TPACK Self-Efficacy and Multimodal Writing Instruction in High School Inclusion Classes

Abstract

Abstract High school students with specific learning disabilities continually struggle with the demands of a standardized writing curriculum. As students age, they are expected to master more complex styles of writing, utilizing differentiated, multimodal supports throughout each phase of the writing process, from pre-writing to publishing. With more high school special education students receiving English Language Arts services in inclusion classrooms, teachers must consider how to modify instruction - through the application of student-centered, web-based tools - in order to address specialized writing needs and support remediation. In diverse instructional contexts, ELA teachers rely on their technical, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) to differentiate writing instruction; in the secondary ELA classroom, the tools educators choose to integrate and the amount of effort they expend reinforcing multimodal instruction reflect their digital self-efficacy. The purpose of this study was to identify psychological and environmental factors shaping educators’ self-efficacy for differentiated, multimodal writing pedagogy. This qualitative study was conducted at a suburban high school in Northeast Georgia in the fall of 2021. Four ELA educators (n=4) participated in semi-structured interviews while sharing planning documents from their respective writing units. Qualitative data was collected and analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), in order to identify factors supporting ELA educators’ willingness to integrate specific writing technologies in inclusion settings. Empirical findings from the study reveal seven factors supporting multimodal applications, including educators’ digital agency, flexibility when adopting and reinforcing technologies, tool simplicity, student familiarity with specific resources, opportunities to collaborate with other writing teachers on multimodal strategies, consistent use of specific technologies, and student-teacher proximity. Results are consistent with current research, regarding the need for more agentic, student-centered orientations for advanced, multimodal writing in high school inclusion classrooms.