Tensions and Contradictions When Creating a Multimodal Text as a School Task in Mother Tongue Education

Anna-Lena Godhe

doi:10.18261/issn1891-943x-2013-04-03

Abstract

With digital technology it has become possible and relatively easy to create texts, which contain different kinds of expression, such as images and sound. This challenges the concept of literacy and what it means to create texts in education. By exploring tensions and contradictions in and between different components in the activity system of creating texts in classrooms this article attempts to illuminate conditions for transforming this activity. Activities are here conceptualized as activity systems where components at local and systemic levels influence and constitute each other. Tensions and contradictions at both levels, reflect general issues related to the concept of literacy, as they concern what kind of expressions are considered valuable and primary when creating and assessing texts in educational settings.

Highlights

With the increasing use of digital technologies in classrooms, it is possible for students and teachers to engage in tasks, which were previously out of reach
The classroom studies on which this article is based were conducted in two cycles during 2009-2011; the participants created multimodal texts in Swedish language education, which was new to the students as well as to the teachers
In the first cycle of research, questions of what the activity of creating a multimodal text in language education involved was in focus

Summary

Introduction

With the increasing use of digital technologies in classrooms, it is possible for students and teachers to engage in tasks, which were previously out of reach. With the use of digital technologies the possible ways of communicating and expressing meaning have been altered, which in turn affects classroom activities. In this sense ‘new’ primarily refers to how we understand and describe literacy practices (Lankshear & Knobel, 2008). ‘New’ in connection to literacy may refer to changes in practices, which involve new “ways of producing, distributing, exchanging and receiving texts by electronic means” Lankshear and Knobel (2008) conceptualize a difference between conventional and ‘new’ literacies, where the conventional is connected to an individual view on learning and intelligence, while expertise is viewed as centralized. Related to this conceptualization we find changes in practices, which Gee (2004) terms ‘affinity spaces’ and Jenkins et al (2006) refer to as ‘participatory cultures’. Compared to engaging in conventional literacies, these ‘new’ literacies are seen as being more collaborative and participatory (e.g. Gee 2004; Jenkins et al 2006; Lankshear & Knobel, 2008)

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