Reprint: A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures

In this article, the New London Group presents a theoretical overview of the connections between the changing social environment facing students and teachers and a new approach to literacy pedagogy that they call "multiliteracies." The authors argue that the multiplicity of communications channels and increasing cultural and linguistic diversity in the world today call for a much broader view of literacy than portrayed by traditional language-based approaches. Multiliteracies, according to the authors, overcomes the limitations of traditional approaches by emphasizing how negotiating the multiple linguistic and cultural differences in our society is central to the pragmatics of the working, civic, and private lives of students. The authors maintain that the use of multiliteracies approaches to pedagogy will enable students to achieve the authors' twin goals for literacy learning: creating access to the evolving language of work, power, and community, and fostering the critical engagement necessary for them to design their social futures and achieve success through fulfilling employment.

Multiliteracies is a pedagogical approach developed in 1994 by the New London Group (NLG) that aims to make classroom teaching more inclusive by addressing cultural and linguistic diversity, and rapid development in communication channel and technology. The purpose of this study was to explore the early grade teachers' perception on multiliteracies pedagogy and their awareness, skills and proficiency on it. We used critical ethnography research design to obtain rich and in-depth data from five years' experienced three early grade teachers through interviews and participant classroom observation in a community school of Nepal. Interviews and class observation of teachers were audio-recorded, and recorded data were transcribed assigning codes, and main two themes were developed in terms of the codes. Regarding understanding and awareness on multiliteracies pedagogy, the findings reveal that the teachers do not have more clear theoretical concept on it. They perceive multiliteracies as being literate not only through reading and writing but also using pictures, signs, symbols and mimics. They are aware in the use of multiliteracies pedagogy to make teaching learning effective but they do not have sufficient skills and proficiency on it. They can apply multiliteracies pedagogy in early grades effectively if their knowlwdge and skills is developed through training and capacity development programme on it.

THE NEW LONDON GROUP 1 In this article, the New London Group presents a theoretical overoiew of the connec­ tions between the changing social environment facing students and teachers and a new approach to literacy pedagogy that they call multiliteracies. The authors argue that the multiplicity of communications channels and increasing cultural and lin­ guistic diversity in the world today call for a much broader view of literacy than portrayed by traditional language-based approaches. Multiliteracies, according to the authors, overcomes the limitations of traditional approaches by emphasizing how ne­ gotiating the multiple lingustic and cultural differences in our society is central to the pragmatics of the working, civic, and private lives of students. The authors maintain that the use of multiliteracies approaches to pedagogy will enable students to achieve the authors' twin goals for literacy learning: creating access to the evolving language of work, power, and community, and fostering the critical engagement necessary for them to design their social futures and achieve success through fulfilling employment. If it were possible to define generally the mission of education, one could say that its fundamental purpose is to ensure that all students benefit from learning in ways that allow them to participate fully in public, community, and economic life. Literacy pedagogy is expected to play a particularly important role in ful­ filling this mission. Pedagogy is a teaching and learning relationship that creates the potential for building learning conditions leading to full and equitable social participation. Literacy pedagogy has traditionally meant teaching and learning

This paper reports the key findings of a critical ethnography, which documented the enactment of the multiliteracies pedagogy in an Australian elementary school classroom. The multiliteracies pedagogy of the New London Group is a response to the emergence of multimodal literacies in contemporary contexts of increased cultural and linguistic diversity. Giddens’ structuration theory was applied to the analysis of systems relations. The key finding was that students, who were culturally and linguistically diverse, had differential access to multiliteracies. Existing degrees of access were reproduced among the student cohort, based on the learners’ relation to the dominant culture. Specifically, students from Anglo-Australian, middle-class backgrounds had greater access to transformed designing than those who were culturally or socio-economically marginalized. These experiences were influenced by the agency of individuals who were both enabled and constrained by structures of power within the school and the wider educational and social systems.

Literacy today is characterised by rapidly changing and emergent forms of meaning making in the context of increased cultural and linguistic diversity, giving rise to the multiliteracies pedagogy of the New London Group. This article responds to these imperatives, reporting findings from a critical ethnography investigating the interactions between pedagogy, power, and discourse, and students' access to multiliteracies among culturally and linguistically diverse learners. The article reports the way in which a teacher enacted the multiliteracies pedagogy in the context of Claymation movie-making lessons with her Year 6 (age 11–12 years) class in Australia. A key finding was that students' access to multiliteracies differed among the culturally and linguistically diverse group because of a gap between multiliteracies theory and praxis. Specific recommendations are provided concerning the use of coercive power and the need for culturally inclusive discourses when enacting the multiliteracies pedagogy to enable meaningful designing.

This article introduces a novel approach to studying the effects of linguistic and cultural diversity on group creativity. A theoretical model of ecological diversity is adapted to the group level, distinguishing between intra-individual diversity (the variety of experiences and skills within an individual) and inter-individual diversity (differences among group members). To test this model, a quasi-experimental design was implemented with 116 groups of 2 to 4 participants collaborating on three distinct creative tasks. Results indicate that group creativity is largely independent of both individual creativity and intra-individual diversity. The influence of inter-individual diversity yielded mixed outcomes: cultural differences among group members negatively affected creativity and cohesion, whereas linguistic differences had a positive effect. In multivariate analyses, however, group creativity was primarily determined by group cohesion, group size, and the average intelligence of members. Overall, the findings suggest that inter-individual diversity plays a more important role than intra-individual diversity, linguistic diversity is more beneficial than cultural diversity, deep cultural differences are more valuable than surface-level traits, and visible cultural diversity may require strategies to strengthen cohesion, such as reducing team size.

Assessing Diverse Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders

The present study explores cultural and linguistic aspects of diversity in the context of universities with English-medium instruction (EMI) in Arabic-dominant Kuwait. As with other Arabian Gulf countries today, Kuwait is experiencing a rise of linguistic and cultural diversity not only due to the use of English as a lingua franca by the multi-ethnic, multilingual society, but also because of the adoption of EMI in higher education. The present study focuses on multilingualism at EMI universities in Kuwait and the impact of cultural and linguistic diversity on the educational process. The mixed-method approach combines a survey with undergraduate Kuwaiti students (N = 483) and semi-structured interviews with international faculty (N = 11) at two EMI universities in Kuwait. The survey results indicate that young Kuwaiti bilinguals regularly engage in multilingual interactions characterized by fluid use of multiple languages both within the educational environment and at home. The patterns emerging from interviews with educators indicate that pedagogical approaches in a range of academic fields also reflect linguistic and cultural diversity in the context of higher education with EMI in Kuwait.

One of the most influential articles in the history of literacy education has been ‘A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures’ co‐written by the New London Group in 1996. This seminal article introduced multiliteracies pedagogy, developed the theoretical framework for why it was needed, and outlined how teachers, curriculum planners and policy makers should implement the pedagogy. The article called for classroom‐based research to establish the evidence, lacking at the time, to support that the pedagogy of multiliteracies improves student literacy outcomes. Recent reviews claim that the generation of research following the foundational article produced evidence that multiliteracies pedagogy improves several literacy outcomes. However, existing reviews have not followed systematic review protocols typically required for concluding that a pedagogy is evidence‐based, so it remains unclear what evidence exists from (quasi‐)experimental classroom research. This paper reports on a systematic review of 20,581 studies published since 1996 with the aim of clarifying the extent to which multiliteracies interventions have reported positive effects on any literacy outcome (K‐12), in any country, through experimental/quasi‐experimental research designs that measured outcomes against control/comparison groups. The result is an ‘empty review’, meaning no studies were found. These results point to an important limitation on claims about the pedagogical value of multiliteracies in raising literacy outcomes. With recent movements toward evidence‐based practices, this study points toward opportunities for (quasi‐)experimental studies to be conducted that can provide teachers with a more robust evidence base and clarity around which aspects of multiliteracies pedagogy improve which literacy outcomes. Context and implications Rationale for this study: The Pedagogy of Multiliteracies (NLG, 1996) has influenced the history of literacy education. No review exists of (quasi‐)experimental interventions that evaluate their effectiveness. Evidence from (quasi‐)experimental research designs is fundamental to international discussions concerning effective pedagogy. This systematic review of (quasi‐)experimental studies assessed the evidence that multiliteracies pedagogy improves K‐12 literacy outcomes. Why the new findings matter: It has been claimed that the pedagogy of multiliteracies has been tested and improves literacy outcomes. The results of this study suggest such claims are open to academic debate. While multiliteracies has admirable ideas, and potentially evidence from qualitative research, the review found no evidence of positive outcomes from (quasi‐)experimental research. Implications for practitioners, policy makers and researchers: A generation after initial publication, empirical evidence that the pedagogy of multiliteracies improves any literacy outcome is insufficient to inform teaching practice. This is unusual given multiliteracies' immense international influence on curriculum, research, funding and public policy. More research should be done on the pedagogy, using a wider range of research methods.

This chapter explores the role of multiliteracies as a pedagogy for English language education that is responsive to the evolving cultural, linguistic, and communicative landscapes of globalized societies. After elaborating on each of the four key components of the multiliteracies pedagogy – Situated Practice, Overt Instruction, Critical Framing, and Transformed Practice – the chapter considers how using a multiliteracies pedagogy can help educators move beyond traditional methods of English language teaching and engage learners through the integration of multiple modalities (e.g., linguistic, visual, audio, gestural, tactile, and digital). The chapter provides recommendations for how English language teachers can use a multiliteracies pedagogy to make provision for learners with different learning styles and abilities, develop critical literacy, promote interdisciplinary learning, build on learners’ linguistic and cultural diversity, and encourage greater learner engagement and agency.

This article reports the results of a school-based curriculum development project that aimed to support language teachers working with culturally and linguistically diverse student populations in Norway to develop teaching strategies that foster intercultural citizenship and multilingual competence. Three university researchers collaborated with two schools to increase mutual respect and tolerance for cultural and linguistic diversity in language classrooms, to increase awareness of the positive impact of home language maintenance on academic performance, and to improve the engagement of multilingual literacy and student identity in the classroom. Data were collected during teacher workshops and while following the delivery of the project, and consist of lesson planning materials, texts produced by students, and a follow-up teacher survey. The article presents examples of activities and materials the teachers at the cooperating schools designed and implemented, samples of student work, as well as teacher reflections on the extent to which the project promoted multiliteracy and intercultural citizenship. The findings suggest that while the project helped strengthen awareness of cultural and linguistic diversity at the schools, understanding of the relevance of the home language to literacy development and academic success and multiliteracy were not adequately supported. Implications for future work to promote language classrooms that foster linguistic and cultural diversity and multiliteracy are discussed.

In this article, we explore our concern with the way youth identities and literacy research and practices are framed through a dominant conceptual paradigm in new literacy studies, namely, as articulated in the 1996 New London Group’s “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures.” More than any other text, “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies” streams powerfully through doctoral programs, edited volumes, books, journal reviews, and calls for conference papers, as the central manifesto of the new literacies movement. In what follows, we draw heavily from the work of Deleuze and Guattari to take issue with the New London Group’s disciplined rationalization of youth engagement in literacies. We organize our critical exploration of “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies” around Lee, a 10-year-old boy we follow through one day as he engages in reading and playing with text from Japanese manga. Our goal with this rereading is to reassert the sensations and movements of the body in the moment-by-moment unfolding or emergence of activity. This nonrepresentational approach describes literacy-related activity not as projected toward some textual end point but as living its life in the ongoing present, forming relations and connections across signs, objects, and bodies in often unexpected ways. Such activity is saturated with affect and emotion; it creates and is fed by an ongoing series of affective intensities that are different from the rational control of meanings and forms. It helps us to keep the distinction between description and prescription sharp and to begin imagining what else might be going on.

This study explored how cultural, linguistic, and gender diversity among teachers influence inclusive learning outcomes in Sokoto State, Nigeria. Using a quasi- experimental design, 332 SSII students and eight teachers across four schools participated. Data were collected using pre- and post-tests in English and Mathematics, and analyzed with independent t-tests and regression analysis. Results revealed no significant gender differences in student performance (p > 0.05). However, cultural diversity (β = 0.41, p < 0.01) and linguistic diversity (β = 0.36, p < 0.01) significantly predicted student achievement. The study concludes that cultural and linguistic diversity foster inclusive learning environments.

Diversity and Learner-Centered Education

As the world grows less biologically diverse, it is becoming less linguistically and culturally diverse as well. Biologists estimate annual loss of species at 1,000 times or more greater than historic rates, and linguists predict that 50-90% of the world's languages will disappear by the end of this century. Prior studies indicate similarities in the geographic arrangement of biological and linguistic diversity, although conclusions have often been constrained by use of data with limited spatial precision. Here we use greatly improved datasets to explore the co-occurrence of linguistic and biological diversity in regions containing many of the Earth's remaining species: biodiversity hotspots and high biodiversity wilderness areas. Results indicate that these regions often contain considerable linguistic diversity, accounting for 70% of all languages on Earth. Moreover, the languages involved are frequently unique (endemic) to particular regions, with many facing extinction. Likely reasons for co-occurrence of linguistic and biological diversity are complex and appear to vary among localities, although strong geographic concordance between biological and linguistic diversity in many areas argues for some form of functional connection. Languages in high biodiversity regions also often co-occur with one or more specific conservation priorities, here defined as endangered species and protected areas, marking particular localities important for maintaining both forms of diversity. The results reported in this article provide a starting point for focused research exploring the relationship between biological and linguistic-cultural diversity, and for developing integrated strategies designed to conserve species and languages in regions rich in both.