Abstract
This paper argues that Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) provides a practical framework for theory-based research into Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL). Far from being inaccessible, CHAT provides researchers with the concepts, language and tools to create meaningful and manageable data sets that allow insights into complex social situations such as education. Within the context of a pre-university English language program at a Federal institution in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the paper describes two recent examples of the authorâs research into laptop-mediated English language classrooms using CHAT as the theoretical framework. The paper then goes on to describe a theory-based intervention currently in progress that has grown out of the two examples described. This paper aims to demonstrate that theory and practicality need not be separate. CHAT can be used to guide and design research into not only innovation and best practice in TEL but also the actual day-to-day realities of technology usage in real classroom settings, bringing much-needed criticality to the field. The paper concludes by arguing that CHAT can also provide a framework to drive theory-based interventions via the Change Laboratory. Through CHAT, findings from theory-based research need not remain at a conceptual level but can actually be used to create concrete solutions to problems and actual improved educational practice and policy. Keywords: activity theory; CHAT; English Second Language (ESL); English Language Teaching (ELT); Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL); laptops; classroom devices; Change Laboratory; United Arab Emirates (UAE)Part of the Special Issue Debating the status of âtheoryâ in technology enhanced learning research <https://doi.org/10.21428/8c225f6e.dc494046>
Highlights
The wider view in education is one that has seen the introduction of technology to the classroom as both desirable and beneficial (John & Wheeler, 2015; Livingstone, 2012; Scanlon & Issroff, 2005)
Once described as ‘the best kept secret in academia’ (Engestrom, 1993, p. 64), Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) is a framework that allows the researcher to consider the entire context in which technology is being used
The project was based around the following research question: RQ1: What contradictions are experienced by English language teachers in a laptop-mediated federal Foundation programme in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)?
Summary
The wider view in education is one that has seen the introduction of technology to the classroom as both desirable and beneficial (John & Wheeler, 2015; Livingstone, 2012; Scanlon & Issroff, 2005). Practical implementations have been favoured over theory-driven research, falling prey to what has been described as ‘hype and excitement’ (Bennett & Oliver, 2011), evident in the UAE during the launch of the iPad initiative in 2012 (Cavanaugh, Hargis, Kamali, & Soto, 2013b; Cavanaugh, Hargis, Munns, & Kamali, 2013a; Hargis, Cavanaugh, Kamali, & Soto, 2014) This state of affairs has cast doubts on the credibility of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) as a serious field in terms of academic research. Such research no longer risks being labelled as dystopian (Castañeda & Selwyn, 2018) Scholars recognise that this increased criticality needs to be underpinned by strong theoretical frameworks (Jameson, 2019; Passey, 2019) yet many studies make only vague use of or remain wholly bereft of theory (Hew, Lan, Tang, Jia, & Lo, 2019). All three projects have taken place in a pre-university English language course in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
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