• Login
    View Item 
    •   Athenaeum Home
    • University of Georgia Theses and Dissertations
    • University of Georgia Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   Athenaeum Home
    • University of Georgia Theses and Dissertations
    • University of Georgia Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Learning in action

    Thumbnail
    Date
    2014-05
    Author
    Gilhooly, Daniel Joseph
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    This qualitative research study is informed by my three and a half years participant observation within one Karen community living in rural eastern Georgia and the result of a participatory action research (PAR) project performed alongside three adolescent Karen brothers from 2010 to 2012. Such a fusion of methodologies is what Nelson and Wright (1995) describe as ‘creative synthesis’ where research is done both with and on participants. The first findings chapter (Chapter Six) analyzes how three adolescent Sgaw Karen brothers use online digital literacies to cope with resettlement. This component of the study explores the digital literacy practices of three adolescent Karen brothers as they attempt to navigate multiple institutions like school. Findings from this study suggest that newly arrived immigrant youth benefit in many social, psychological, and academic ways as a result of their online presence. The study looks specifically at how they use online spaces to (a) maintain and build co-ethnic friendships, (b) connect to the wider Karen Diaspora community, (c) sustain and promote ethnic solidarity and, (d) create and disseminate digital productions. This component of the study offers insights that can help teachers better understand their students’ out-of-school literacy practices and ways they can incorporate such digital literacies in more formal educational contexts. This study also provides findings about Karen resettlement via the collaborative enactment of a participatory action research (PAR) project between these three Karen brothers and myself. The findings from that component of the study relate to the educational experiences of Karen youth in four Karen communities in the US, two in the Midwest and two in the Southeast. These findings specifically addresses Karen (a) educational experiences prior to resettlement; (b) English language learning; (c) parental involvement in their children’s schooling; and (d) bullying and gangs. In aggregate, both methods provide teachers, community members, and service providers important insights into Karen resettlement experiences in the US.
    URI
    http://purl.galileo.usg.edu/uga_etd/gilhooly_daniel_j_201405_phd
    http://hdl.handle.net/10724/30440
    Collections
    • University of Georgia Theses and Dissertations

    About Athenaeum | Contact Us | Send Feedback
     

     

    Browse

    All of AthenaeumCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    About Athenaeum | Contact Us | Send Feedback