A Review of Discourse Analysis in Literacy Research: Equitable Access

 

How does discourse analysis research address movement within and across literacy sites and practices in a contemporary, globalized, and increasingly digitally influenced world?

Article Source: Rex, L., M. Bunn, B. Davila, H. Dickinson, A. Ford, C. Gerben, M. Orzulak, and H. Thomson. "A Review of Discourse Analysis in Literacy Research: Equitable Access. " Reading Research Quarterly  45.1 (2010): 94-115. ProQuest Education Journals, ProQuest. Web.  12 Jul. 2010

Equitable Access is defined as the equality of [internet] access or access to technologies used in school by all districts to all students, or (to furtherer the connection between equitable access and the digital divide) the access of the haves to the have nots out of school as opposed to in school. The growing gap between media literacy and multimodality, according to the article, is a direct result of those who are positioned to have access to these new technologies and those who are not.

The authors of this article made an interesting point to start their section on equitable access in a digitally influenced world, and that is: within the household, family members often place themselves into a digitally-literate hierarchy (based on who knows how to use the most technologies such as TV, Internet, Video Games), the more literate of the parents or guardians are often the ones who controls who uses which of these media’s when, or for how long. Growing up in my household, my parents used the internet sparingly, with minimal literacy for mainly just for Email and entertainment, while I had extensive knowledge of various hardware and software, even as a high school student. To mirror the conclusion from the study, my parents hardly ever told me what I could use or when. In fact, the technology lessons I was learning in school made me the most digital-literate member of the household which gave me a great upper hand in teaching these technologies to family members, helping maintain our home computer, network, safety, and internet infrastructure, and served as a bragging-right conversational piece amongst my parents and friends who had kids about my age at the time. If anything, the digital roles where reversed and my parents were the ones coming to me for help!

Although the example I provided of my own family rings true for many households across the country as our students become more technology literate, The authors of my article warn that the digital divide is not simply generational. Instead, a digital divide can occur when any technology resource, tool, software, hardware, or device in unavailable to a user when it is desired or needed. For example, they cite foreign language speakers learning English as a second language as an example. Inequitable access to language learning tools prove to be further educational burdens, and can thus widen the gap of the digital divide. Being technology literate does a student no good if the necessary resources are not available for use.

The part I found most interesting about the article was the conclusion that through texting and instant messaging, today’s students are gaining economical experience by playing multiple roles in a capitalistic society through mutli-tasking. '

“In a follow-up article on the same study, Jacobs (2006) further examined how multitasking youth were being prepared to become "shape-shifting portfolio persons" (a concept from Gee, 2000c), who can play the roles of "consumer, producer, and distributor" (p. 171) by building collaborative and interactive abilities as well as collecting, assembling, and distributing skills required by fast capitalism. Jacobs concluded that activities like instant messaging may provide young people with more options for economic success within a fast capitalist, information-based economy than it might people who lack access to the practices and roles afforded by a digital literacy such as instant messaging.”

While Instant messaging was a fully integral part of my college experience, having my buddy list loaded to my screen 24 hours a day 7 days a week, I was not aware that this social-pass-time had such a high educational value!The benefits of such a social activity mirror the arguments of a few of the educational videos we watched in class, asking institutions to rethink their curriculum based on a 21st century learners in school habits verse out of school habits. This thinking supports the articles Home/school mismatch hypothesis. When students are not given equitable access in school, or teachers/schools/districts are not integrating technology into their curriculum, students are not only stepping back into the 20th century when they enter classroom doors, but we are now also asking them to learn and do things that they are not doing on a daily basis and may have no future utility to their lives.

However, the argument of equality wages on even further; if instant messaging, video gaming, computer use, and texting are indeed providing base skills that can be translated to education, than once again the digital divide opens between the haves and have-nots. While some students may be privileged enough to own a computer and cell phone and can partake in these digital activities, then what about those of less fortunate situations that cannot? Should they be punished for their lack of possessions, or is it on the school to determine the amount of equitable access in which it will provide? Can public school afford to play the role of miracle workers by providing the equipment, skills, and training to all who need it? Only time will tell, however, the article ends by saying that the footwork has certainly shifted and blue-print is starting to take shape for a closing digital divide and a new, multilingual, digital classroom.