Parental Empowerment via Instructional Technology in the Context of Learning Arabic as a Second Language

• Author / Creator

  Sweileh, Belal

• Parents often show disempowerment in relation to supporting their children with schoolwork (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005; Hornby & Lafaele, 2011; Peña, 2000; Thomsen, 2011). In the case of Arabic learning, parents typically cannot involve themselves in their children’s Arabic learning due to linguistic and communicative barriers. Teachers and schools have attempted to use instructional technology to connect with parents, empower them, and increase their involvement in their children’s schooling (Beecher & Buzhardt, 2016; Kong, 2017; Lepping, 2013; Schneider & Buckley, 2000; Selwyn, Banaji, Hadjithoma-Garstka, & Clark, 2011; Thompson, Mazer, & Grady, 2015; Tindle, East, & Mellard, 2015).

  To determine the extent to which instructional technology can empower parents in the context of Arabic language learning for elementary students, a year-long action research study was conducted in which an online Arabic learning intervention was introduced to parents and students with the aim of overcoming linguistic and communicative barriers to empowerment. The online Arabic learning intervention was composed of three elements: (1) an Arabic learning management system (LMS), (2) interactive Arabic homework, and (3) an Arabic learning module for parents. Data was collected from participants through surveys, semi-structured interviews, and logged LMS data and analyzed qualitatively to understand parental experiences using the instructional technology and its impact on their sense of empowerment.

  While parents generally appreciated the Arabic learning intervention and acknowledged its potential in empowering them, they did not sufficiently engage with it to an extent that could have made a significant impact on their sense of empowerment. The lack of engagement is discussed in relation to structural, communicative, philosophical, and motivational factors. Specifically, it was found that the successful implementation of an online Arabic learning intervention with high student engagement in the elementary context rests on a minimum level of parental involvement in order to provide young students with a source of external motivation and other-regulation.

  In attempting to empower parents using instructional technology, a paradox emerged: to empower parents, their active involvement in using the technology was necessary; yet parents could not involve themselves if they didn’t feel sufficiently empowered. The extent to which a technological Arabic learning tool can empower parents is therefore dependent on how invested parents are in using it.

  The study also found that the structure of the technological Arabic learning tools used to empower parents also served to disempower them because it burdened them with added home responsibilities and tasks necessary for empowerment such as: overseeing their children’s online Arabic learning at home, directly partaking in completing online Arabic homework their children, engaging in their own online Arabic learning via an online module, and regularly visiting and logging on to the online Arabic LMS to check for updates about their children’s Arabic language learning. Ultimately, the instructional technology used in the study demanded active and arduous parental involvement as a prerequisite for parental empowerment, which was too much for most parents and therefore undermined the empowerment process.

  Lastly, the study findings challenge our notion of parental empowerment and its feasibility in the context of supporting children with Arabic language learning, and it urges researchers and teachers to design more family-centered and inclusive parental empowerment programs. The study offers some specific suggestions for teachers wishing to implement Arabic online or blended learning interventions for their students and parents.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Academic Self-regulation
  • Online Learning
  • Foreign Language Learning
  • Technological Engagement
  • Action Research
  • Interactive Homework
  • Motivation
  • Learning Managament Systems
  • Blended Learning
  • Parental Involvement
  • Instructional Technology
  • Arabic as a Second Language
  • Grades
  • Second Language Learning
  • Elementary Students
  • Parental Empowement

• Graduation date

  Fall 2018

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Education

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R36970D6R

• License

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