Four Peruvian pre-service teachers and their use of digital communication

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate what happens when pre-service teachers use technology to communicate. From mid-May 2012 until mid-August 2012 (with some extended sessions), four Peruvian pre-service teachers used Facebook and other social and electronic media to express their ideas and to communicate with other users. Multiple sources of data were analyzed via the typological method and by using the sociocultural and multiliteracies theoretical frameworks. The findings suggest that the Peruvian pre-service teachers practiced conventional thinking, reading, and writing strategies (in addition to the more obvious new literacies), when engaged in social media. The materials that the preservice teachers read and posted were mostly visual and multimodal, although personality, background, and culture seemed to have influenced how each participant read and wrote on social networks. In each of the cases, audience consideration and peer learning were driving forces during the practice of the aforementioned strategies. Based on these findings, recommendations for teaching include the incorporation of social media in university and school classrooms. These will allow for more authentic writing and reading experiences and hence more motivation on the one hand and sociocultural learning on the other. Recommendations for further research include more specific investigation on the way that personality, background, gender and culture might affect the strategies that are practiced, while reading and writing on Facebook.