Multiliteracies Framework Research Articles

Developing multiple literacies in an EAP direct entry pathway program through integrated assessments

The multiliteracies framework provides a pedagogical approach relevant to English language direct entry pathway (DEP) programs at university, recognising that education and communication in a multicultural, multimodal, and globalised world involves more than language literacy. Integrated assessments, in which some combination of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are included and assessed, offer an appropriate form of assessment for this pedagogical context, but limited research explicitly connects the specific challenges and affordances of integrated assessments for assessing multiple literacies. The aim of this project was to consider how multiple literacies could be assessed through integrated assessment by conducting a review of the literature and applying this research to the collaborative development of an integrated listening-into-speaking task and rubric for use in our DEP programs. The proposed task and an approach to collaborative rubric development for integrated tasks is outlined.

Exploring One Colombian Adolescent’s Diverse Literacies in his Rural Community

A deficit view of rural language learners’ out-of-school literacy practices has permeated formal educational and language policy globally. Intergovernmental organizations like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, for instance, have often portrayed rural learners in Global South countries as having literacy deficits if their language skills are not in alignment with the practices valued in school contexts. These deficit representations are often instrumentalized as a tactic to oppress and exclude rural students’ literacies and language traditions from educational policy and curricula. Throughout this article, the authors – both language educators researching young people’s diverse literacy practices – aim to address and combat such problematic omissions. Following a sociocultural, multiliteracies framework, we analyzed two semi-structured interviews and accompanying artifacts to feature the literacies that a 14-year-old rural Colombian youth engages with daily. Results illuminate the myriad language practices honed outside of formal learning contexts, including family-based literacies, oral and embodied forms of communication, analyzing and composing with multimodal texts, and developing critical skills with digital texts to question national power relations and forge activist identities. The authors discussed the benefits of an expanded view of literacy – particularly for educators – in hopes of contributing to equity-based research advocating the recognition and inclusion of rural students’ vernacular literacies across formal learning spaces.

A shifting language-scape

By engaging the literature of transnationalism and Latinx studies with that of multiliteracies, this article contends that the cultural and linguistic complexities experienced by Spanishspeaking populations in global cities can be better addressed by a multiliteracies framework. We argue that using multiliteracies to teach adult learners can challenge negative linguistic and cultural stereotypes in the classroom. We conducted a qualitative study with at-risk adult learners. Using a TV show, we developed a series of pedagogical interventions and exercises to encourage cultural and linguistic pride to mitigate pervasive negative stereotypes around Latinx in the US. We contend that the development of language policies needs to engage the linguistic and cultural complexities experienced by Spanish-speaking people within the diasporic communities of global cities. The study was conducted at Hostos Community College in the Bronx, NY. The study shows that our pedagogical interventions mitigate negative linguistic and cultural stereotypes.

Negotiating “what counts” in multimodal writing in the classroom: a high school English teacher’s perspective

As students and teachers embrace more forms of multimodal composing, classroom power structures move from the more linear, hierarchical structures typically seen in education to more open, student-centered forms. However, these transitions are not always seamless. Using a multiliteracies framework, this article focuses on how a classroom teacher framed what counted as writing in a senior English class where students created a digital writing portfolio across three platforms. Findings explore what counted as writing from the perspective of the teacher before, during, and after the portfolio unit as well as the struggles that she faced in understanding how to assess the myriad of possible authoring paths multimodal projects offer. Implications extend to how teachers may be influenced by and continue to push back on established institutional power structures to open spaces for reshaping what counts as writing in the classroom.

Literacy in the Plural: Multiliteracies Enlivened during the Pandemic

AbstractCritical and situated engagement with literacies offers educators an important, documented pedagogical tool that has the potential to increase elementary students’ understanding of issues of equity, while developing their empathy, self‐awareness, and critical consciousness. What we don't know is how literacies can be used during a global pandemic to support students' socially, emotionally, and intellectually. This ethnographic research study sheds light on one racially, linguistically diverse fourth grade classroom and what happens when the teacher uses literacy events to engage students during the COVID19 pandemic. Using critical engagement and multiliteracies theories, I present and analyze data from classroom observations, audio recordings, fieldnotes, screenshots, and interviews. Findings indicate that engaging in multiliteracies during the pandemic supported student engagement, connection, and agency. I argue that these findings have implications for in‐person teaching. Specifically, when classroom teachers approach literacy events from a multiliteracies framework, new instructional spaces are created to support students to be cognitively and socially available for learning.

Exploring Cultural Identity and Language Development Through Digital Storytelling: Tales of Culturally-Linguistically Diverse Secondary Students

This study explores how digital storytelling influences the cultural identity development of secondary culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students from Bhutanese-Nepali backgrounds. Utilizing the theoretical framework of multiliteracies, cultural identity and sociocultural theory in Second Language Development, this research investigates the benefits and challenges of digital storytelling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, digital story artifacts, and observations during a seven-week after-school program. The findings reveal that digital storytelling allows CLD students to connect deeply with their cultural identities, express their experiences, and advocate for themselves and the broader immigrant community. Students integrated linguistic, visual, and audio elements to create rich, multimodal narratives, enhancing their language skills in both heritage languages and English. However, they also faced challenges such as technical difficulties and language barriers, underscoring the need for additional support.

Specifying the literacy pedagogy moves through genre-based instruction for advanced second language teaching: developing multiple literacies through systemic functional linguistics

ABSTRACT While the multiliteracies framework proposed two decades ago has had a considerable effect on the field of second language (L2) teaching and learning, its successful implementation has been found challenging, both on the conceptual and practical levels. In this paper, we discuss the main hurdles of putting the approach into practice and argue for the use of the genre-based instruction in combination with key constructs of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) as a framework that can help address these challenges. Connecting the multiliteracies pedagogy with the genre-based approach, we delineate specifically how the literacy pedagogy moves and knowledge processes that constitute them can be implemented in content- and language-integrated L2 instruction. We illustrate the approach by reporting on the materials development project that focuses on a particular public discourse theme (banning the burka in Austria) and advanced literacy genre (Argumentative Discussion). The project serves as an example of formulating the advanced L2 learning goals and designing activity types that can be used for developing the multiliteracies curricula in other instructional and thematic contexts.

Academic writing re-designed: Connecting languages and literacy in the assemblage of EAP

This study draws on the combined perspectives of “A pedagogy of multiliteracies” (New London Group, 1996) and assemblage and affect (Deleuze & Guattari, 1980/1987) to examine how neoliberal identities shape how English for academic purposes (EAP) students compose a source-based research paper. Such exploration is necessary to account for the range of influences that contribute to students’ meaning making and textual production, especially when academic dishonesty is involved. Interview data from one atypical student participant is presented and analyzed through the post-qualitative method of rhizoanalysis to highlight how (mis)intended meaning in the design process can be (mis)interpreted. Analysis from a pedagogy of multiliteracies framework combined with assemblage and affect reveal the unsuspecting neoliberal influence that shape learning experiences in EAP. Based on these findings, critical implications for EAP pedagogy and research are proposed to address international students’ lived realities as digital-transnational citizens.

Implementation of a Multimodal Academic Literacy Resource at a South African University

As a lecturer at a higher education institution in South Africa, the author is conscious of an emphasis placed on multimodal resources as part of the globally experienced shift to teach remotely due to the COVID-19 epidemic. In this autoethnographic study, she critically reflects on her experience in planning and executing the implementation of a custom-made multimodal resource called WIReD. WIReD is an acronym for writing, information literacy and reading development. She situates academic literacy and WIReD within the theoretical framework of multiliteracies, and thereafter provides background in terms of the study context and gives a brief description of WIReD. The methodology section includes the data used, a brief discussion on validity, reliability, and the reflexive process. The data analysis led to two broad categories of implementation inhibitors, namely inadequate resources and collaboration. These hindrances highlight broader issues with regard to institutional management, lecturers, and the needs of students in the South African higher education context.

Experimenting with the Teaching of Academic Genres in the Target Culture: A Reflexive Testimony

This testimony discusses an experiment in teaching French academic genres in the context of a French reading and composition class held at UC Berkeley in spring 2020. The experiment was designed and implimenetd in collaboration with Emily Linares. The article describes the reasons for introducing students to these genres, within a multiliteracies framework and explains which pedagogical strategies worked best in this context, and why. It also points to possible socio-political implications of the experiment, which could also prove beneficial to minority students or students from underrepresented backgrounds in American universities.

Designing on the page: Composing picturebooks in a Kevin Henkes author study

A team of four general education second grade teachers, who work in a neighbourhood state elementary school in a large urban area in the northeast United States, and their staff developer, redesigned their Kevin Henkes Author Study to equally value pictures and design, along with writing. They asked, what narrative understandings do children express by designing on the page? Using a framework of multiliteracies, they showed how they transformed writing workshop into composing workshop to support their emergent bi- and multilingual population. Through content analysis of 80 students’ completed picturebooks and constant comparison of 13 selected students’ retrospective accounts, findings show how students developed a metalanguage of composing for both writing and design craft moves that facilitated and supported their narrative understandings. Their narrative understandings were supported within the sociocultural contexts of our writing communities. Findings show the value of author studies and transforming writing workshop into composing workshop for primary grade writers. Findings have implications for classroom-based research and teaching of composing workshop, particularly for emergent bi- and multilingual populations.

Genre Expectations and Viewer Reaction to Our Planet: Are Audiences Motivated to Act More Sustainably?

As more people turn to documentaries to learn about environmental issues it becomes even more important to consider the ways in which genre and its representational patterns, such as the use of images, affect viewers. Re-examining the multiliteracies framework and grounded in rhetorical genre studies, this paper explores the first two episodes of Our Planet, a Netflix docu-series that catalyzed strong responses based on two jarring image sequences. The purpose of this paper is to examine how our familiar understandings of particular genres impacts our understanding of particular issues and what happens when the familiar patterns of a genre are challenged.

Çoklu okuryazarlık sistemini benimseyen İngilizce öğretmenlerinin başarı ve mücadeleleri

The literacy growing beyond the traditional print medium has led to the new understandings, practices and pedagogies. New London Group (1996) called these practices ‘‘multiliteracies’’ which refers to the way of combining local diversity and global connectedness together to teach through multiple forms of communicative technologies. By using technoliteracies and multimodalities, the genuine interaction is boosted for the purpose of raising socially, culturally and historically aware students. Teaching English, henceforth, is gaining importance at an unprecedented speed as it is neither spoken by only a minority nor does it belong to a single community. With respect to this, English teachers must have the necessary skills in terms of teaching cultural and linguistic diversities besides the ability to benefit from and utilize technology adequately. This research article investigates the ways to better understand the experiences of Turkish teachers who adopt multiliteracies framework in their classrooms implementing its goals. Qualitative research design was implemented to get credible results from practices of the participants. First, an open ended-questionnaire (Boche, 2014) was applied to 14 English teachers regarding their use of technology in their classrooms. The teachers were then categorized based on their answers into two groups. Secondly, the teachers who used multiliteracies framework in their classrooms were interviewed in depth about whether they teach cultural and linguistic diversities in their classrooms. The results were analyzed in a detailed way pointing to the successes and struggles with the integration of multiliteracies into the classroom in order to better inform English teachers with their practices

From Bauhaus to Makerspace: Meaning Design and Computer‐Aided Design in Introductory German

AbstractThis article introduces a Bauhaus design apprenticeship for first‐semester German as a means of integrating multiple literacies and disciplines. In light of the need for interdisciplinary models of the multiliteracies framework in introductory‐level language curricula, a collaboration with the campus makerspace can enhance the humanities' critical literacies mission in general and the language literacies mission in particular. In the case of German, Bauhaus offers not only a source of multimodal texts with significant cultural, historical, and political content but also a theory of design that resonates with the metalanguage of design in multiliteracies pedagogy. The article proposes a Bauhaus‐multiliteracies framework and demonstrates its implementation through a “Bauhaus Lehre” in elementary German and the makerspace. Students learn the use of a simple Computer‐Aided Design (CAD) program in an instructional sequence aimed at describing and transforming language and objects alike. Student products and the results of surveys conducted with the first two groups of learners to complete the project show that learners began to envision connections between language literacy and their digital and social futures.

Creating Love Letters to Nature: A Case Study of Children’s Multimodal Literacy Practices

Canada welcomes large numbers of immigrants each year, including children. It is certainly important to understand immigrant children’s educational experience beyond standardized tests in reading and math. This paper draws on a sociocultural approach by situating language and literacy learning in social and cultural contexts and by emphasizing the active role of learners in different contexts. Specifically, the multiliteracies framework (The New London Group, 1996) is used to understand how culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children choose to use different literacies and modes to make sense of their surroundings and to create artistic texts to express their understandings of nature, such as water and forests. A qualitative case study was conducted to understand five CLD children’s meaning-making process in a community setting. Data was collected through observations, informal conversations, semi-structured interviews and artifacts. The initial findings of the study indicate that CLD children are active and creative meaning-makers who select different linguistic, cultural and artistic resources as well as various modalities to effectively express their ideas and perspectives according to audience, purpose and context. The presentation discusses two nature projects and shares the artwork of the participating children to highlight a range of multilingual, multicultural and multimodal literacy practices.

Exploring Writing Instruction in New Media Communication Context from the Perspectives of Multiliteracies Framework

Exploring Writing Instruction in New Media Communication Context from the Perspectives of Multiliteracies Framework

The multiliteracies project: preservice and inservice teachers learning by design in diverse content areas

ABSTRACT This study examines the experiences of preservice and inservice teachers who developed web platform posts for The Multiliteracies Project, which in part involved creating a multimodal pedagogical tool embedded in a lesson plan to explore a multiliteracies approach in diverse content areas. This research draws upon theory of Learning by Design to help articulate and evolve a multiliteracies theoretical framework. Using constructivist grounded theory, there were 37 participants over 3 years (2014–2017) who participated via face-to-face interviews, focus groups, and email responses. Document analysis and field notes were also used in the analysis. Three main themes that emerged from the data were: (i) Fostering Creativity through Design; (ii) Enhancing Disciplinary Literacy; (iii) Digital Literacies Broaden Pedagogy. The study found that while participants indicated they felt The Multiliteracies Project was demanding, they benefited from engagement in Learning by Design. From this study, education professors may further consider ways that they themselves might introduce the theory of Learning by Design into their work with preservice and inservice teachers to engage them in multiliteracies. This pilot study has led to the development of a nationally funded study which will expand the web platform and include interviews, in-depth observations, and original film footage of educators in secondary schools and adult community-based contexts.

Using a multiliteracies approach to foster critical and creative pedagogies for adult learners

Drawing upon a pilot study and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight research study to explore how a multiliteracies framework may inform more critical and creative pedagogical approaches for adolescents and adults, this article begins with a brief overview of the literature on multiliteracies and then overviews the methodology used in the two research studies. Although multiliteracies has not been used frequently as a theoretical framework to inform work in adult learning contexts, this article argues that there are many benefits to this approach for adult educators to consider, particularly given the increasing need to attend to learning issues pertaining to globalization, diversity, and the impact of new technologies. Data from the interviews are combined with an analysis of the literature to explore the benefits offered by a multiliteracies approach by considering four main areas: lifelong learning and multimodalities; opportunities for engagement for English as Additional Language learners; new digital technologies and multiliteracies; and multiliteracies’ emphasis on social justice. The article concludes with a consideration of the potential for multiliteracies to inform educators working in a range of adult learning contexts.

The instructional benefits of identity texts and learning by design for learner motivation in required second language classes

ABSTRACT This article investigates the incorporation of identity texts grounded in the multiliteracies framework Learning by Design to second language (L2) instruction in required Spanish classes at a university in the Southern United States. In particular, it focuses on student work on multimodal identity texts during two academic semesters from 173 beginning and 205 intermediate students. The paper describes the pedagogical process that gave students the opportunity to use their L2 to analyse, develop, and connect multimodal texts directly to their individual experiences. In addition, students reported not only instructional and personal benefits, but also their views of the project itself through an open-ended survey. Also included is a sentiment analysis of the participants’ emotions toward L2 instruction after completing their texts. The findings from the survey reveal that the participants were able to identify a variety of instructional and personal benefits, and their perceptions of the project were overwhelmingly positive. The sentiment analysis showed that learners harboured extremely positive emotions towards the kind of instruction of which identity texts were part. Also, their work on identity texts seems to have contributed to their investment in these required L2 classes.

Bringing multiliteracies into process writing approach in ELT classroom: Implementation and reflection

Designing new pedagogy in response to the advancement of technology that requires the integration of literacy has became the issue in ELT classroom. What is more, the conception of teaching English skills, including writing, is not merely limited to the language skills target but also how the learners become multiliterate in facing todays’ world. This article puts forward the framework of multiliteracies that is integrated in process writing approach to bridge the gap between literacy education and writing pedagogy. This study aims at investigating the enactment of the incorporation of multiliteracies with process writing approach and to explore the learners’ reflection toward the use of the framework in their writing practices. The data were taken from online surveys, the participants’ reflection, observation, and focus group discussion in the end of the study. Researcher used qualitative analysis with embedded quantitative data. The proposed framework was delivered to pre-service teachers (PST) in English Writing subject at the English Language Education Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas PGRI Adi Buana Surabaya, Indonesia. Step by step procedures in process writing approach were incorporated with multiliteracies along with some activities used in teaching writing. Findings indicated that implementing the framework in teaching writing provides PSTs with the opportunities to embrace the multiple modes of meaning making and digital technology in writing, produce texts, and present them in multimodal and creative ways. In addition, despite several challenges in its implementation, the activities helped to improve the writing skill, decrease the chance of plagiarism, and increase the authentic writing. Finally, PSTs were motivated to enhance their digital literacy used in writing practices. As a result, the study suggests that multiliteracies had a space in the teaching writing skill following the guided procedures in process writing approach.