Digital Language Experience Approach

I found a great article on-line called “Digital Language Experience Approach: Using Digital Photographs and Software as a Language Experience Approach Innovation.” I really related to this article, because it was a real-life case study that explored ways in which digital photography could enhance the literacy learning of kindergarten students. The article begins by giving you a snapshot of the classroom. The teacher was using a traditional, research based approach to teaching literacy to her kindergarten students called The Language Experience Approach (LEA…I was not familiar with this approach, so for more information click the highlighted link). She had given an assignment for the students to draw and write about what they want to be when they grow up and allowed them to work together in a small group. The group we zone in on is of three girls, all of varying backgrounds/ethnicities and literacy levels. The teacher believes that they are all working together to help one another, but as often happens in the classroom, the teacher is not able to fully “see” everything that is going on. Once they are finished with their small group time, the teacher calls them back to the whole group for them to share what they have drawn and written. Two of the girls share their stories and the third little girl (the lowest) is embarrassed by her drawing and string of letters. When the teacher calls on her, she responds by saying she doesn’t know what she drew and that she doesn’t like it. As a teacher of young children, it absolutely broke my heart to read that! So the research team that has been observing the class decided to step in and work with the teacher to try a new approach: The DIGITAL Language Experience Approach.

The teacher in this study was like most teachers. She wanted to incorporate technology into her daily literacy routine, but didn’t know how. “She indicated that she had very little district- or school-level support for using available technologies. More important, she had little time to figure out ways to integrate computer technologies into literacy experiences, such as LEA, on her own” (Labbo, Eakle, & Montero 2002). Sound familiar??!!? This is where the researchers stepped in. They suggested that “computer technologies may play an important role in facilitating or transforming LEA [because] multimedia features of word-processing and “creativity software” (tools for drawing, creating graphics, importing video animations, adding sound, utilizing speech synthesis, and writing) offer a unique means of support for young children’s efforts to compose stories” (Labbo, Eakle, & Montero 2002).

The researchers began to study the three original girls, one of high literacy abilities, one of average abilities, and one of low abilities, to try to find the answer to the following question, “What are the opportunities for literacy development among young children of different literacy abilities when digital photography and creativity software are employed in a Language Experience Approach?” (Labbo, Eakle, & Montero 2002).

Here is an overview of The Digital Language Approach (Labbo, Eakle, & Montero 2002):

What Is the Digital Language Experience Approach?

Setting up the Experience 1. The teacher or the teacher and student(s) together select a stimulus experience (teacher offers suggestions, scouts out a location, discusses expectations for students, gathers materials, decides the duration of the activity, etc.). 2. Teacher and students make decisions about picture taking: Who will direct photographing (when and which activities) The type of photographs that will be taken (candid or posed) The number of photographs to be taken Photographing the Experience 3. Children engage in the stimulus activity. 4. Teacher photographs children engaging in the stimulus activity, using a digital camera. Composing a Multimedia Story or Photo Essay 5. Children use digital photographs to prepare for composing by Importing photos into creativity software Viewing photographs and recalling the stimulus experience Discussing and selecting photographs that may best tell the story Arranging photographs in sequence or story board 6. Children compose a story about the stimulus experience: Teacher types student dictation for each photograph (or student types with teacher support) Teacher (or computer voice synthesizer, if available) reads the text Children decide if ideas are stated appropriately; if not, revisions are made on screen and on the spot As an optional extension, children multimedia effects to enhance the story (music, sound effects, animation) Children may record their voices reading the story Engaging in Follow-Up Activities 7. Children interact with the story for additional literacy learning: Multimedia interactions -- children may read chorally with the multimedia story on screen, echo read, listen to the story read aloud by different voice synthesizer characters, etc. Teacher may make print-outs for each student to encourage reading at the word level and to promote fluency Stories may be saved on the computer or in print form as student or class sets of stories for review or as reading practice materials

Each of the three researchers took one girl to work one-on-one with, outside of the regular classroom environment (they worked in the hallway). All of the girls enjoyed working with the digital camera and editing software. Their favorite program seemed to be Kid Pix. The digital software and specialized adult attention gave them more confidence with their abilities (especially the lowest girl) and kept them highly engaged in the activity. Obviously, this was not a real-world scenario, but it did lead the researchers to the following conclusions (Labbo, Eakle, & Montero 2002):

• Technology allows quick access to photographs through use of a digital camera
• Digital photos serve as a memory link to a child’s experiences (including those experiences that occurred over time)
• Digital photos are tangible prompts for descriptive language
• Digital photos are a tool children can use to organize a sequence of events
• Children can manipulate digital images for various purposes (e.g., stamping a portrait, labeling a diagram, writing a story about a photo)
• Multimedia interactions support development of multiple modalities for communications
• Software supports recursive and on-the-spot revising
• Voice synthesizers that read on-screen text make stories accessible to children who cannot read conventionally
• Publishing features allow children to engage in follow-up activities at their skill level

I believe that those reasons are proof enough to begin/keep trying. We all want our students to be proud of their work and in turn themselves. It seems that working with the digital software helps them to achieve that goal. I think having a parent/older student as a volunteer once a week to work on activities like this would be well worth their time. A teacher could also model how to use the features of a particular program (you could set the photo and just allow them to do the editing) and then allow students to work in pairs on the editing/publishing process. How exciting! I will end with this awesome quote from Labbo, Eakle, & Montero, “What I think about, I can talk about. What I can see in a digital photograph, I can talk about and remember. What I can say, I can write down. What I can write down, I can revise on screen. What I can write I can read or have read to me by the computer. I can read what others write for me to read” (2002).

Reference

Labbo, L.D., Eakle, A.J., & Montero, M.K. (2002, May). Digital language experience

approach: using digital photographs and software as a language experience approach innovation. Reading Online, 5(8). Retrieved March 14, 2008, from http://www.readingonline.org/electronic/labbo2/