Second Language Proficiency, Academic Language, and Digital Literacy for LESLLA Learners

Abstract

This research highlights the challenge of providing digital literacy instruction in a second language to adult learners who may have had limited formal education. Animating the work is the view that success in classroom learning is linked to proficiency with linguistic structures constituting the academic language of a context (Schleppegrell, 2004) and that instructional strategies and resources mediate learning (Vygotsky, 1987). Two questions guided the study: what are the linguistic structures evident in classroom discourse on basic computer skills; and what instructional strategies promote proficiency of this academic language? The goal of the analysis was to develop an awareness of the linguistic features defining the ‘field’ of the context (Schleppegrell, 2004) and then to identify interactions whereby teachers made them accessible to learners. Findings support the strategy of explicit vocabulary introduction preceding or provided in correspondence with computer skill instruction, and provision of ample opportunities to practice and deepen knowledge of skills and vocabulary to a conceptual level.