities (Pahl, 2002). I conduct my fieldwork in a semi-urban middle-income household in Bangladesh. By observing the digital multiliteracy practices of a six-year-old public elementary school-going Bangladeshi child from a semi-urban household in a home environment for two weeks, collecting literacy artifacts, conducting semi-structured Go-Along interviews with the child and family, and doing ethnographic data analysis, I attend to the social practices of literacy and influence of neocolonial literacy practices as an Ideological State Apparatus in postcolonial Bangladesh.
Research Methods Supporting Conclusion:
By collecting data from various perspectives and settings, literacy ethnographies enable us to identify the different ways in which literacy is used and comprehended and to comprehend the social and political consequences of these practices (Dyson, 1993, 2003; Yoon, 2002). The collected data portray literacy or multiliteracy practices, such as dialogue with family and friends, painting, singing, classwork, and play (Atkinson, 2016). The data collection involves acquiring knowledge collaboratively generated by all participants, including the ethnographer (Spradley, 1979). To analyze the data from the fieldwork, ethnographic content analysis (ECA) (Altheide, 1987) is employed to identify and code a pattern or theme. To interpret the literacy practices that portrayed the participants' meaning-making, documented data is analyzed to answer the research questions using open coding. Enabling data to drive the understanding of recurring and emerging patterns and themes is one of the most essential parts of ethnographic research (Glaser & Strauss, 2017). Conclusions drawn from the data are supported by the sources when patterns are identified and guided by the theories.
Significance:
This paper explores the specific phenomenon of digital resources of literacy practices and parents' engagement and focuses on supporting the achievement of English competency. It offers a fresh insight into the current version of literacy that has been practiced and challenges the narrow, traditional, and colonized view of what counts as literacy. The study helps add new knowledge to policymakers in Bangladesh and neighboring South Asian countries. It also advocates for avoiding a deficit-based perspective and embracing a contextual asset-based perspective in Family Literacy Programs, textbooks, and Teacher Education programs.

Author

• Moutushi Mahreen, The Pennsylvania State University