Language Learners and Multimedia Literacy In and After School

Abstract

This study examines how 20 English Language Learners (ELLs) utilized multimedia as part of their in-school instruction and after-school programme at a technology-intensive urban middle school. Qualitative data, including observations, surveys, interviews and student-produced texts, were collected across an academic year. Data were analyzed to examine the range of multimedia literacy practices that characterized ELL learning during class time across their core subject areas as well as during a school-based after-school digital storytelling club. Findings indicate that, despite the benefits of greater student involvement and better student facility with many software programs, several tensions also emerged, including the limited use of computers to support students in sustained academic work. The article concludes with a discussion of the pedagogical implications suggested by these findings and offers a discussion of possible frameworks for thinking about how to provide more extensive support for ELL students as they make use of multimedia both during and after school.