Media landscapes in school and in free time – two paralel realities?

Abstract

This article is based on an extensive research project (Towards Future Literacy Pedagogies, ToLP1 ) that deals with the literacy practices of Finnish and immigrant pupils, mother tongue (MT) and foreign language (FL) teachers. The overall aim of the project is to explore and interpret literacy practices both in school and out-of-school contexts by employing large-scale quantitative research approaches as well as qualitative classroom observations and teacher and pupil interviews. In this article, we will report findings of the comprehensive survey, our specific focus being on the materials and media the teachers and pupils use in school and in their free time. We are interested in exploring in which ways the media landscapes are either similar or different and to what extent the digital worlds have reached the language classroom. The results show that there is a growing gap between the practices in school and the way in which pupils use the various media in their free time for informal learning and for social existence. It seems that textbooks and other print-based materials dominate at school, whereas a quite dynamic and multilayered digital world is the reality for pupils outside school.