Smartphone Mediated Language Teaching for Newly Arrived Refugees in Work Placements.
The Danish government has launched a model placing newly arrived refugees in work placements combined with language training at the actual work place.
As the Danish teacher does not follow the refugee at work, the challenge is the transfer of relevant vocabulary and language interactions into the language class.
This master thesis therefore investigates: how we can develop and use a smartphone mediated didactic design in Danish as a second language for newly arrived refugees in work placements in which relevant vocabulary and language interactions are transferred from the work placement to the language training.
Our methodology is Design Based Research (DBR), which is a pragmatic theory based on the collaborative approach that intervenes in practice as the design develops and includes iterative processes.
In order to obtain background knowledge we initially carried out literature reviews and a digital survey with about a 100 respondents – all of them newly arrived refugees in Aalborg.
The didactic design with an underlying social constructive knowledge approach and including the smartphone technology WhatsApp, was developed and tested through two interventions with a Danish class at Sprogcenter Aalborg. An interview was carried out with mentors from a work placement. Sequences from both interventions and interview were analyzed, evaluated, reflected upon and led to the development of design principles and aspects to consider for an eventual redesign.
The study showed that newly arrived refugees in Denmark have smartphones, digital competence and resources to use technology in language learning in work placements and that it is possible to implement a smartphone mediated didactic design, which leads to job related learning outcome when framed in a carefully defined didactic design in Danish as a second language.