A Literature Review: The Impacts of Digital Tools on the Process of Teaching and Learning in

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School Language Arts Classes 111
selected studies in which the abstracts included one or more of the following terms: digital
literacy, new literacies, technology in literacy education, language arts and technology,
multiliteracies, multimodal literacies, and digital tools. I chose these terms because they
represents and identify studies, which were done associated with digital literacy and its
components. As for journals, I searched The Reading Teacher, Journal of Adolescent & Adult
Literacy, Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Literacy Research, Language Arts, and The
Journal of Literacy and Technology to find relevant works for this review. Studies that were
found in these databases and journals were explored according to my research questions:
1. What are the impacts of digital tools on the process of teaching and
learning in middle school language arts classes?
As a result, 19 articles were found. These articles were examined in terms of their
research problems, theories, methodologies, and results. Research findings regarding digital
literacies were synthesized to help educators. For example, language arts teachers in middle
schools may be very aware of the importance and value of digital tools in teaching and learning
processes. They also may get information about how digital literacies can be integrated with
curriculums.
In the following sections, I will address related articles’ outcomes in connection with my
research question. I will address my findings under eight main titles. Finally, I will discuss
existing studies to expose research gaps pertaining in order to using digital tools in language arts
classrooms.
The Impacts of Digital Tools on Teaching and Learning Processes and
Environments
Integrating Literacy Practices
Students are expected different roles when using digital tools in language arts
classrooms. They should participate in the learning process actively. They also should use their
digital and literacy skills in this process to show their abilities and learning levels. Gunter (2012)
called these students ‘apprentice producers’. Additionally, she asserted that through authentic
literacy practices, students improve their literacy skills by ‘being producers’ . When doing this,
students experience different literacy practices. For example, in her study, in order to create a
digital video about a book, students used their print-based, oral, writing, academic, and digital
literacy skills and abilities. The studies show that the same skills are used in different video
creating studies (Spires, Hervey, Morris, & Stelpflug, 2012; Ranker, 2008).
For instance, in Spire, Hervey, Morris, and Stelpflug’s (2012) study, the researchers
state, “as a result of emerging technologies prompting new avenues for teaching and learning,
students are positioned to ‘create’ to learn”. In addition to video-creating studies,
Mahiri’s
(2006)’digital DJ-ing’ is a good example to show how students create multimodal texts
via
digital technologies. Through this project, students improved their research, presentation, digital
literacy, and collaboration skills by creating multimodal texts (Mahiri, 2006). These studies
showed that both in creating and producing processes, students explore different literacy
practices via technologic tools. Thus, on one-hand students gain content knowledge; on the other
hand they create or produce different contents by using their knowledge.
Different digital tools allow students to explore different literacy practices. One of these
tools is “podcasts”. Podcasts are a kind of audio file and “podcasting involves recording a series
of spoken language or other sound files in digital format and then uploading each file to the
Internet and making them freely available to listeners to download or play on their computer”
(Lankshear and Knobel, 2006). Podcasts studies include different literacy practices. For
instance, Smythe and Neufeld (2010) integrated reading, writing and oral literacy practices by
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using podcasting. According to Lankshear and Knobel (2006), people use these literacy
practices every day, however, technology attaches digital aspects into these practices through
digital tools.
As for different literacy practices, students use critical literacy abilities when they use
online web sites, in the most part, search engines. After they search on web sites such as Google,
Yahoo or Bing, they may face a great volume of knowledge on a single topic. Therefore, they
need to use their critical literacy abilities. To overcome this problem, McKeon (2010) suggests
that teachers should organize their lessons to “not only capture the motivating nature of
electronic text for students, but also develop critical thinking skills that they will need to
effectively read, manage, organize, and evaluate the electronic text that they will encounter in
the ever-changing technological World”. In addition to critical evaluation, Henry (2006) also
suggested that “Internet information is often extracted from numerous sources; therefore,
synthesis of that information is essential”.
Another important study that addressed digital tools and literacy practices was done by
Warschauer (2008). In this study, the researcher used laptops as digital tools. In the teaching and
learning process of reading, laptops provided changes scaffolding, epistemic engagement, and
page to screen. Since Internet access helped teachers to use different texts and special programs
to increase students’ background knowledge, using laptops extended teachers’ scaffolding
activities. Epistemic engagement refers to literacy activities where “texts are used for students to
demonstrate what they do or do not know”. Laptops provided new advantages for ‘epistemic
literacy activities’ since students could engage in different literacy practices such as reading,
writing, discussing, interpreting, or listening. Teachers mentioned that these scaffolding and
engagement activities motivated lower-performing readers. The third benefit of laptops in the
reading process was to give opportunities to students for online reading practices.When we
consider that today many students engage in online reading practices out of school, such
activities in the school may improve students’ online reading skills. Online reading skills
are
more complex and differ from print based reading skills (Coiro, 2011). According to Coiro and
Dobler (2007) reading comprehension on the Internet and reading comprehension of printed
informational texts have similarities and differences which are related to prior knowledge
sources, inferential reasoning and self-regulated reading strategies.When it comes to the impacts
of prior knowledge on online reading, Coiro (2011) found that “topic-specific knowledge played
a significant role in online reading comprehension among readers with low levels of online
reading skills, prior knowledge did not appear to influence online reading comprehension
performance among readers with average and high levels of online reading skills”
Rowsell and Burke studied two middle schools literacy learners’ digital reading
practices in 2009. They examined students digital literacy practices and they asserted based on
their findings that:
To understand the complexities of reading online, teachers need to
understand how the reading of linear print text forms differs from the reading of
digital texts. Digital text depends more readily on the design and representation
of language and thus requires a semiotic understanding on the part of the reader.
Online reading trajectories offer multiple genres and cross genres, often
extended through the creator’s distribution of site. . . This means that reading
content online requires a repertoire of skills, from interpreting visual clues, to
mastering the nuances of subtext, to following ideas in a nonlinear fashion, to
decoding simple reading. (Rowsell & Burke, 2009)
From this perspective, Mahiri (2009) claimed that digital environments provide different
and ‘multiple semiotic domains. Since teachers’ and students’ roles have changed during
this
process, new pedagogies should be used to address these roles .
A Literature Review: The Impacts of Digital Tools on the Process of Teaching and Learning in
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Digital tools provide different literacy practices because these tools move the teaching
and learning environment to different platforms. For example, online learning communities are a
good opportunity for educators to create collaborative, social and interactive learning
environments. Larson carried out an important study in online learning communities in 2009. In
her study, she used ‘e-reading and e-responding’ digital strategies. While E-books were used for
e reading, electronic journals and online message boards were used for e-responding. In this
online learning environment, students constructed different types of prompts such as
“experiential, aesthetic, cognitive, interpretive, and clarification prompts.” Thus, these tools
provided a holistic approach to address e-books from different aspects. As Larson (2009) stated
since these tools gave more time for students to think deeply about their responses, they created
a more conversational and interactive environment. This case “promoted socially constructed
learning”
Laptops also expend and facilitate writing activities. In Warschauer’s (2008) study,
laptops helped students to find information about content, engage in collaborative working, and
share their writings. In addition to that, since writing was used for real purposes, through these
activities students experience authentic writing literacy practices. Furthermore, laptops helped
students with information and communication literacies such as “individualized learning,
conducting research, empirical investigation, and in-depth learning” (Warschauer, 2008).
Nowadays, many schools use iPads or tablet computers rather than desktop computers.
As with other digital tools, iPads, too, provides different literacy practices for learners such as
online or screen reading and writing, and visual literacies. For instance, Hutchison, Beschorner,
and Crawford (2012) used iPads in their study, and they noticed that iPads gave opportunities for
students to organize information by using a graphic organizer. Additionally ipads motivated
students in terms of independent reading, and supported them to easily reread and revise their
studies easily Thus, all these activities promote students’ 21st-century literacy skills.

Writing Practices
While some studies integrate literacy practices, some studies only focus on writing
practices. For instance, Witte (2007) studied online writing practices through blogs and the
“Talkback Project.” In this project, 8th grade students and pre-service teachers worked together.
Witte focused on collaboration and conversations during the project. Pre-service teachers helped
students to start online conversations which provide inter-textual relationships on the blogs.
With this project, students explored distinctive reading, digital, and online written literacy
practices. According to Witte (2007), this project provided “opportunities for students and future
educators to develop their digital fluency while also strengthening their traditional literacy
skills”.
Likewise, McGrail and Davis (2011) used blogs to explore blogs’ impacts on 5th-graders
students’ writing development. They found that blogs are providing a tool for students to
connect with real audiences. Previously, teachers were mostly the audience of writing
assignments. However, by using blogs students realized that “out there was an audience other
than the teacher and that they, as writers, were in a relationship with this audience” (McGrail &
Davis, 2011). In this case, students were much mindful and interactive and so “writing assumed
completely new meanings for these students” (McGrail & Davis, 2011).
In a different study, Atkinson and Swaggerty (2011) used a different kind of blog which
is called a “scrapblog.” Students could also add photos to their writing by using this blog. With
the help of an ‘expert colleague,’ students could work collaboratively. Atkinson and Swaggerty
(2011) state that “to integrate technology into classes create differentiating instruction, a tool to
learn content areas, meaningful assessment, and student centered environment” .
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Online writing or computer-based studies generally used qualitative methods (McGrail
& Davis, 2011; Atkinson & Swaggerty, 2011; Witte, 2007). As a quantitative study, Silvernail
and Gritter (2005) showed the impacts of using laptops on 7th and 8th grade students’ writing. In
this program, technology was integrated into the curriculum. Likert type scale results showed
that teachers and students believed that using laptops in the teaching and learning process
improved students’ learning (Silvernail & Gritter, 2005). Laptops also positively affected
students’ state writing exam scores. Students’ survey results showed that students used laptops
mostly for “draft and final copy or final copy only or draft only” (Silvernail & Gritter, 2005).
In this review, qualitative studies show us how digital tools change the audience of the
writing process (McGrail & Davis, 2011; Atkinson & Swaggerty, 2011; Witte, 2007). This case
leads to authentic writing practices. Since students can create their writings in and out of school
contexts, they have enough time to revise their works deeply. Aside from the Atkinson and
Swaggerty (2011) study, other studies do not have much information about how teachers
integrate technology with their programs. In this regard, Atkinson & Swaggerty (2011) used
Mishra and Koehler’s (2006) Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) model.
This model also was used by the other digital literacy study that was examined in this review
(Hutchison, Beschorner & Schmidt‐Crawford, 2012).

Integrating Literacy Practices at Home and School Environments

The significant purpose of digital tools is to enable both teachers and students to
conveniently reach sources that are a bridge between home and school. These sources are related
to students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Digital tools create an effective learning
environment for students who come from minority cultural and linguistic backgrounds (Ranker,
2008).
The content of digital literacy studies should be arranged to address students’ out of
school literacies. For example, Smythe and Neufeld (2010) allowed students to use home,
school, community and popular culture resources in their podcast study. This case helped the
teacher to differentiate between the classic school curriculums by using multimodal and digital
technologies and the students found a place for their voice.
According to Hull and Schultz (2001), digital literacies provide useful ways of
constructing a bridge between in and out of school literacies. However, we, as educators, should
prepare teachers to consider what the literacy is in this new digital age. Additionally, schools
that have rich technological advantages should be constructed to provide more opportunities for
more students
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289307925_A_LITERATURE_REVIEW_THE_IMPACTS
_OF_DIGITAL_TOOLS_ON_THE_PROCESS_OF_TEACHING_AND_LEARNING_IN_MIDDLE_SCHOOL
_LANGUAGE_ARTS_CLASSES_ORTAOKUL_ANA_DIL_DERSLERINDE_KULLANILAN_DIJITAL_ARACL
ARIN_OGRENME_VE_OGR
The Definitions of Digital Literacy
Before I state my research questions, I would like to explore the definitions of digital
literacies. I used definition as plural because digital literacy as a notion is addressed from
different points by different researchers. Additionally, since there is a direct relationship between
digital tools and digital literacy, I addressed the notion of digital literacy in my study. In the
following paragraphs, I will explore how other researchers define the concept of digital literacy
as skill, ability, capability, and social practices.
Lankshear and Knobel (2008) examined many definitions of digital literacy from a
sociocultural view, they then define “digital literacy as a shorthand for the myriad social
practices and conceptions of engaging in meaning making mediated by text that are produced,
received, distributed, exchanged, etc., via digital codification,” and they mentioned “blogs, video
games, text messages, online social network pages, discussion forums, internet memes, FAQs,
and online search results” as examples of digital literacy tools. These tools provide students
digital environments for literacy practices. These literacy “practices are the social
processes
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which connect people with one another, and they include shared cognitions represented in
ideologies and social identities” (Barton & Hamilton, 2000).
Buckingham (2008) claims that digital literacy is more than having basic skills that are
necessary to use digital tools. According to him, in addition to functional skills such as “how to
use a computer, and a keyboard, or how to do online searches”, digital literacy also includes
critical thinking abilities such as how “to evaluate and use information critically if they are to
transform it into knowledge” . Thus, digitally literate people can evaluate information as
to
whether the source is reliable or not and address this information from different point of views
such as social, political, or gender biases. In this sense, as Morrel (2012) states language arts
classes should help students to “understand the affordance and constraints of new
communication” and information technologies and teach them to evaluate information or
message in these Technologies.
Littlejohn, Beetham, and McGill (2012) define digital literacy as “capabilities required
to thrive in and beyond education, in an age when digital forms of information and
communication predominate”. From this aspect, digital literacies are not just related to
educational contexts; moreover they are everywhere that there is digital communication and
interaction.
Gilster (1997) defines digital literacy as an ability “to understand and use information in
multiple formats from a wide range of sources” that come from digital tools. A digital read on
literacy also involves being able to understand a problem and develop a set of questions that will
solve that information need” He also mentioned the importance of critical thinking when
information in the Internet is used.
Martin (2008) combined the definitions of digital literacy in terms of skill, competence,
critical thinking, ability, and capability in his conceptualization, stating that digital literacy:
“is the awareness, attitude and ability of individuals to appropriately use
digital tools and facilities to identify, access, manage, integrate, evaluate,
analyze and synthesize digital resources, construct new knowledge, create media
expressions, and communicate with others, in the context of specific life
situations, in order to enable constructive social action; and to reflect upon this
process” .
The lengthy lists of actions that make up digital literacies, as taken from Martin (2008),
highlight the complexity of the current definitions of digital literacies. These definitions show
that in this information and communication era, digital literacies as ability, capability, skill, and
social practice have important roles in the process of meaning making. Therefore, it should be
part of the contemporary education systems and curriculums.

2. METHOD
This literature review was designed to examine the existing studies in the field of
technology in language arts classes in terms of designing a new research(es) about integrating
digital tools into middle school language arts curriculum. Related experimental studies that were
done in middle schools between 2003 and 2013 were chosen for this review. Since the middle
school includes fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades in Turkey, the studies that focused on
these grades were chosen.
In this review, these online databases and search engines were used to gather data:
Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), Academic Search Complete, Education
Research Complete, JSTOR, ProQuest, ScienceDirect, Springer Link, and Google Scholar. I
A Literature Review: The Impacts of Digital Tools on the Process of Teaching and Learning in
Middle
School Language Arts Classes 111
selected studies in which the abstracts included one or more of the following terms: digital
literacy, new literacies, technology in literacy education, language arts and technology,
multiliteracies, multimodal literacies, and digital tools. I chose these terms because they
represents and identify studies, which were done associated with digital literacy and its
components. As for journals, I searched The Reading Teacher, Journal of Adolescent & Adult
Literacy, Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Literacy Research, Language Arts, and The
Journal of Literacy and Technology to find relevant works for this review. Studies that were
found in these databases and journals were explored according to my research questions:
1. What are the impacts of digital tools on the process of teaching and
 learning in middle school language arts classes?
As a result, 19 articles were found. These articles were examined in terms of their
research problems, theories, methodologies, and results. Research findings regarding digital
literacies were synthesized to help educators. For example, language arts teachers in middle
schools may be very aware of the importance and value of digital tools in teaching and learning
processes. They also may get information about how digital literacies can be integrated with
curriculums.
In the following sections, I will address related articles’ outcomes in connection with my
research question. I will address my findings under eight main titles. Finally, I will discuss
existing studies to expose research gaps pertaining in order to using digital tools in language arts
classrooms

* University of Kentucky, Ph.D. Candidate, School of Education-Department of Curriculum and

Instruction,
fatih.destebasi@uky.edu


December 2015

Authors:

Fatih Destebasi

 University of Kentucky