A University of Sussex EdD thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the aut hor, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Ed.D Thesis Exploring the use of MALL with a scaffolded multi-sensory, structured language approach to support development of literacy skills among second-chance EFL learners at a technological-vocational secondary school in Israel Fern Levitt Supervisors: Principal supervisor: Dr. Jo Westbrook Second supervisor: Dr. Nigel Marshall University of Sussex Dept. of Education & Social Work Centre for International Education International Doctor of Education Program 2017 ii Abstract This thesis describes a qualitative mixed-methods study carried out in a vocational- technical secondary school with second-chance adolescent learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in a peripheral area of Israel. The learner population was characterized by complex, socio-economically disadvantaged family backgrounds and a high rate of learning disabilities. The study investigated the effects of a Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) intervention to support the development of basic EFL literacy skills by students who lacked solid foundational English skills. The intervention provided an interactive educational software application, The English Club™, on iPod Touch devices to scaffold learning and review of letter sounds and rules of English, integrate them into words and texts, and practice reading, writing and comprehension. Learners developed literacy skills depending on the level they reached in the application. The English Club follows a scaffolded Multi-Sensory Structured Language (MSL) approach, adapting for struggling EFL learners the Hickey Multi-Sensory Method (Combley, 2001), developed by Kathleen Hickey of the British Dyslexia Institute. Printed books containing the material complemented the use of the MALL. The English teachers at the school chose the learners who participated and determined how to integrate the intervention into their English classrooms. An investigation of the teachers’ roles was included in the study. The methodology was primarily action research with case studies of individual learners and teachers. Pre-intervention and post-intervention data on learners’ English knowledge, skills, attitudes and opinions and on teachers’ attitudes and opinions about use of this MALL intervention was generated via skills assessments and semi-structured interviews. As a participant-teacher-observer, I observed the intervention’s use in classes and in sessions with individual students. Changes in skills, attitudes and opinions were analyzed in the framework of Vygotsky’s theories of language acquisition and the Zone of Proximal Development as elaborated in Scaffolding Theory. Theories of motivation, literacy and second language acquisition, and how struggling learners experience these, have provided additional lenses for analysis. My goals in performing this study were to understand in depth the whole picture of the intervention, both its effects on students’ English skills and attitudes, and the factors that shaped these outcomes. The study’s findings contribute to an understanding of the ways in which delivering a scaffolded MSL approach to literacy education via MALL can contribute iii to addressing the world crisis in literacy acquisition, and issues that must be addressed for this type of intervention to be effective. Findings showed that learners who actively engaged in the intervention made significant progress in their English literacy skills, increased their confidence in their ability to learn English and thus their willingness to engage in learning, and demonstrated increased awareness of the connection between their own investment of effort and learning. This success was shaped by many factors, including variation among individual learner profiles, the degree of teachers’ support for the intervention, increasing students’ motivation to invest effort, minimizing disruptions to the students’ learning routine, and maximizing access to charged, working devices and to books. The individual MALL delivery platform enabled an untrained, inexperienced but committed teacher to provide the benefits of this scaffolded method, appropriate to her learners’ needs, in multi-level English classrooms and to provide a solution for students returning from extended absences to catch up with missed classwork. Recommendations for policy and practice include use of such scaffolded MSL MALL applications with struggling language learners in conjunction with printed materials and closely accompanied by committed teachers, who do not have to be highly trained in specialized methods to support learning by struggling students. Schools engaging in such interventions need to ensure that the devices will be fully available for use during learning hours, minimize disruptions to the class schedule, and maximize students’ use of the MALL app and books in class, during free time at school, and at home. If necessary, extrinsic rewards should be offered to overcome students’ learned helplessness. iv To my children and grandchildren, whose language development has fascinated me daily and who have provided me the delightful opportunity to participate in, observe and better understand the process of how humans learn oral and written language My thanks to the research participants who welcomed me into their school and enabled me to complete this study. v Acknowledgements I thank with all my heart the many people who generously provided me their support, guidance and encouragement to accomplish this undertaking: My thesis advisors Dr. Jo Westbrook, who shared her vast expertise and insight in language teaching and learning, encouraging me to assume nothing, to be rigorous in identifying my theoretical framework, and to examine the process of how struggling L2 learners learn to read, with all its components; and Dr. Nigel Marshall, who provided a fresh viewpoint and his skill in academic writing to help me to argue my case persuasively; and my former advisor Dr. Benjamin Zeitlyn, who encouraged me to explore the bigger issues in educational technology; Dr. Yussuf Sayed and Dr. Mario Novelli, who provided the encouragement and framework for my Sussex International Ed.D Program cohort of education professionals to join the global discussion at an academic level; and all the instructors in the program who widened our horizons; Susie Secemski, my Hickey mentor and teacher, who introduced me to this life-changing method and whose passion for it I inherited, and who shared with me all her materials on Action Research; Dr. Rami Sulimani, for taking me on that first visit to a second-chance high school, where the pierced, tattooed, sweet students inspired me to become an English teacher for struggling learners, and whose New Educational Environment framework embodies our shared view that learners are, first of all, people whose human needs must be attended to for learning to stand a chance; Dr. Channah Persoff, who so well understands the Israeli EFL-teaching context and so generously reviewed and commented on my many thesis drafts and encouraged me to believe in my work, and Dr. Bella Kotik-Friedgut, who graciously shared her expertise and materials on Vygotsky’s work; All the Hickey students and teachers who have shared my excitement about a method that works; My good friends and colleagues Dr. Susan Berdie and Akiko Hanaya who were such delightful companions with whom to share the personal and intellectual experience of being a student again when I was already a grandmother; and all my friends, including my dear and greatly missed friend JoAnne Mahler whom I lost during the process, who always loyally assured me I would finish; My wonderful husband Arnon Mantver, an inspiration and role model in how we can make a difference when equipped with a vision towards social justice, who encouraged me throughout, enabled me to complete this endeavor, and discussed epistemologies over our morning coffee; My primary life’s work, my delightful and beloved children and grandchildren Deena & Ran, Avital & Tsuri, Shera, Nona & Eyal, Gura & Gilat, Ella, Shalev, Gayil, Mia, and Hila who cheered me on and understood when I was less available during the many ups and downs of these past years; My brother and sister Len Levitt and Gail Gershon, lifelong companions in pursuing the values our parents modeled for us, as we strive to be curious, creative, caring, committed, open-minded, brave, aware, resilient, dreaming, fair, helping, loving and laughing human beings in this challenging world; Our mom Marilyn Moskowitz Levitt for growing up with her nose in a book and finding it natural that we did too; and our dad Dan Levitt for his effervescent love of language and raising us on spelling bees around the dinner table; Susan Oppenheimer, for picking me up, dusting me off, and freeing me to get back to work. vi Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................