Digital Storytelling With Youth From Refugee Backgrounds: Possibilities for Language and Digital Literacy Learning

Abstract

This study addresses the urgent need to develop innovative pedagogies that build upon and enhance the digital literacies and representational practices of culturally and linguistically diverse youth from refugee backgrounds. In Canadian high schools, this population of students enter school with varying levels of literacy in their first language(s), as well as potentially difficult experiences due to their forced migration. For many, learning English, may become a formidable challenge. A growing corpus of case studies is beginning to show how pedagogies that draw on youths' everyday meaning making, including their digital literacies, can effectively engage English learners in academic learning. In this qualitative, ethnographic case study involving nine youth in an English language learning classroom, we addressed the question: What is the potential for digital storytelling to draw from the fuller context of the lives and literacies of youth from refugee backgrounds to enable more autonomous language learning and identity affirmation? Our study is informed by interrelated conceptual frameworks: learner autonomy; investment in language and literacy learning; and digital literacies. Using thematic and multimodal/visual analysis, data were collaboratively coded to identify four interweaving themes: 1) use of multimodal meaning making to communicate complex, critical understandings; 2) emergence of digital literacies; 3) challenges of communicating in digital spaces; and 4) investment in identity affirmation in language

‘A double-edged sword?’ Digital storytelling for early childhood education: Vietnamese teachers’ beliefs and practices

“…Teachers can address this issue by providing students with equal opportunities to access technology, such as providing equal time to work on digital storytelling projects, and by teaching digital skills that students can use to access information and resources. Thus, it is essential for teachers to consider equity and access when incorporating technology into early childhood education, particularly through the use of digital storytelling (Kendrick et al, 2022;Lim et al, 2022). By providing equal opportunities and access to technology, teachers can ensure that all students have the opportunity to learn and participate in digital storytelling activities, which can help to promote inclusivity and diversity in the classroom.…”

The social drama of digital multimodal composing: A case study with emergent bi/multilingual newcomer students

“…DMC can be powerful for emergent bi/multilingual newcomer students' classroom learning (Michalovich, 2021; Smith et al, 2020), because of (1) its expanded, multimodal entry points to learning (Jewitt, 2008), which allow newcomer learners to harness the digital and multiple modes of meaning making in DMC to express their identities and their competencies beyond what they could do at a given point in an additional language (Kendrick et al, 2022); (2) its potential for collaborative efforts that support relationship building among students (e.g., Smythe et al, 2016); and (3) its inclusion of out‐of‐school, digitally mediated language and literacy practices that affirm students' interests and connect them to school learning (e.g., Michalovich et al, 2022). Since DMC may help teachers value who learners are, who they want to become, and what assets they currently possess and hope to obtain, it has shown promise for facilitating newcomers' investment in school learning (e.g., Wilson et al, 2012).…”

“…There is, thus, a need to better understand how these newcomer youth, whom I label here emergent bi/ multilinguals (to emphasize their linguistic repertoire as an asset, building on the work of García, 2009), can be better supported to invest cognitively and affectively in school learning and achieve their potential (Kendrick et al, 2022;Michalovich et al, 2022). To achieve this, it is crucial to affirm students' out-of-school language and literacy practices as assets rather than treating them as deficits (Shapiro et al, 2018).…”

“Emotions are what will draw people in”: A study of critical affective literacy through digital storytelling

“…Perryman‐Clark (2016) explores innovative approaches to writing assessment by incorporating topics of racial justice into various writing tasks. Digital storytelling (Kendrick et al., 2022; Lambert, 2013), as a form of multimodal composition, provides an exciting opportunity for activating socially‐just writing pedagogy. By engaging in digital storytelling projects, students have been reported to have shared their knowledge of real‐world social justice issues and developed their critical digital literacy during the process (Kendrick et al., 2022).…”

“…Digital storytelling (Kendrick et al., 2022; Lambert, 2013), as a form of multimodal composition, provides an exciting opportunity for activating socially‐just writing pedagogy. By engaging in digital storytelling projects, students have been reported to have shared their knowledge of real‐world social justice issues and developed their critical digital literacy during the process (Kendrick et al., 2022). To address the lack of studies on socially‐just multimodal pedagogy in the college composition classroom, this study contributes to socially‐just writing pedagogy through an examination of college writing students' digital storytelling projects.…”