Transformative Multiliteracies Pedagogy: School-based Strategies for Closing the Achievement Gap

Abstract

Despite ongoing concern about the underachievement of low-income and culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students, there has been little focus on the kinds of pedagogy required to reverse this underachievement. Pedagogical approaches have been increasingly transmission-oriented, focusing on preparing students for high-stakes testing. Such approaches ignore the socioeconomic and sociopolitical roots of underachievement as well as research highlighting literacy engagement as a strong predictor of literacy achievement. The Transformative Multiliteracies Pedagogy frameworks presented here locate CLD students' underachievement within societal power relations and highlight the negotiation of identity between teachers and students as a central means of creating contexts of empowerment. Heuristic tools educators can use to critically assess their own practice and to articulate potentially productive pedagogical directions are discussed.