Tracking the learner behaviour of non- and low-literate adults in an online literacy training environment. Lessons learnt and fast forward towards (digital) literacy: Let the games begin!

Abstract

This study investigated the learner behaviour of low- and non-literate adults practising in an online literacy training environment. The focus of this study was the learning process of making phoneme-grapheme correspondences and establishing decoding and recognitions skills trained in the ‘Digital Literacy Instructor’ (DigLin), a computer-assisted language and literacy support tool for low-literate adults. The study’s participants, migrants from Iraq, Somalia, Syria and Egypt, were developing literacy skills in their second language Finnish and their learning process, performance and progress were tracked by locg files. Log files are automatically created by the computer system and provide a temporally accurate, consistent and objective documentation of user-computer interaction. Thus, they enable in-depth post-activity exploration of student behaviour. Additionally, post-testing interview transcripts were analysed. Empirical log file data was analysed quantitatively and qualitatively and provided a precise overview over user profiles including results on student engagement, preference, performance and productivity. Further, the data analysis revealed student strategies. Compared to log files, post-testing reports were not always that accurate. The interviews, however, revealed, why learners preferred certain exercises and what they thought about working with DigLin. During the training with DigLin participants reportedly improved not only their literacy but also their computer skills and the learning experience was perceived as predominantly positive. Based on the results, computer-assisted language learning is seen to have a high potential to enhance the individual learning process of low- and non-literate adults and online learning environments such as DigLin are therefore regarded as beneficial support tools for facilitating initial late literacy development.