Investigating synergies between literacy, technology and classroom practice

The ways educators incorporate technologies into their classroom literacy experiences and the implications these present for professional practices have been the focus of discussion for some time. We believe it timely to re-examine these debates in a period of 'digital reform' as we consider the realities teachers report as they use technology as a tool in literacy classrooms. In doing this, we acknowledge the potential of new technologies such as laptops, wireless connectivity, Interactive White Boards and mobile communication devices to reshape pedagogic activity within primary classrooms but aim to capture the reality reported by active practitioners. In this paper we share results from a survey of literacy teachers around Australia. The survey and our analysis are guided by Activity Theory which enables pedagogic activity as it occurs in specific contexts within a larger socio-cultural milieu to be studied. In particular, this approach assisted us to identify, describe and explicate the synergies among (i) the technology or tools the teachers have access to and use in the context of a particular organisation (their school and their classroom), (ii) the contextual factors shaping their selection and implementation, and (iii) and teachers' reported literacy pedagogy.