Coding as a Literacy Practice in Adult Learning Communities

Abstract

This study considered how computing courses for adult learners might be customized to effectively address their reasons for learning to read and write computer code. The view of coding as a literacy practice is the key theme in this study. Street’s (2006) ideological model of literacy along with the perspective of computational participation, are theoretical models used to explore coding as a literacy practice (Kafai & Burke, 2017). Through the vehicle of action research, this study focused on analyzing the delivery of an introductory web languages coding course for female immigrants. This study drew from both the student and teacher perspectives. The study used student feedback collected from online class survey questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The study also incorporated the teacher’s field notes, a course summary report, and the Teaching Perspectives Inventory survey results (Collins & Pratt, 2011). Findings from this study include these areas of insights: 1) students’ views on the benefits of learning coding, 2) the language and communication challenges students faced, and 3) an overview of some effective teaching tools and approaches. Based on these findings, there is a discussion that considered possible issues related to student engagement in learning web language coding. Included are sections on implications for practice and future research.