Young L2-learners' meaning-making in engaging in computer-assisted language learning

Abstract

<p>This study explores how newly arrived young students created meaning, communicated, and expressed themselves using digital technology in the subject of Swedish as a second language (SSL). The qualitative case study presented in this article focuses on how the orchestration of teaching contributed to opportunities for digital meaning-making in the SSL subject in four classrooms at three schools in a city in Sweden. The notion of language as being fluid, which involves a critical approach to languages as separable entities, considers linguistic and embodied meaning-making, including digital technology, in social processes. This approach recognizes the roles of technology and digital meaning-making in young students’ second language acquisition. Moreover, technological innovations facilitate immediate and accessible communication. In today’s language studies, ethnicity only is not considered an adequate focus of analysis. Furthermore, the meaning-making practices of newly arrived primary school-aged students remain under-investigated. In the present study, data collected in classroom observations and teacher interviews revealed three themes regarding the students’ utilization of digital technology to develop their multilingual skills. One insight was that the newly arrived students used digital technology strategically when they engaged in meaning-making activities with peers and teachers. When the students took the initiative in computer-assisted language learning, they displayed agency in meaning-making by being their own architects. The findings of this research provided insights into how the orchestration of teaching in Swedish as a second language to newly arrived students affects their opportunities to use multilingualism in meaning-making while employing digital technology.</p>

Google Translate and Biliterate Composing: Second‐Graders' Use of Digital Translation Tools to Support Bilingual Writing

“…Students who were emerging speakers of languages used Google Translate to (a) create texts in their heritage languages, and (b) create texts in multiple, new languages. First, many students who were emerging users of a language drew on Google Translate as a means of supporting their composing in that language (Hell et al., 2021; Rowe, 2020). These students reported that they mostly used English at home, but at times used a language beyond English with family members.…”

“…Students also used Google Translate to interact with peers. Rather than serving a purely functional/communicative purpose (Hell et al., 2021), in these cases, the tool enabled students to (a) share moments of enjoyment, (b) play with languages, and (c) gain one another's attention. This pattern expands existing conversations about digital translation tools as supportive of language and literacy practices to illustrate how, as a placed resource, students were also constructing social uses for the tool.…”

“…(2021) describe how monolingual teachers used Google Translate to design lesson plans that included the use of multiple languages. Students who were emerging users of a language have also been documented using Google Translate as a tool to communicate with their teachers (Prince, 2017) or peers (Hell, Godhe, & Brante, 2021). In addition to facilitating communication, several scholars suggest that digital translation tools can support emergent bilingual students' English vocabulary acquisition by providing in‐the‐moment translation support (Dalton & Grisham, 2011; Liu, Navarrete, & Wivagg, 2014; Prince, 2017).…”

“…In addition to facilitating communication, several scholars suggest that digital translation tools can support emergent bilingual students' English vocabulary acquisition by providing in‐the‐moment translation support (Dalton & Grisham, 2011; Liu, Navarrete, & Wivagg, 2014; Prince, 2017). Importantly, a few studies suggest that, when writing, students' use of digital translation tools might also support their composing in multiple languages (Hell et al., 2021; Rowe, 2020), although more research is needed describing how students use the tool in this way.…”

Disrupting Monolingual Ideologies: Constructing Biliterate Composing Practices in a Second‐grade Classroom

“…This created opportunities for conversations about language differences, as well as for students to draw flexibly across their linguistic repertoires to make meaning (Ascenzi-Moreno and Espinosa, 2018). Teachers also supported students' use of translation tools like Google Translate to support their multilingual composing (Hell et al, 2021), which opened space for students to learn and try out composing in new languages, such as Chinese. Finally, at times teachers offered support by directing students towards outside resources, such as family or community members, to seek help with composing in languages beyond English (Fishman, 2021).…”