Literacy and Multimodal Texts

Zammit, K. (2011). Charting a Pathway: Embedding ICT and New Literacies into the Curriculum. In C. M. L. Ho, K. T. Anderson & A. P. Leong (Eds.), Transforming literacies and language: Multimodality and literacy in the new media age (pp. 9-22). London: Continuum.

Background

The author’s view was that as new literacy practices arise, teachers face the challenge of integrating technologies into the curriculum in an authentic and meaningful way. To this end, the New Learning Environment (NLE) curriculum framework was proposed.

Aims

At the heart of NLE is developing and demonstrating understanding in English as well as other subject areas. It is involves three processes: (1) ‘locate, comprehend and use’; (2) ‘critique’, and (3) ‘create’. These processes are embedded in a range of texts that cover modes including the visual, aural and written, presented through live (e.g. speech and performance), paper-based or electronic mediums of communication.

Sample

A hypothetical class of 12-13 year olds (Grade 7 in Australia) studying the Geography topic “Desert regions and their peoples” was used as an example.

Method

The students worked in groups to locate information about a particular desert and its human community, eventually creating a multimodal report that was part of a larger hypertext on “Desert regions and their peoples”. They collaborated on a wiki to contribute, compare and critique information. The Geography teacher, Design and Technology teacher, English teacher and librarian provided expert knowledge on using Google Earth to explore geographical features, exploit wiki features, generate information reports, and search databases, respectively.

Findings

The NLE is premised on the genre-based approach to teaching and learning and pedagogies for new literacies, marked by teaching cycle elements involving (1) explicitly teaching text design, deconstruction, developing metalanguage, and scaffolding the processes; (2) working together to build up content knowledge and construct texts; and (3) independent work. It exposes students to a wide range of technologies and integrates a myriad of literacy practices, linking online to offline learning, and school to home spaces, making for engaged and relevant learning.

Implications

In employing an integrated framework such as the NLE, the focus should be shifted from considering “types” of literacies, such as visual literacy and critical literacy, to the purposes of educational tasks that teachers set for students or the problems they want to solve, with greater emphasis on the social aspects of multiliteracies and new technologies.

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