Writing For Social Action in Our Digital Age

Abstract

In this chapter, the author first describe the literacy pedagogy that he implements each year with a cohort of pre-service graduate students across two semesters to develop their social justice awareness, based in progressive education and critical literacy principles. The author then describes the social action writing unit of study that arises from this work, emphasizing multimodal forms of expression and especially the use of digital technologies. The author next focuses on two students who represent the digital composing process and products for social justice that students have created. Using multimodal systems of analysis, the author shows how designing multimodal texts informs pre-service students’ understandings of social justice issues. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the convergence of multimodality and social action writing and implications for pre-service writing instruction and action research with classroom teachers in school settings.