Research Participants
The four case studies in Electronic Literacies, all of classes in
Hawai'i, are unlikely to be mirror images of a reader's own teaching environments.
Indeed, Warschauer notes: "Naturalistic research, which revels
in context rather than denying it, does not claim to be generalizable
in the same way the experimental research claims to be" (197). Yet in each
case analysis, I found startling similarities to situations I have seen
or faced while teaching
composition in Cairo, Egypt. Additionally, Warschauer carefully draws
parallels with educational patterns in the continental U.S. and elsewhere,
demonstrating, where appropriate, how pedagogical practices and institutional
contexts reflect more global trends. For example, he compares the situation
of international students in an ESL program with that of minority and immigrant
students in U.S. schools, who are "...forced to endure frequent tests and
quizzes; teacher-directed procedures...; and numerous other rules and regulations..."
to prepare them for social adaptation, in contrast to the more participatory,
collaborative, and choice-enhanced learning environments of upper-middle-class
Americans (36-37). A recurring theme is the paradox of the Internet: its
power to marginalize as well as to democratize.
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Reviewer's Notes