Mapping elementary school students’ preferences for mass cultural literacy practices

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MAPPING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PREFERENCES FOR MASSCULTURAL LITERACY PRACTICES1 Vasia Tsami University of Patras [email protected]

Argiris Archakis University of Patras [email protected]

Anna Fterniati University of Patras [email protected]

Dimitris Papazachariou University of Patras [email protected]

Villy Tsakona Democritus University of Thrace [email protected]

Abstract The aim of the present study is to explore students’ preferences in literacy practices related to mass cultural texts. It focuses on Greek elementary school students of the 5th and 6th grade (11-12 year-olds) in an effort to map their favorite mass cultural genres and to explore whether social parameters such as gender, ethnic and social background, and school performance influence such preferences. The data of the study were collected via questionnaires from 5 public elementary schools in the prefecture of Achaia, Greece. The findings of the study indicate that students show a clear preference for mass cultural texts which involve moving images, oral and written discourse, and music, while they enjoy less those which involve only written discourse and still images. Their preferences may be (but are not always) correlated with their gender, ethnic and social background, and school records. Hence, textbooks and language teaching in general could benefit from the exploitation of multimodal mass cultural texts to cultivate students’ literacy skills and involvement in language courses. Keywords: students’ preferences, literacy practices, mass cultural texts, elementary school students, multimodality 1. Introduction

1

The present study was conducted in the context of the Operational Program “Education and Lifelong Learning” and has been cofunded by the EU (European Social Fund) and by national resources. In particular, it was conducted in the framework of the Greek research program Thalis (2011-2015), entitled: “Linguistic variation and language ideologies in mass cultural texts: Design, development and assessment of learning material for critical language awareness" (Greek Ministry of Education, Funding ID: MIS 375599).

During the past few decades, literacy has become the center of attention in language pedagogy. Literacy involves the ability to process oral, written, and multimodal texts in an effective and critical way in a variety of contexts (Barton 1994: 192-194, Baynham 1995). Multimodal texts in particular combine different semiotic modes (language, still or moving images, music) to produce meaning in contemporary multilingual and multicultural contexts (Kress & van Leeuwen 1996, 1998, 2001, Kress 2003, 2010, van Leeuwen 2005). Literacy is investigated as a social practice and involves, among other genres, mass cultural texts (Βarton 1994: 58-60, Baynham 1995, Marsh 2004, Marsh et al. 2005). Such texts are an integral part of students’ everyday life, and hence a significant part of their everyday literacy practices. In this context, sociolinguistic research on students’ literacy practices and the focus of

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school curricula on students’ out-of-school experiences have both underlined the importance of exploiting mass cultural texts in language teaching.2 Genres such as magazine articles, TV shows, pop songs, etc. have already started to be included in school textbooks aiming at cultivating students’ linguistic skills (Alvert et al. 1999, Stevens 2001, Morrell 2002). The aim of the present study is to explore students’ preferences in literacy practices related to mass cultural texts. More specifically, we concentrate on Greek elementary school students of the 5th and 6th grade (11-12 yearolds) in an effort to map their favorite mass cultural genres. Our study will try to provide some answers to the following questions: 1. Which are the most popular literacy practices related to mass cultural texts among students? 2. Do students’ preferences interact with social parameters such as gender, ethnic and social background, and school performance? 3. Among the diverse semiotic modes used in most mass cultural texts, which ones appear to be enhancing students’ involvement with such texts? The findings of the present study could help us further develop and improve the material used for language teaching in elementary schools, thus rendering it more effective and attractive to students. To this end, in section (2) we provide an overview of the sociolinguistic literature on students’ literacy practices related to mass cultural texts. Section (3) describes the methodology of the study, while section (4) includes the presentation and discussion of its findings. The final section (5) summarizes the study and offers some tentative proposals for further research. 2. Researching mass cultural texts as literacy practices Mass cultural texts as literacy practices have only 2

The term literacy practices is more often than not employed in ethnographic approaches to literacy, where researchers have the opportunity to closely observe and document speakers’ behavior. In the present context, we have placed emphasis on how the informants themselves perceive their practices related to mass cultural texts, hence the present collection of the data was accomplished via questionnaires (Jannis Androutsopoulos, personal communication; see also Marsh 2004, Marsh et al. 2005).

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recently been investigated and most studies tend to focus on students’ digital and online practices. Fewer studies explore such preferences in music (e.g. pop songs), TV programs, or printed material (e.g. books, newspapers, magazines). In the present section, we intend to present some main findings pertaining to students’ preferences for such literacy practices, as well as to the influence of social parameters (gender, ethnic and social background, performance in language courses) on such preferences. First of all, music and songs seem to form a significant part of children’s everyday lives since preschool age (Rideout et al. 2003, Marsh et al. 2005). Children also exhibit a strong preference for multimodal media environments, where they tend to concentrate on the visual aspects of digital texts rather than on the linguistic ones (Facer et al. 2003, Koutsogiannis 2007). In addition, despite the widespread use of the internet nowadays, the time students spend in watching TV has not decreased (Snyder et al. 2008). In Greece in particular, Koutsogiannis (2011: 355) claims that adolescents spend an important part of their leisure time surfing the net and watching TV rather than reading printed material which is not related to their school activities. Gender appears to play a crucial role in determining students’ mass cultural literacy practices. Girls are more interested than boys not only in listening to songs, but also in watching TV (Livingstone & Bovill 1999, Ofcom 2008, Snyder et al. 2008, Trainor et al. 2010). However, such findings are not without controversy: Livingstone & Bovill (1999) and Ofcom (2011: 32) argue elsewhere that gender is not related to the time spent in watching TV. As to online literacy practices, the so-called gender digital divide (or gender gap) is often mentioned: boys show a more pronounced preference for accessing and surfing the net than girls (Holloway & Valentine 2003: 68).3 Studies coming from Greece confirm such findings by showing that boys (and men) use computers more often than girls (and women; see Lafatzi 2005, Koutsogiannis 2007, 2011: 166, Public Issue 2007). 3

See also Shashaani (1993), Reinen-Janssen & Plomp (1997), Livingstone & Bovill (2001), Cooper & Weaver (2003), Facer et al. (2003), Cooper (2006: 321), Ofcom (2006: 34), Anderson et al. (2008), Meelissen & Drent (2008), Dobson & Willinsky (2009), Ünlüsoy et al. (2010).

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When it comes to reading mass cultural printed material, boys seem to be reading only because they “have to”, while girls seem to be reading for pleasure (Stanat et al. 2000, EU high level group of experts on literacy 2012: 64; see also Livingstone & Bovill 1999).4 Moreover, Smith & Wilhelm (2002) suggest that girls value reading skills more than boys, hence they consider reading activities more significant than boys do. This is compatible with Μillard’s (1997) claim that, especially in middle-class schools in Great Britain, boys avoid reading mass cultural printed texts in their effort to construct a masculine identity, thus implying that such reading constitutes a “feminine” activity. Only a limited number of studies investigate the correlation between students’ ethnic background and their mass cultural literacy practices, and most of them focus on students’ online practices. Livingstone & Bober (2005) argue that there are no statistically significant differences between majority and minority students in accessing the web. In Greece, however, the percentage of adolescents coming from minority groups and having access to the net is significantly lower than the one of majority adolescents – a fact which is expected to have an effect on their online mass cultural literacy practices (Koutsogiannis 2007, 2011: 168). Students’ social background does not seem to influence their TV viewing practices (Livingstone & Bovill 1999, Ofcom 2011: 33), but it does influence their online ones: students coming from privileged social groups have more easy and frequent access to the web than those coming from unprivileged ones (Livingstone 2006, Οfcom 2008). In a similar vein, Ηοlloway & Valentine (2003: 24) observe that students whose parents are manual workers use computers less than those whose parents are not manual workers. In addition, in privileged social groups, if parents use new technologies themselves, they tend to better support their children in computer- and web-related activities (Buckingham 2004). The influence of students’ social background on their literacy practices is confirmed in the Greek context (Koutsogiannis 2007). As to students’ school records and their 4

Stanat et al. (2000) summarize the main findings of a study conducted in 2000 by PISA (Program for International Student Assessment), where adolescents from 31 countries (including Greece) participated.

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interaction with mass cultural literacy practices, a research conducted by OECD (2011) indicates that students who tend to read printed mass cultural texts on a daily basis have better performances at school compared to those who do not. In a same vein, Koutsogiannis (2011: 330) suggests that the better students perform at school, the more their literacy practices involve computers and the internet. To sum up, listening to songs and watching TV appears to be an integral part of students’ everyday literacy practices. Boys prefer online literacy practices more than girls, who show a clear preference for printed mass cultural texts. In Greece in particular, majority students have access to the web (and hence to the relevant literacy practices) more often than minority ones do. Finally, students’ school performance seems to correlate with literacy practices involving printed and online mass cultural texts. 3. Methodology 3.1.Sample selection

The data examined were collected using stratified random sampling techniques, from students with different social backgrounds. Their social background was established by the area where their school is located and the educational profile of their parents; these two parameters seem to correlate (see table 1). The research was conducted in 5 public elementary schools in the prefecture of Achaia and 165 students of the 5th and the 6th grade participated (11-12 year-olds). These five schools can be stratified on a threepoint scale, i.e. low (1 school), middle (2 schools) and high (2 schools) social background (see also table 7), while parents’ education is shown in the ten-point mean average.5

5

Both Father’s and Mother’s education were categorized in a tenpoint scale, where 1 = no education, 2= primary education, 3 = started but not finished compulsory secondary education, 4 = compulsory secondary education, 5 = started but not finished noncompulsory secondary education, 6 = completed non-compulsory secondary education, 7 = started but not completed higher education, 8 = completed technological higher education, 9 = completed undergraduate studies, 10 = completed postgraduate studies or a Ph.D.

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Table 1: Parental education per schools’ social background (ten-point scale mean average) School’s social background

Father’s education

Mother’s education

N

mean average

standard deviation

N

mean average

standard deviation

Low

19

3,37

1,770

19

4,21

1,960

Middle

31

5,42

2,125

30

6,00

1,965

Middle

26

5,69

2,204

26

6,50

1,923

High

36

7,56

2,103

36

7,17

1,889

High

28

7,82

2,000

28

8,14

2,049

School performan ce

Table 2: Distribution of students of Greek and Albanian descent by gender and school performance Greek descent N

%

N

%

N

%

N

%

N

%

High

43

27.39

43

27.39

1

0.64

1

0.64

88

56.05

Medium

27

17.2

17

10.83

6

3.82

3

1.91

53

33.76

Low

9

5.73

4

2.55

1

0.64

2

1.27

16

10.19

Total

79

50.32

64

40.76

8

5.1

6

3.82

157

100

Boys

Albanian descent Girls

Boys

Students of Greek origin form the majority (86.65%) of the sample. The data presented here for the minority students involve only those of Albanian descent, who seem to form a coherent group with common sociocultural traits. Albanian immigrants in general are the largest immigrant group in Greece during the past few decades (63.2% of the legal immigrants in Greece; Emke-Poulopoulou 2007). Students of Albanian origin are 8.92% of the total sample and, at the same time, they form the largest minority group therein (77.8%).1 The distribution of students of Greek and Albanian origin by gender and school performance is shown in Table 2. 3.2. The tools for data collection

Two questionnaires were designed for the collection of the data, one for the students and one for their parents (cf. Marsh 2004, Marsh et 1

On the whole, there are 18 immigrant students in our sample: 14 of Albanian descent, 1 of Ukrainian, 1 of Bulgarian, 1 of Romanian, and 1 student who has not answered the relevant question in the questionnaire. Roma students belong to a separate category, since in Greece they form an endogenous minority, but differ from the Greek majority and other minority groups from a sociocultural point of view. There are only 4 Roma students in our sample. In our view, this number of students is too small to provide reliable information on their mass cultural literacy practices.

Total

Girls

al. 2005).2 Students’ questionnaire was 13 pages long and comprised both open and closed questions. The close questions included (some of which are presented in this study) measured students’ preferences for mass cultural literacy practices via a ten-grade scale. Parents’ questionnaire was one page long and aimed at eliciting information on the family’s social and educational background via closed and open questions. 3.3. The research process

The research was conducted from the end of April 2012 until the end of May 2012. The questionnaires were filled in by the students themselves while at school and in the presence of their teacher and the researcher. Teachers 2

For the compilation of the questionnaires, we took into consideration the one that was used for the mapping of pre-school students’ literacy practices within the framework of the same research project (see note 1) as well as Koutsogiannis’s (2011) one. For collecting data on students’ ethnic origin, we consulted the questionnaire used for the Sub-action 5.1 “Exploration of the need for supporting repatriate and foreign students’ heritage languages” of the research program “Education for foreign and repatriate students” of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2007-2013; Program coordinator: Anna Anastasiadi-Symenonidi, Sub-action coordinator: Αggeliki Kiliari). For collecting data on parents’ education, we consulted the questionnaire designed by Fterniati (2001).

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were asked to provide information on each student’s performance in language courses as well as on their ethnic background, because the pilot study had shown that students did not always provide accurate information on such topics.

Table 4: Students’ preferences for online mass cultural literacy practices4

4. Results and discussion For the statistical analysis of the data, SPSS 20.0 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) was used. In what follows, we present only a limited part of the data collected due to space constraints. Table 3: Students’ preferences for mass cultural literacy practices3 How much do you mean enjoy the following average activities?

standard deviation

Listening to songs

8.65

2.090

Watching TV programs

7.71

2.215

Surfing the net

7.63

2.782

Reading printed material

6.81

2.541

Table 3 reveals that, among the activities involving mass cultural texts, students mostly enjoy listening to songs. Their second choice is watching programs on TV, their third surfing the net, and last comes reading printed material. Students show a clear preference for mass cultural texts combining moving images, music, and language (oral and/or written discourse), although such texts are semiotically complex and may be more demanding in their decoding. The fact that printed texts involve only written discourse and still images may provide an account for their final position on students’ preference list. These findings are in line with previous studies (see Facer et al. 2003, Koutsogiannis 2011, and the relevant references in section 2).

3

The data presented in Table 3 comes from a question where students had to mark on a scale from 1 “not at all” to 10 “very much” how much they enjoy the following activities: 1. Reading printed material (e.g. books, magazines, newspapers), 2. Watching TV programs, 3. Listening to songs, 4. Surfing the net.

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How much do you enjoy the following online activities:

mean average

standard deviation

Listening to songs

8.87

1.913

Watching music videoclips Watching videoclips

8.15

2.599

8.14

2.419

Playing games with other people Playing games alone

8.09

2.545

7.65

2.826

Visiting various 6.74 websites Looking for material to 6.04 help you with your homework Visiting social 5.53 networking websites (e.g. Facebook,Twitter)

3.127 3.138

3.804

Table 4 explores in more detail students’ preferences for online literacy practices and reveals that students predominantly enjoy listening to songs (which is also their most popular mass cultural practice; see Table 3) and watching music videoclips online. In other words, the web provides them with easy access to visualized versions of their favorite songs. It also seems important for students to have the opportunity to enjoy their favorite music and lyrics (e.g. oral discourse) combined with moving images. They also enjoy watching other (non music) videoclips, playing games, and visiting various websites.

4

The data presented in Table 4 comes from a question where students had to mark on a scale from 1 “not at all” to 10 “very much” how much they enjoy the following online activities: 1. Playing games alone, 2. Playing games with other people, 3. Listening to songs, 4. Watching music videoclips, 5. Watching videoclips, 6. Downloading ringtones and songs for your mobile, 7. Looking up words in dictionaries, 8. Looking for material to help you with your homework, 9. Visiting chatrooms, 10. Visiting social networking websites (e.g. Facebook, Twitter), 10. Visiting various websites, 11. Reading blogs, 12. Reading online newspapers, 13. Participating in online surveys, 14. Expressing your opinion online on various topics, 15. Surfing without a specific purpose, 16. Using the internet for a different activity. Specify.

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How much do you enjoy the following activities:

1

Gender Girls

Boys

statistical significance

Table 5: Students’ preferences for mass cultural literacy practices in relation to their gender, according to Independent Samples T-Tests statistical analysis1

N

mean average

st. dev.

N

mean average

st. dev.

Listening to songs

74

9.22

1,23

85

8.16

2,38

0.001

Watching TV programs

74

7.64

1,95

87

7.78

2,33

0.817

Surfing the net

72

7.11

2,97

83

8.08

2,41

0.029

Reading printed material

74

7.41

2,32

86

6.29

2,53

0.005

For this and the following tables, numerical values with bold characters indicate that the differences between the independent variables are statistically significant.

In Table 5 (for the data presented here, see note 8), it is shown that, although both genders enjoy listening to songs online (see Table 3 and 4), girls enjoy this literacy practice more than boys and the difference between them is statistically significant. Furthermore, both genders enjoy watching TV programs, but to a different degree. Nevertheless, the difference between them is not statistically significant. Hence, the present findings do not confirm earlier research suggesting that girls prefer watching TV more than boys (see the relevant references in section 2). When, however, it comes to online literacy practices, boys show a statistically significant higher preference for them than girls. This finding is in line with several studies supporting the existence of a digital gap between genders, with boys using computers and accessing the net more than girls (see the relevant references in section 2). Reading mass cultural printed texts

combining written discourse and still images is clearly more preferred by girls than by boys. This difference could be related to the fact that girls tend to be more interested in cultivating their reading skills and more enthusiastic readers than boys. Boys’ tendency to avoid reading printed material could be related to their effort to construct what they see as a “masculine” identity, while considering such activities “feminine” (see Millard 1997, Smith & Wilhelm 2002 in section 2). In sum, girls enjoy listening to songs and reading printed texts more than boys, who prefer online mass cultural texts more than girls. Watching TV programs is much enjoyed by both genders. These findings confirm previous research on relevant issues (see Livingstone & Bovill 2009, Ηοlloway & Valentine 2003 and references on gender differences in section 2).

Ethnic background How much do you enjoy the following activities:

Greek descent

Albanian descent

statistical significance

Table 6: Students’ preference for mass cultural literacy practices in relation to their ethnic background, according to Independent Samples T-Tests statistical analysis

N

mean average

st. dev. N

mean average

st. dev.

Listening to songs

142

8.74

1,23

13

8.23

2,38

0.385

Watching TV programs

143

7.85

1,95

14

6.86

2,33

0.298

Surfing the net

139

7.88

2,97

13

5.85

2,41

0.138

Reading printed material

143

7.00

2,32

14

4.86

2,53

0.014

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Table 6 shows that students enjoy listening to songs and watching TV programs regardless of their ethnic background (for the data presented here, see note 8). In other words, they enjoy literacy practices involving moving images, oral discourse, and music. Online mass cultural texts are less preferred by students of Albanian origin – however, this difference is not statistically significant. Statistically significant is the difference between students of Greek and Albanian origin in relation to printed mass

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cultural texts, as students of Albanian origin enjoy less the reading of printed material. In sum, both ethnic groups equally enjoy listening to songs, watching TV programs and surfing the net, while majority students enjoy reading printed material more than minority ones. Such findings are compatible with Koutsogiannis’ ones (2007, 2011), but incompatible with the ones by Livingstone & Bober (2005).

Table 7: Students’ preference for mass cultural literacy practices in relation to the social milieu of the area where their school is located, according to Correlation Analysis1 How much do you enjoy the following activities:

1 2

Social milieu2 of the area where the school is located Pearson correlation

statistical significance

Listening to songs

-0.109

0.178

Watching TV programs

-0.192

0.004

Surfing the net

0.190

0.019

Reading printed material

-0.046

0.665

Correlation Analysis has been selected as both the dependent and the independent variables are scalar. As we showed earlier in Table 1, the social background of the five schools in our research has been stratified on a three-point scale, i.e. low, middle and high social background.

In Table 7, it is suggested that students show a strong preference for listening to songs regardless of their social background. The same holds for their preference for reading printed material. On the contrary, their online literacy practices and TV watching ones are influenced by their social background. In particular, students from privileged social groups exhibit the highest preference for online literacy practices, while those from unprivileged ones the lowest preference, as the positive sign of the numerical value of Pearson’s correlation shows. This may result from the fact that upper, higher-income social groups may be able to afford a computer and an internet connection at home. On the other hand, the negative sign of Pearson’s numerical value in relation to the practice of watching TV programs indicates that students coming from unprivileged social groups watch significantly more TV than those from privileged social groups. To sum up, in relation to their social background, students from more privileged groups seem to enjoy online mass cultural texts more than students from less privileged groups.

On the other hand, students from less privileged groups, seem to enjoy watching TV programs more than their colleages from more privileged social groups. Hence, earlier findings are confirmed by the present study (see Livingstone & Bivill 1999, Ηοlloway & Valentine 2003, and the relevant references in section 2).

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Table 8: Students’ preferences for mass cultural literacy practices in relation to their school performance in language courses, according to Correlation Analysis How much do you enjoy the following activities:

School performance Pearson correlation

statistical significance

Listening to songs

0.055

0.497

Watching TV programs

0.083

0.304

Surfing the net

0.076

0.349

Reading printed material

0.311

0.000

Finally, Table 8 (for the data presented here, see note 8) reveals that students’ preferences for mass cultural texts are not related to their performance in language courses, with the exception of the practice of reading printed material. More specifically, as the positive sign of Pearson’s correlation numerical value shows, the more students prefer reading printed mass cultural texts, the better they perform in language courses – and this finding is statistically significant. It could be suggested that students who are more familiar with printed mass cultural literacy practices are more likely to do better in their language courses, since such activities often belong to schooled literacy practices. On the contrary, songs, TV programs, and surfing the net, which are most enjoyed by all students, influence their performance in language courses less, since they are not part of schooled literacy (see Koutsogiannis 2011, OECD 2011 in section 2). 5. Concluding remarks The present study suggests that Greek elementary school students of the 5th and 6th grade prefer listening to songs, watching TV programs, and surfing the net much more than reading printed mass cultural texts. Their preferences are gender-related: girls enjoy listening to songs and reading printed material more than boys who are fonder of online mass cultural literacy practices. Such differences are not, however, attested in their TV literacy practices. Among the mass cultural literacy practices examined here, reading printed material is influenced by students’ ethnic background: majority students prefer such practices more than minority ones. Students’ social background

also appears to be significant for students’ online literacy practices: upper-class students enjoy them more than lower-class ones. Furthermore, there seems to be a strong correlation between reading printed material and students’ performance in language courses: the more students enjoy this practice, the better their performance is – and vice versa. The interaction between students’ performance in language courses and their mass cultural literacy practices needs to be investigated in more detail, but such an investigation goes beyond the limits of the present study. What is more, the findings presented in Tables 3-8 indicate that students show a pronounced preference for mass cultural texts which involve specific semiotic modes, namely moving images, oral discourse, and music, while they enjoy less those which involve only written discourse and still images. Given that there seems to be a mismatch between students’ out-of-school literacy practices and those included in schooled literacy (see the home-school mismatch hypothesis in Luke 2004), students’ preferences in mass cultural texts could be exploited for compiling new teaching material or for supplementing already existing textbooks. Textbooks and language teaching in general would thus be able to better address students’ needs and adjust to their actual interests and everyday experiences. New teaching material could not necessarily be in a printed format (e.g. traditional school textbooks), since this format could not include genres combining oral discourse, music, and moving images. As a result, teachers in collaboration with students would have the opportunity to work on material brought to class by the students themselves, such as their favorite TV shows, pop songs, videoclips, and

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Conference Proceedings (ISSN: 2241-8881)

Vasia Tsami, Argiris Archakis, Anna Fterniati, Dimitris Papazachariou, Villy Tsakona MAPPING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PREFERENCES FOR MASS CULTURAL LITERACY PRACTICES

other mass cultural texts. By becoming the focus of language teaching, multimodality could foster students’ involvement in language courses. It should not be forgotten, however, that some students (e.g. girls, immigrants, or lower-class students) may not be familiar with online literacy practices to the same extent as the rest of the class. Hence, schooled literacy could help them improve their respective literacy skills. Finally, teachers’ training on such issues is the sine qua non for an effective and successful change in school materials and teaching methodology. Their contribution to improving students’ literacy skills, whether related to mass cultural texts or not, is most significant. References Αnderson, Ν., Lankshear, C., Timms, C. & Courtney, L. (2008). “Because it’s boring, irrelevant and I don’t like computers”: Why high school girls avoid professionally oriented ICT subjects. Computer & Education, 50(4), 1304-1318. Alvermann, D., Moon, J. & Hagood, M. (1999). Popular Culture in the Classroom: Teaching and Researching Critical Media Literacy. Newark, DE: Ιnternational Reading Associating and the National Reading Conference. Βarton, D. (1994). An Introduction to the Ecology of Written Language. Oxford: Βlackwell. Baynham, M. (1995). Literacy Practices: Investigating Literacy in Social Contexts. London: Longman. Buckingham, D. (2004). The media literacy of children and young people. A review of the research literature of behalf of Ofcom. London: Οfcom. Retrieved August 20, 2012 from the World Wide Web: http://eprints.ioe.ac.uk/145/1/Buckinghamm edialiteracy.pdf. Cooper, J. (2006). The digital divide: Τhe special case of gender. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 22(5), 320-334. Cooper, J. & Weaver, D. K. (2003). Gender and Computer: Understanding the Digital Divide. Μahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Dobson, T. & Willinsky, J. (2009). Digital literacy. In D. Olson & N. Torrance (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook on Literacy (pp. 286-312). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Duff, P. A. (2004). Intertextuality and hybrid

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discourses: Τhe infusion of pop culture in educational discourses. Linguistics & Education, 14(3-4), 231-276. Emke-Poulopoulou, I. (2007). The Immigrant Challenge. Athens: Papazisis. [in Greek] ΕU high level group of experts on literacy. (2012). Retrieved September 11, 2012 from the World Wide Web: http://ec.europa.eu/education/literacy/what -eu/high-level-group/documents/literacyreport.pdf. Facer, K., Furlong, J., Furlong R. & Sutherland, R. (2003). Screen Play. Children and Computing in the Home. London: Routledge. Fterniati, A. (2001). Production of written discourse at school: Current practice and communicative competence. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Patras, Greece. [in Greek] Holloway, S. & Valentine, G. (2003). Cyberkids. Children in the Information Age. London: Routledge. Koutsogiannis, D. (2007). Adolescents’ digital literacy practices and (language) education. Thessaloniki: Center for the Greek Language. Retrieved August 13, 2012 from the World Wide Web: http://www.greeklanguage.gr/greekLang/files/document/prac tice/texnologikos_grammatismos_3.pdf [in Greek] Koutsogiannis, D. (2011). Adolescent Digital Literacy Practices and Identities. Thessaloniki: Center for the Greek Language. [in Greek] Kress, G. (2003). Literacy in the New Media Age. London & New York: Routledge. Kress, G. (2010). Multimodality. A Social Semiotic Approach to Comtemporary Communication. London: Routledge. Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. (1996). Reading Images. The Grammar of Visual Design. London: Routledge. Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. (1998). Front pages: (Τhe critical) analysis of newspaper layout. In A. Bell & P. Garret (Eds.), Approaches to Media Discourse (pp. 186-219). Oxford: Blackwell. Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. (2001). Multimodal Discourse. The Modes and Media of Comtemporary Communication. London: Edward Arnold. Lafatzi, Ι. (2005). New Technologies in Education. Thessaloniki: Kyriakidi Bros. [in Greek]

1st International Conference «EDUCATION ACROSS BORDERS» Florina October 5 -7, 2012 http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/EduCbr

Conference Proceedings (ISSN: 2241-8881)

Vasia Tsami, Argiris Archakis, Anna Fterniati, Dimitris Papazachariou, Villy Tsakona MAPPING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PREFERENCES FOR MASS CULTURAL LITERACY PRACTICES

Livingstone, S. (2006). Drawing conclusions from new media research: Reflections and puzzles regarding children’s experience of the internet. The Information Society, 22(4), 219230. Livingstone, S. & Bovill, M. (1999). Young people, new media: Report of the research project Children Young People and the Changing Media Environment. Research report, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK. Retrieved August 13, 2012 from the World Wide Web: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/21177/1/Young_peopl e_new_media_(LSERO).pdf Livingstone, S. & Bovill, Μ. (2001). Children and Their Changing Media Environment: Α European Comparative Study. Mahwah, NJ: Laurence Erlbaum Associates. Livingstone, S. & Bober, Μ. (2005). UK Children Go Online. Final Report of Key Project Finding. Project Report. London: London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved August 14, 2012 from the World Wide Web: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/399/1/UKCGO_Final_ report.pdf Luke, A. (2004). On the material consequences of literacy. Language & Education, 18(4), 331335. Marsh, J. (2004). The techno-literacy practices of young children. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 2(1), 51–66. Marsh, J., Brooks, G., Hughes, J., Ritchie, L., Roberts, S. & Wright, K. (2005). Digital beginnings: Young children’s use of popular culture, media and new technologies. University of Sheffield: Literacy Research Center. Retrieved August 19, 2012, from the World Wide Web: http://www.digitalbeginnings.shef.ac.uk/Digi talBeginningsReport.pdf Meelissen, M. R. M. & Drent, M. (2008). Gender differences in computer attitudes: Does the school matter? Computer in Human Behavior, 24(3), 969-985. Millard, E. (1997) Differently Literate: Boys, Girls and the Schooling of Literacy. London: Falmer Press. Morrell, E. (2002). Toward a critical pedagogy of popular culture: Literacy development among urban youth. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 46(1), 72-77.

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OECD (Organisation for Ecomonic Co-operation and Development). (2011). Do students today read for pleasure? Pisa in Focus 8. Retrieved September 11, 2012 from the World Wide Web: http://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/486 24701.pdf. Ofcom. (2006). Media literacy audit: Report on media literacy amongst children. Retrieved August 17, 2012 from the World Wide Web: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/re search/media-literacy/medialit11/childrens.pdf Ofcom. (2008). Media literacy audit: Report on UK children’s media literacy. Retrieved August 13, 2012 from the World Wide Web: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/re search/media-literacy/medialit/2010/ml_childrens08.pdf Οfcom. (2011). UK children’s media literacy. Retrieved August 19, 2012 from the World Wide Web: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/re search/media-literacy/medialit11/childrens.pdf Public Issue. (2007). Measurement of the basic indices of the National Survey for New Technologies and Information Society for 2007. Retrieved September 10, 2012 from the World Wide Web: http://www.publicissue.gr/wpcontent/uploads/2008/02/1452.pdf [in Greek]. Reinen-Janssen, I. & Plomp, T. (1997). Information technology and gender equality: Α contradiction in terminis? Computer & Education, 28(2), 65-78. Rideout, V. J., Vandewater, E. A. & Wartella, E. A. (2003). Zero to Six: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers. Washington: Κaiser Foundation. Shashaani, L. (1993). Gender-based differences in attitudes towards computers. Computer & Education, 20(2), 169-181. Smith, M. W. & Wilhelm, J. D. (2002). Reading Don’t Fix no Chevy’s: Literacy in the Lives of Young Men. Portsmouth: Heinemann. Snyder, I., Angus, L. & Sutherland-Smith, W. (2004). “They’re the future and they’re going to take over everywhere”: ICTs, literacy and disadvantage. In Ι. Snyder & C. Beavis (Eds.), Doing Literacy Online: Τeaching, Learning and Playing in an Electronic World (pp. 225-

1st International Conference «EDUCATION ACROSS BORDERS» Florina October 5 -7, 2012 http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/EduCbr

Conference Proceedings (ISSN: 2241-8881)

Vasia Tsami, Argiris Archakis, Anna Fterniati, Dimitris Papazachariou, Villy Tsakona MAPPING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PREFERENCES FOR MASS CULTURAL LITERACY PRACTICES

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244). Cresskill, NJ: Ηampton Press. Stanat, P., Artelt, C., Baumert, J., Klieme, E., Neubrand, M., Prenzel, M., Schiefele, U., Schneider, W., Schümer, G., Tillmann, K.-J. & Weiß, M. (2000). PISA 2000: Overview of the study: Design, method and results. Retrieved August 19, 2012 from the World Wide Web: http://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/Pisa/PISA2000_Overview.pdf Stevens, L. (2001). South Park and society: Ιnstructional and curricular implications of popular culture in the classroom. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 44(6), 548555. Trainor, S., Delfabbro, P. H., Winefield, A. H. & Anderson, S. (2010). Leisure activities and adolescent well-being. Journal of Adolescence, 33(1), 173-186. Ünlüsoy, Α., Μariëtte, H., Leseman, P. M. & van Kruistum, C. (2010). Gender differences in adolescents’ out-of-school literacy practices: Α multifaceted approach. Computer and Education, 55(2), 742-751. van Leeuwen, T. (2005). Introducing Social Semiotics. London: Routledge.

1st International Conference «EDUCATION ACROSS BORDERS» Florina October 5 -7, 2012 http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/EduCbr

Conference Proceedings (ISSN: 2241-8881)