Leveraging Multilingual Students' Resources to Develop Their Computational Literacies

• In Event: Computational Thinking, Languages, and Literacies

Abstract

Purpose: As computing is ubiquitous, developing computational literacy skills is arguably necessary for full participation in today's society (Wing, 2006). In this paper, we describe how teachers leverage multilingual students’ assets to build computational literacies that will empower them to actively participate in a knowledge economy.

Theoretical Framework: Our theoretical model situates literacy development within the broader social, economic, and historical practices of technologically advanced societies (Author et al.,, 2018). We define literacy as “a set of practices situated in a sociocultural context that utilizes external technological media to enable expression” (DiSessa, 2000, p. 285). Technological media have undergone paradigmatic shifts that have transformed social conceptions of literacy (Author, 1999). Computational literacies represent a new technological medium for communication that fosters the evolution of human expression through creative and innovative approaches to problem solving. Unlike most emerging models of computational literacy, we not only situate computation as a form of literacy in itself (computational thinking as literacy), but also focus on how multilingual students' existing resources can be leveraged to build their computational literacies (computational thinking through literacy) and vice versa (literacy through computational thinking).

Methods: University researchers and educators in a large urban school district have joined together to iteratively develop and implement an upper elementary, computing curriculum tailored to meet the needs of multilingual students. The district has among the highest percentages in the nation of Latinx students (93%), low-income learners (89.7%), and students designated as English learners (62.7% in the elementary grades). We focus on instructional strategies that are used to develop multilingual students’ computational literacies by analyzing structured notes from weekly classroom observations. We conduct top-down and bottom-up qualitative coding, starting with categories informed by our theoretical framework and refining the coding based on emergent themes from the study.

Data Sources: For each field observation, two researchers took detailed field notes on teachers’ instructional moves, students’ interaction, and computing tasks and activities. Classroom lessons were also audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed to provide more granular data.

Results: The strategic application of instructional practices was implemented in the service of building on students’ resources to develop their computational literacies (Author et al., 2018). Strategies used by our case study teacher to deliver asset-based instruction were well established in these findings: 1) using multiple questioning techniques that invoke student-student talk, 2) integrating literacy development with computing lessons, 3) invoking big ideas surrounding computational literacies, 4) building on students’ existing resources, and 5) leveraging students’ everyday sensemaking abilities to promote the use of discipline-specific discourse.

Scholarly Significance: Emerging computational literacy frameworks situate computational thinking as a literacy in itself across multiple dimensions. However, what has been lacking is theoretical frameworks focusing on the overlap between computing and literacy learning that informs instructional practices for multilingual students. The computational literacy framework put forth in this study can be used as an analytic framework to highlight how instructional strategies mobilize existing resources in the service of building computational literacies for diverse students.

Author

• Sharin R. Jacob, University of California - Irvine