The Cultural Worlds Of Secondary Students: Social Media

Literature Review: Learning has always been a social process. In discussing interactions between less-advanced and experienced learners, Vygotsky (1978) argues that a failure to encourage healthy interactions can "[limit] the intellectual development of many students", thus causing educators to mistakenly perceive their capabilities as "biologically determined rather than socially facilitated" (126). Indeed, as time has progressed - and education evolved - almost a century since Vygotsky's ideas first surfaced, this concept has remained entirely relevant to the contemporary classroom: students rely on each other to learn. Moreover, a modern student's propensity to retrieve and exchange masses of information digitally at home (often only for recreational purposes), with peers at different intellectual stages to his own, has served only to reward Vygotskian thinking with a greater sense of validity. Vygotsky, of course, has not been the only one to address the idea that a student's cognitive development is affected by a variety of factors, including the social; Coleman (1995), for instance, states that teenagers undergo great sociological pressures as well as significant physical changes, both of which are undoubtedly integral to adolescent transition. Furthermore, Kehily & Swann (2003) go some way to examine the nostalgic transformation between the note-passing and the text-messaging generations respectively; interestingly, they identify that the two remain fundamentally the same, because they both facilitate the social transmission of cultural values between students. Indeed, over a decade has passed since the publication of Children's Cultural Worlds and there has been a substantial increase in Wi-Fi and 3G coverage in the United Kingdom since that point. It is therefore inevitable that text-messaging will be fully replaced - at some point in time - by internet communication; however the social transmissions that have proven intrinsic to multiple generations of the adolescent sphere will still continue to take place. In fact, it is evident that the social aspect - which, rather ironically, pertains to digital transmissions of data rather than oral communication - has now become far easier to initiate. In the past twenty years, an increasing amount of literature has shifted focus towards the 'digital generation', a sizeable proportion of which occurred in the late 1990s and around the turn of the millennium (Buckingham, 2006). This period of time - between the original period of digital efflorescence and the present day - has indeed accounted for a substantial amount of digital, and social, development (prophesized by Moore (1965)); moreover, the youth demographic, who are perhaps most affected by the increased prevalence of digital media, have been systematically labelled to coincide with their temporal development, the most recent being the 'digital youth' (Davies, 2014). Interestingly, many have been quick to argue the pedagogical benefits of rearing a digital generation: Kehily and Swann (2003) assert that "television is seen as passive, while the net is active; television 'dumbs down' its audience, while the net raises their intelligence" (189). Have the more recent, digital youth really grown more receptive? It is certainly viable that a student's interaction with a digital device requires far more proactivity, when compared to watching television; likewise, Buckingham (2006) suggests that the internet has introduced a new style of learning, and that the digital generation are naturally more critical, thus they respond better to interactive - rather than transmissive - learning. Indeed, the net, if allowed, would "[transform] the teacher into a facilitator" of learning (Buckingham, 2006: 10). So how can the internet - and more specifically, social media - be integrated into the English classroom? Firstly, Julia Davies (2006) attempts to explore the wide range of skills developed by the digital generation, and argues that a genuine understanding of these skills, by teachers, would lead to a "more meaningful pedagogy for digital education" (Davies, 2006: 211). Furthermore, she comments on her own daughter's love for sharing information among online social groups - commonly referred to as blogging - and suggests that these sites provide ample opportunities for adolescents to showcase their non-academic work, and view the work of others, in a safe, even anonymous, environment (Davies, 2006). Indeed, there are many cases where uses of social media for academic purposes have been successful. Castro (2012), for example, resonates with Davies' thoughts, by suggesting that his students' online involvement with each other's academic artwork - through a purposely constructed class blog - is astounding, and that the ability for students to engage, with ease, in social interactions across space and time is invaluable for their learning. Moreover, Denton & Wicks (2013) recently commented on the benefits of educators making use of online blogs such as WordPress and Weebly for their students; they were perceived by students as convenient ways to store and display their academic accomplishments, share and interact with the work of their peers, and some students even pointed out the benefits of potentially exhibiting work online for future employers. Social media is evidently, therefore, successfully at work within a small number of educational institutions worldwide; however the full potential perhaps still remains to be seen. Moran et al (2011) comment on how the integration of social media is evolving teaching and learning in higher education - so why not secondary? The role of social media is not limited to provision of hardware, either: the format of such websites and apps can be mimicked within the classroom to aid understanding of complex subjects or terminology. It is more than evident that social media is everywhere, and its inclusion within the English classroom is essentially limitless. Students of the digital generation are choosing to spend time online actively engaged and genuinely interested. It is always the aim of the successful practitioner to dissipate the disparity between home and school; a higher learning can therefore be unlocked when education and recreation become successfully interlaced.