Thematic analysis (TA), as a qualitative analytic method, is widely used in health care, psychology, and beyond. However, scant details are often given to demonstrate the process of data analysis, especially in the field of education. This article describes how a hybrid approach of TA was applied to interpret multiple data sources in a practitioner inquiry. Particular attention is given to the inductive and deductive coding and theme development process of TA. Underpinned by the constructivist epistemology, codes were driven by both data per se and theories, through a “bottom-up” and “top-down” approach to identify themes. A detailed example of six steps of data analysis is presented, which evidences the systematic analysis of raw data from observation and research journals, students’ focus groups, and a classroom teacher’s semistructured interviews. This example demonstrates how classroom practice was unpacked and how insiders’ insights were interpreted through the theoretical lens while also allowing the participants to express themselves. By providing step-by-step guidelines in data coding and identification of themes, this article contributes to informing qualitative researchers, especially teacher-researchers who undertake their research in the classroom setting.
Many students in Australia from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds have historically been alienated from learning and education because of the narrow definition of literacy and of what counts as legitimate texts. Consequently, traditional pedagogy, curriculum and assessment practices disengage many students. To address this issue, we embedded multiliteracies utilising information and communication technologies (ICTs) into three low SES classroom programmes and found that the associated classroom messages greatly enhanced the students' engagement in learning and their view of themselves as learners. This approach worked better than the traditional approaches because students created multimodal texts that changed what was seen as legitimate school texts and thus credited them as literate individuals. This paper discusses students as co-constructors of knowledge, who used ICTs for an authentic purpose. It considers changes in students' engagement and achievement as the result of shifts in the pedagogic discourse and the way that the discourses of power played out in the classrooms, via the messages students received about their knowledge, ability, control, voice and place. The multiliteracies-based unit of work utilising ICTs provided spaces for students to develop new literacy practices and to view school as a place for them.
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