Observing the students’ interaction with computers in the classroom

The following paragraphs will examine the notes from my observations and apply those to the findings from the student survey. Considering the fact that the observations happened in the classroom, the notes will not be able to expand on the data from question 1-4 in the student survey, since those findings are related to computer activities in an out-of-school context.

Keep in mind that the notes are limited to only three sessions, and are not representative for all English lessons or students in vg1.

When it comes to computer related activities in the English subject, the findings from the student survey showed that the majority of the respondents reported to use computers in nearly every English lesson. The teacher from the first round of observation had explained prior to the lesson that this particular English lesson might not apply ICT to the same extent as it usually would (Appendix 7). The first instance where ICT appears is in the beginning of class. The students were reading Roald Dahl’s tale of ‘The Ant-Eater’ in pairs. The teacher turned on the projector to illustrate one of the main topics of the lesson, which was the two

variations of spoken and written English that are most commonly used: American English and British English. The teacher used the Cambridge Dictionaries and used some examples from the text the students had read (Appendix 7, nr. 8). The Cambridge Dictionaries showed the difference in spelling of the examples from the text. Additionally one could press a speaker-icon next to the words to hear how the words were pronounced with the two variations of English.

The second instance of ICT application was related to using text production program (Word) to write a summary of ‘The Ant-Eater’ (Appendix 7, nr. 12). One student opened Facebook almost immediately after retrieving the computer from the backpack. The student browsed the newsfeed for a few minutes, before the Internet browser was shut down. Another student opened Spotify and put on a headset. The most remarkable discovery I made was that seven out of twenty eight student wrote the summary on paper. Either the students did not have the computer with them or they simply chose to use the good old pen and paper. Either way it was a surprise to find students who did not do the task on a computer, which of my understanding is one of the most common ways computers are utilized in English lessons. It is also surprising because the results of the students survey claimed that fifty-eight students used Word in English lessons. However, few respondents to the survey claimed to use computers in every English lesson, which suggests this lesson could have been one of the lessons where these seven students did not use computers. The notes cannot say for certain why the students did not use computers during that lesson, due to the fact that I collected the notes a silent observer rather than a participatory observer (Crano et al. 259). Some students finished their summary early and spent the rest of the writing session on Facebook and 9gag (Appendix 7, nr. 15). The writing session is the only instance where students interact personally with computers. The teacher was responsible for all other computer related activities during that lesson.

The second round of observation were similar to the first one in relation to student interaction with computers. The intended purpose for the present lesson was to write an essay on a topic of their preference (Appendix 8, nr 13). Most of the time students interacted with computers involved using Word to complete the task assigned to them. However, there were a few instances that were not related to the subject. I observed one student who used a digital drawing board to create drawings directly on the computer (Appendix 8, nr. 3). Another student spent almost the entire lesson watching a TV-show on Netflix (Appendix 8, nr. 19), while a third student watched YouTube videos (nr. 20). Some of the students had logged on Its Learning and retrieved the PowerPoint presentation the teacher had used earlier in class to

show the students how to write essays and articles (Appendix 8, nr. 18). So far my observation seemed to validate the data from question 6 with regards to what students do when they use computers in class. Additionally the observations support the findings in question 7, in which Word was rated as the most frequently used at approximately thirty-two minutes per lesson.

The third and final session started out much like the previous one. The teacher made sure the students continued on the essay they had started on the previous lesson, and spent the first ten minutes to walk around the classroom and answer questions. The teacher left soon after, for reasons I will not divulge, and the school had not provided a substitute teacher for this lesson, which meant that I was alone with the students (Appendix 9, nr. 4). The number of students engaging with extracurricular computer activities increased throughout the lesson.

Two students the majority of the class drawing, one of which was the same student who had used the digital drawing board in the previous lesson (nr. 7). Likewise, the student who spent most of the last lesson watching TV-shows spent more or less the entire lesson on Netflix (Appendix 9, nr. 8). I also observed that although some students kept writing the essay there were more instances of social media this time (nr. 12). Students who had finished their essay either started talking with other students, or they would check their social media sites and similar webpages (nr. 10). Without the presence of a teacher, the students were free to use their computers however they wanted, as long as the assignment was finished before the next lesson (nr. 4). The findings from this session are more difficult to compare to the data in the student survey because the situations I observed were exceptions to regular lessons. Under normal circumstances the teacher would be present, or have a substitute teacher take his or her place to make sure the students did what was asked of them. The second session showed that students in some cases would engage in activities that are irrelevant to the lesson regardless of the presence of a teacher.

However, the observations I made in the last session indicated that the absence of a teacher could cause an increase of non-educational computer activities, seeing as no one was there to guide the students, who engaged with such activities, back to the task at hand. It suggests that teachers of the English subject need to focus on teaching the students to assess the context in which they are learning and apply digital tools accordingly. That is not to say that social media, YouTube, blogs, etc. cannot be useful in language acquisition. The main idea of teaching English is for the students to be able to communicate fluently and efficiently in English, and as I established in chapter 2 English is the most spoken language on the Internet. It is increasingly becoming the most applied language in international, business and

politics. Social media and discussion forums are just examples of online contexts where communication in English can happen. However, in an educational setting even

communication through social media and online forums require a modicum of structured language, which relates to the competence aims for written communication in the subject curriculum (LK06/13, the English subject curriculum). The students need to learn how

different contexts demand different ways of applying ICT, and that online communication and interaction do not absolve them from behaving according to social norms (see chapter 2 on digital Bildung). It is the teacher’s job to ensure that the students are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to participate in and continue the development of society.

4.5 Teacher Interviews – thoughts on the role of ICT in relation to the English subject