A young child’s use of the Google search engine to find Qur’anic literacy on the Internet in a South Asian home
6.6.1 Context
This example is focused upon the interaction between a young multilingual child, Bablu, and his grandmother during Internet searches for information about Qur’anic literacy and online reading practices. This practice was initiated by the grandmother. Bablu was seven years old and was involved in the previous example. The grandmother told her grandson to open the computer and find the opening Surah- Fatiha and hear its recitation. Bablu was interacting with his grandmother and at the same time, he was doing a Google internet search to hear the recitation. In this case study, I sought to understand an inter-generational (Kenner et al. 2008) cultural interaction between the grandson and his grandmother when using online resources for learning Qur’anic literacy in the home setting.
6.6.2 Ethnographic observation
This ethnographic observation was carried out with a Bangladeshi family. The activities relating to the Google Internet search (and interaction between the multilingual child and his grandmother) took place in the upstairs study room where a computer is located on one side of the room, and a very small bed is on the other. The siblings use this space for working on the computer and playing games.
On 6th March 2012, during one of the visits to the family and while talking to Bablu’s mother, I realized that the children were practicing other languages apart from English. She mentioned that her children are learning Bengali as their heritage language. They need to communicate in Bengali when they go to Bangladesh for holidays. The children’s grandmother visits England once a year and she had taught them the necessary Arabic for praying as part their religious education. The 19th January was the last visit to the family before they went to Bangladesh. It was a part of the continuous process of video recording Amin and Bablu’s activities whilst using a computer and Nintendo DSi as part of their daily life practices. As mentioned earlier on the 6th March, after they came back from Bangladesh, I needed a little more information regarding my video observation of Rumi’s activities. Afterwards I carried on visiting and video recording Amin, Bablu and Rumi whilst they were playing with the Nintendo DSi and also doing their spelling work from school. In this context my last visit was on 19th April 2012. After this, in order to follow the data selection criteria, I took time to observe these video clips before I made any further visits. I was also aware that I needed to collect diverse practices which reflected their South Asian family culture. Therefore, I needed to wait for events that are normal practices in their home. At the same time, according to my scheduled plan I needed follow up visits to the Indian family. This family however went to India in the Easter holiday and the mother told me to visit them on 6th May 2012. I also made an appointment with the Bangladeshi family on 19th May. Although this created a little gap I remained in contact with the mother of the family over the phone. This helped me with the follow-up discussion on the 19th May 2012 about the multilingual practices that occurred during my visit.
The children’s grandmother was talking to her daughter about the children’s Arabic practice whilst I was present. She said that her grandsons had forgotten some Arabic that she had taught them before she went to Bangladesh. She mentioned that in Bangladesh, children often learn the Arabic language through the Internet. She also asked me (researcher) whether I could get involved in searching for the right website for them as she needed help in English as well as with Internet browsing. I wrote the key words and gave it to Bablu as he had asked for it and showed interest for searching for it on the Internet. I asked whether I could video their activity when searching for Qur’anic literacy. They were very happy for me to do this. I videoed Bablu’s interaction with his grandmother while he searched for the opening Surah on the Internet. Their activities were recorded for seventeen minutes and fourteen
seconds. I have chosen this activity because it focused on South Asian cultural practices that were taking place in the home, and were Internet related, through the use of Google to gather information on Qur’anic literacy. The child’s concentration on learning Qur’anic literacy about Surah-Fatiha is an example of home based cultural practices relevant to my research and consistent with their ethnic origin.
6.6.3 Data description from the video observation
The grandmother said that she recites Surah with her grandchildren mostly at the weekend and sometimes during the week prior to their bedtime. It was the grandmother’s idea for her grandson to explore websites for learning Arabic, with the aim that when she returns to Bangladesh, her grandchildren would be able to continue their practice in Arabic online. The data used in this case study was drawn from an ethnographic perspective looking at the communicative practices between the grandson and his grandmother regarding online reading practices about Surah-Fatiha recitation.
It was Saturday (19th May 2012); I recorded how Bablu was searching and reciting Surah through the use of the Internet. The grandmother told one of her grandsons to open the computer and find the opening Surah-Fatiha and hear its recitation for correct pronunciation. The child asked for help in selecting and spelling words for searching the Internet. I wrote the two key words (Qur’an and Surah-Fatiha) on a piece of paper for the child. Bablu and his grandmother then began to use the Google search engine in order to find the Qur’an. First, Bablu typed Qur’an and was shown a screen containing a list of Al – Surat (a list for Surah). Bablu sat in such a way that he could easily look at the screen and get down back into a comfortable typing position (see the multimodal transcription for full details in appendix 5). Then he typed Surah-Fatiha in the Google search engine and at the same time he was responding to his Grandmother about the search. I was observing through the video lens. The grandmother was standing on the left side corner of the table bending her body towards the computer screen and holding the corner of the table with both hands. She was holding this position for two reasons. Firstly she wanted to be able to see the computer screen and, at the same time, be able to observe Bablu’s Google-related actions and responses.
The child’s concentrated gaze showed his motivation to find specific Arabic script on the Internet.
The extract below illustrates the conversation between Bablu and his Grandmother while searching Arabic script on the Internet (Bengali is written in italics with English translation in brackets).
The grandmother was unfamiliar with navigating resources on the Internet. She speaks very little English. She was unsure about what was happening on the screen and she said: Bablu ki korcho (Bablu, What are you doing?) [See the multimodal steps captured from the video, table 1 below]
Bablu: Ami Qur’an find kortechi (I am finding Qur’an).
Grandma: Okay, tumi egulo daily porba (Okay, you need to read these daily.) Grandmother: ekta sura shunitey parba, alhamdu surah? (Can you recite a Surah, namely Alhamdu?)
Grandma: boloto A'uzu billah // (say A'uzu billah)
Bablu: A'uzu billahi minashaitanir rajim. A'uzu billahi minashaitanir rajim. A'uzu billahi minashaitanir rajim. Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim.
(Translation: I seek refuge in Allah from the outcast Satan. In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful).
Grandmother: alhamdu surah ta poro (Can you recite alhamdu Surah?) The Grandmother repetitively told Bablu to recite the opening Surah.
6.6.4 Multimodal data description from the video observation
In this example I observed that Bablu’s navigation of screen based texts frequently involved back and forth between webpages which is quite different from the reading practices of paper-based texts (Merchant, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2008). Here is the example presented below:
Figure 6.11: learning site
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http://quran.com/ Figure 6.12: English translationFigure 6.13: Provider’s name Figure 6.14: Historical images
The child typed ‘Quran’ in the Google search engine. Then the Figure 6.11 page appears on screen. There is a menu bar at the left side and also there were some options such as, images, English translations, and audio record to select. The child selected surah-al-fatihah and then he clicked English translation. He didn’t select audio record; rather he was searching recitation from the YouTube video. He then was navigating from one page to another in order to get the video clip. He typed Youtube + surah fatiha and found several options to select and then he selected surah Fatihah - 10 great Reciter (see in figure 6.12). He placed the cursor on the play button and pressed it by using his mouse with his right hand. There were written texts and relevant
images displayed on the screen. The multimodal communicative practices between the grandmother and the grandson are presented in the table 6.7 below.
Table 6.7: Multimodal communicative practices (The grandmother and the grandson)
Gaze Posture Gesture Language Resources
Grandmother was looking at Bablu. Bablu was moving the cursor by using the mouse and staring at the computer screen.
Bablu was sat in such a way that he could easily look at the keyboard in a bending position.
His fingers position on the keyboard indicated the sign of typing the words for searching for Quran.
Bablu typed Quran in Google search and then clicked. A list of options came on the page, then he clicked on the Noble Qur’an
Grandmother was looking at the screen and asking Bablu to read this daily. She then told him to recite a Surah.
She was positioning herself corner side of the camera lens and holding her back, left corner of the table.
List of information which came out on the screen.
In this step there was a list of the names of the Sura in the whole page and Bablu put the curser on Surah Al-fatihah and pressed on it by using his mouse.
Gaze Posture Gesture Language Resources
He was staring at the computer screen and searching information according to his
grandmother’s instruction. He was also reciting surah from his memory.
Sometimes she made a eye contact and touch that might play an important role in intergenerational learning activities.
The grandmother and the child maintained a close physical contact as they were listening each other. She was standing very close to Bablu.
Granmother said by pointing her finger on the screen, ‘find it here’.
In this stage, written Arabic script came with English translation.
He was looking for YouTube in order to find out recitation, as his
grandmother said to do so.
Bablu was sat in such a way that he could easily look at the keyboard into a bending position inorder to write key words.
Grandmother
wanted to know how did he find out.
P: OK, is it the meaning of Surah- Fatiha?
Bablu admitted by nodding his head and said, ‘yeah’.
The conversation between the grandmother and the grandson was mainly in Bengali with some English words embedded. The grandmother was not fluent in English. So therefore Bablu chose to use hybrid language (Bhabha, 1980) by inserting a few English words in Bengali sentences. He responded to his Grandmother by saying that he was finding the Qu’ran and he used the word find in order to construct the whole Bengali sentence (Ami Quran find kortechi) [see Appendix 3, example 5 in the Speech column turn 1]. Grandmother understood and she used two words (Okay and daily) for encouraging him to read these (Arabic scripts) daily. Here, the child used hybrid language in order to communicate with his grandmother in relation to their online searching activities. I observed that there were some English words that Bablu was reading online and he was moving the cursor frequently in order to enter search terms to access information on Arabic script. Bablu was using English alongside Arabic while searching online resources and at the same time he was talking to his grandmother in Bengali. He appeared comfortable operating in three languages whilst also doing internet information searches. These online computer based tasks are technologically mediated, linguistically flexible and enabled Bablu to interactively manipulate two different scripts (English and Arabic). Kenner and Gregory (2012) acknowledge that multilingual computer based online scripts are motivating and enabling the language practices of bilingual learners. My study was to consider and understand the complex nature of children’s literacy practices mediated by digital technology. My concern was multilingualism, the symbolic aspect of screen-based texts, and how these are different to paper based reading and writing practices (Merchant, 2008). I want to conceptualise in the same way as Kress (1997, 2000, 2003), who pointed out the ways in which literacy shifts from page to screen, highlighting the visual nature of digital texts. The nature of these digital texts makes them multimodal.
The grandmother requested him to recite the Surah-Fatiha. She also gave him a clue by saying the first word of the first line of the Surah is ‘alhamdu’. Bablu is in an early stage of learning Arabic. The grandmother taught him the first opening Surah-Fatiha in the Qur’an. Therefore, she wanted to know whether Bablu could recite it without any help from her. Bablu started and repeated the first line three times and the second line just once. I have provided the English translation (in Appendix 3, example 5) which was found by Bablu through his Internet browsing. Bablu started reciting and at the same
time he was searching for a video clip in YouTube, just to hear the pronunciations. He was reciting Surah-Fatiha from memory.
Grandmother: Surah-Fatiha khujo, Surah Fatiha mani Alhamdu sura paicho, Surah- fatiha. The Grandmother was asking Bablu to find out the first Surah from the internet and then she gave him tips that by saying the first word (Alhamdu surah) of the first line of the Surah so that he could learn the correct pronunciation.
In the meantime the Grandmother was talking to Bablu’s youngest brother. She said: ‘bed e jao, gumao, ami tumake sangiter basai nia jabo’ (Go to bed and sleep. I will take you to Sangit’s [his friend’s] house when you wake up). She then came back to the computer and wanted to know whether Bablu had found out about Surah-fatiha. Bablu said in Bengali to his grandmother: ‘Surah-Fatiha find korchi’ (I find Surah-Fatiha). Grandma said: ‘Find korcho, ascha, click korcho kotai’ (You find it, Okay, where did you click?) Bablu: ‘ha write korchi fatiha eikhana tarporey search korchi’ (Yeah, I wrote Fatiha here then I searched).
The communicative practices between the grandmother and grandson demonstrated the use of hybrid language.
Bablu found an English translation through his Internet browsing and also a YouTube video clip of the recitation of Surah–Fatiha. His grandmother asked him to explain how he downloaded translations and YouTube. He said that he typed the key word in the search engine then clicked on search. It showed that Bablu was gaining experience of using the computer and Internet in and out of school settings. This can be seen as Bablu’s acquisition of literacy skills through digital literacy practices (Davidson, 2011) and illustrates its relation to multimodality. Kenner and Gregory (2012) also acknowledge that online computer-based texts are linguistically flexible, therefore bilingual and multilingual children can move from one script to another. I observed this flexibility during Bablu’s online multilingual practices. These matters are analysed in Chapter 7.
It showed on the screen that Bablu found the English translation of the surah. Grandmother pointed her finger on the screen and said: eije surah-fatiha kintu all lekha (this is Surah-Fatiha but all written information).
This indicated that the grandmother wanted him to learn verbally, because she did not feel that Bablu is big enough to learn Arabic words simply through translation. In this instance Bablu showed his primary school experience by downloading an English translation, although he is still in his early stage of learning English literacy. Here, I did not mean to reflect on Bablu’s level of reading ability, rather to simply acknowledge Bablu’s actual online reading practices in the home. [See transcription below for Bablu’s YouTube activity].
P: ‘YouTube e deko’ (Look at YouTube)
Bablu was reading on the screen and searching YouTube.
P: ‘YouTube Surah-fatiha type kortey parba please?’ (Would you please type YouTube and Surah-Fatiha?)
He then found it on YouTube. I could not hear any noise and I said, ‘Are you playing it?’. Bablu said: ‘Yeah’.
P: ‘where is the sound?’. Bablu: ‘wait I need to do cross (X) this out.’
Then sound came up. It was a video clip that presented the recitation of the surah. Grandmother is now pleased and said happily, ‘Dekcho ki sundor korey porey’ (have a
look what a good pronunciation) ‘Bablu, Listen..’ The grandmother, Bablu and the researcher were listening quietly.
Grandmother: ‘Sobai Amen boche dekcho’. (Listen, everybody said Amen)
Grandmother:’ Dekcho ki sundor korey porche surata’. (Have you listened, the Sura was read very good)
Grandmother: ‘Tumi portey parba eibhabey’ (will you be able to read this way?) Bablu: ‘ha money hoy’.(yeah probably..).
Throughout the event Bablu was demonstrating an ability to select from a range of languages the one that was most appropriate to the task he was doing. The range of languages included English, Bengali, Arabic and hybrid versions of these. It showed how a young multilingual child is learning in the home. Therefore in Bablu’s case it was possible to understand how the emerging theme of literacy-language in cultural context occurred in a multi-lingual household. Bablu is using the computer for school work, therefore it seemed that he was transferring his knowledge of digital literacy skills between home and school. On several occasions I observed how multimodal digital
literacy practices occurred in the context of learning and culture in the home. This example makes a particularly important contribution to the digital literacy theme whilst also supporting language and literacy and home-school relationships. My final summary will propose finalised versions of these three themes.
6.6.5 Summary
It is evidenced by the above description that interaction between the grandson and the grandmother is both technologically mediated and multimodal. The communicative practices between Bablu and his grandmother involved different modes of