Puesta a Prueba

The main participants who took part in this research study were seven and eight year old boys and girls. As previously explained data were mainly collected from two Grade 3 classes in the same school where I currently teach; Grade 3.1 and Grade 3.2. The two classes were chosen because I wanted to work with an age group of children who were young, yet old enough to be able to express their views and experiences.

In addition, as Grade 3.2 were chosen to participate in the ‘One Tablet per Child Pilot Project’, this provided the perfect opportunity to conduct research during a time when a new feature of digital technology was introduced in my classroom setting with the specific purpose of supporting the teaching and learning of reading and writing. It is important to state however that my research was very separate from the ‘One Tablet per Child Pilot Project’. One cannot exclude the fact that there was more technology being used in Grade 3.2 and this allowed me the opportunity to see how children were using technology to read and write. The other Grade 3 class was chosen deliberately in order for me to understand how these children were reading and writing even though they were not participating in the ‘One Tablet per Child Pilot Project’.

Grade 3.1 consisted of nineteen students during the time the study was conducted. All but five children were Maltese - one was from the United Kingdom, another from Pakistan and three were Libyan. The Maltese students spoke to each other in Maltese and they switched to English whenever they were engaged in a conversation with one of the foreign students. Grade 3.1 was taught by Ms.Debono (pseudonym) who has been teaching the third grade for three years. A learning support assistant also helped a particular student with Down Syndrome in this class.

Grade 3.2 consisted of sixteen students. A learning support assistant assisted one of the Maltese students in class who suffered from an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and who found it difficult to focus, pay attention and sit still. Nationalities in this class varied with one third of the class being Maltese and other students

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being from Libya, Russia, America, India, Scotland, Serbia and the United Kingdom. All students could understand English and most students opted to use the English language in the classroom and during play time in order to ensure that everybody understood what was being said. I taught this particular class during the period data were collected and like the students themselves I spoke in English most of the time in order to ensure understanding. In keeping with school policy, Religion, Maltese Language and Social Studies were taught in Maltese and during these lessons the non-Maltese students were given other tasks to work on. They were mostly given books to read, writing tasks or differentiated worksheets. At times they were also asked to carry out work on one of the computers found at the back of the classroom or on their tablet.

During the time of this study, all thirty-five students were considered as participants in some way or another due to the fact that they were all observed at several occasions throughout the data collection. Throughout the study a number of students from each class were then chosen to participate in focus group interviews. Fifteen students were chosen to participate and some of these students participated in more than one focus group interview.

These students were selected after the class observations were conducted. This gave me the opportunity as a researcher to address a number of episodes observed in the classroom setting. Since I was a ‘silent observer’ I chose not to ask students questions during the observations themselves. However I took note of episodes which I found interesting and relevant and ensured that the students who carried them out were present in the focus group interview which followed. Therefore the choice of students for the focus group interviews was based on the observations conducted.

Table 3.3 below provides very brief information about the students who were chosen for the focus group interviews. The names presented in Table 3.3 are not the real names of the participants and further information in relation to how the students were chosen will be given in the respective sections which follow.

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Name Class Nationality Brief background information

Nathan 3.1 Maltese Nathan is a seven year old boy who comes from a large family. His two brothers attend the same school as Nathan and during one of the focus group interviews he stated that he does not enjoy going to school. Nathan however enjoys break time, playing with his friends, doing crafts and playing on the computer.

Chanelle 3.1 Maltese Chanelle is a seven year old girl who enjoys everything about school life. She loves reading and writing but feels uncomfortable whenever the teacher asks her to read in front of her friends. Chanelle’s teacher described her as a very alert and mature student. Chanelle is a very obedient student and always submits homework and school work tasks on time.

Hailey 3.2 Indian Hailey is an eight year old girl who was born in India and has been living in Malta for over two years. She speaks the Maltese language fluently and enjoys participating during Maltese lessons. Hailey is passionate about technology and was very excited when she was given the tablet at school. Hailey is a very enthusiastic student and from time to time she enjoys showing

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her friends activities which she learned to do at home on her tablet such as voice recording and creating a numerical password for the tablet. Hailey is a member of the students’ school council.

Alan 3.2 Scottish Alan’s father is Maltese and his mother is Scottish. Alan was born in Scotland and came to Malta at the age of five. He is extremely close to his grandma and lives with her most of the time. Alan has explained on a number of occasions that he teaches his grandma how to use the tablet and that they read a lot of downloadable e-books together. Alan loves showing his grandmother new concepts which he learned from school.

Shanaia 3.2 Maltese Shanaia is a seven year old girl. She is very quiet yet confident. Shanaia has an eating disorder and undergoes a lot of medical procedures in order to gain weight. She is passionate about school life and would like to become a teacher when she grows up. Shanaia is very sociable but is also very conscious of her appearance. She loves using technology in the classroom and participates a lot during class tasks.

Josef 3.1 Maltese Josef is an outspoken eight year old boy. His teacher describes him as a very loud student. He speaks very loudly and likes

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to volunteer in class. Josef is a very energetic student and loves the world of gaming. Classroom observations showed that Josef finds it very difficult to remain seated for a long time and often speaks to his friends while the teacher delivers lessons. His teacher explained that the only time when Josef is quiet is when he is using one of the computers in class because according to his teacher technology seems to ‘calm him down’.

Antoine 3.1 English Antoine is a very diligent student. His parents are English speaking. Antoine understands everything in Maltese but prefers to speak in English. He enjoys playing football and in his free time he enjoys spending time at the football ground or playing football games at home. Antoine enjoys using the class computer and is normally first to finish reading and writing tasks. This gives him the opportunity to be able to use one of the computers for follow up activities on a daily basis.

Matthew 3.2 English Matthew is the oldest child in his family. His mother does not work whilst his father owns a gaming shop which is in the same locality as the school. Matthew claims that he visits his father’s shop frequently. Matthew is a

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very imaginative student and relates to cartoon characters all the time. On a number of occasions Matthew was observed pretending to be a particular cartoon character or superhero. He was also observed speaking to imaginary friends. His parents are aware of this and have explained that they also observe this behaviour at home. Matthew’s parents also claimed that their son is so bombarded with the ‘gaming word’ that they fear that Matthew thinks he really lives in an imaginary world of video games.

Marthese 3.1 Maltese Marthese is a very shy seven year old girl. Her mother is Italian and her father is Maltese. Marthese prefers to speak Maltese and feels proud that she can utter a few words in Italian. Marthese attends complementary lessons in English and Maltese and is given one to one attention. Her teacher explained that Marthese takes a long time to understand what she needs to do in class. Marthese enjoys using the computer but as the classroom observations suggest she barely gets a chance to use it because she normally takes so long to finish her school work tasks.

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Isaaic 3.2 Libyan Isaaic is an eight year old boy who was about to turn nine at the end of the research study. He joined Grade 3.2 in February. Isaaic left Libya and came to Malta with his parents and younger brother due to war. His older brother was however trapped in Libya. Isaaic continuously showed signs of anger with his peers and has also expressed his disappointment in seeing several people being killed in his home country. The school psychologist met Isaaic on a

weekly basis. Isaaic could

communicate in English with his peers and although he has never used a computer or tablet in his home country he learned how to use these in a matter of days.

Maria 3.2 Maltese Maria is a very quiet girl. She is Maltese but prefers to speak in English. She is Hailey’s best friend and they like to visit each other’s homes after school. Maria’s father is a learning support assistant and works in a local government school. Maria explained during one of the focus group interviews that her father normally helps her with the homework since her mother works longer hours.

Chris 3.1 Maltese Chris is a seven year old boy who is fascinated by the world of video

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gaming. He is highly imaginative and likes to refer to fictitious characters in his writing. Chris is liked by his friends; he likes to follow rules and is always very obedient.

David 3.1 Maltese David is a seven year old boy who likes using computers. He does his best to finish off his tasks at school in order to have more time on the class computer. David is described as a very calm, quiet and shy student by his teacher. David spends a lot of time with his older brother at home and he has also explained that he assists his brother with his homework even though his brother is a year older than him.

Steven 3.1 Maltese Steven is an eight year old boy who likes school. He likes to compete with his friends and enjoys sitting for school tests. Steven continuously asks his teacher if they could watch YouTube videos or play an online game during break time. He is very alert, likes to tell jokes and seeing his friends laugh.

Amanda 3.2 American Amanda came to Malta at the beginning of the scholastic year. This was her first time in Malta and although she was born in America she has lived in several countries prior to living in Malta. Amanda’s mother is a lawyer and her

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father is an accountant. Amanda claimed that she was used to the blackboard at the school she previously attended. Her mother was worried that Amanda will not be able to catch up with the rest of the children since she was not exposed to a lot of technological devices at home. Amanda settled down very well in class and was capable of using technological devices as much as her Maltese friends by the end of the scholastic year.

Section 3.5.3 will provide more information regarding which students were present in each respective focus group interview. The background information of each student provided in Table 3.3 was provided by the students themselves either through the class observations conducted, during one of the focus group interviews or by the class teacher.

In order to have a better understanding about how constructions of reading and writing are changing within the digital age further data were collected from another two participants, Ms.Debono the Grade 3.1 class teacher and Ms.Vella the literacy teacher in the school. Ms.Debono is a very young teacher who has been teaching Grade 3 for three years whilst Ms.Vella has been teaching for over ten years. She started her career as a class teacher but started working as a literacy teacher after a few years. During the time of research Ms.Vella worked with the students in the early years – Grades 1, 2 and 3 whilst another literacy teacher taught students from Grades 4, 5 and 6.

During the interview itself the literacy teacher explained that her role is “to

evaluate each child’s level of attainment, identify his or her needs and together

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with the class teacher and any other person involved with the child’s development, draw up a plan of intervention to address the children’s needs”. Ms.Vella also

explained that she provides in-class and withdrawal support using differentiated teaching and regularly assesses and monitors the progress of pupils. Ms.Vella also participates and contributes in formulating the school action plan for literacy.

During the scholastic year when this study was conducted Ms.Vella taught three students from Grade 3.1 and another three students from Grade 3.2 and through her sessions students were given individual attention in three forty-five minute sessions per week. During these lessons Ms.Vella conducted reading and writing tasks through fun activities and games in a small group setting. In addition to these sessions Ms.Vella gave in-class sessions and helped the three students from each class, within the classroom setting itself. Various research tools were used in order to gather data from the participants concerned. As the following section will show class observations and focus group interviews were conducted with the students whilst semi-structured interviews were carried out with Ms.Vella and Ms.Debono.