Among witches and dragons: Young students creating fairy tales with digital tools

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of digital tools, such as tablets, in the early years of schooling underscores the need for teachers to find ways of integrating such tools to leverage students’ capabilities in meaningful participation and learning activities (cf Beam & Williams 2015). The study focuses on the potential of digital tools in promoting learning and interaction, specifically in text creation during early school years (pre-school and early primary school). Based on data from two small-scale studies involving students creating fairy tales in groups using a digital application, we recorded video footage to facilitate a detailed analysis of students' multimodal interaction (speech, gestures, gazes, bodily actions). The research questions guiding the study are i) how do the students position themselves and each other during the activities?, ii) what literacy skills emerge during the activities?

The study draws on social semiotics (Halliday 1978, Kress 2010) and interaction theory (e.g., Goodwin 2018). We investigated how the students interacted with each other and the available resources (e.g., the digital tablet) and to what extent they engaged in basic reading and writing skills and showed knowledge about the fairy tale as a genre. The students’ multimodal interaction was analysed using tools from Goodwin’s interaction theory (e.g., Goodwin 2018) while student texts were analysed through systemic-functional grammar (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014).

Preliminary results indicate that i) students positioned themselves through bodily action related to the tablet and to each other, but also through words, ii) basic reading and writing skills enabled power in relation to one’s peers and the task, iii) in preschool class, the keyboard appears to promote writing, and iv) the pupils reveal basic knowledge about different traits of fairy tales.