Multiliteracies Pedagogy Research Articles

The two “multis” and the multiliteracies pedagogy: “shaking hands” in the Brazilian English public education for teens

English school textbooks have a long tradition in the Brazilian public sector of education. Most often they are the only pedagogical resources in an English classroom. English public textbooks are submitted to a National Program for evaluation and this educational policy has had positive impacts on these materials. This article analyzes one of the units of a textbook series for teens that was approved in 2020. Our analysis focuses on the two “multis”, the multiliteracies pedagogy and the active role today’s learners play in learning. We also highlight some alternatives for improvements and give some suggestions for English teachers. The documentary research method within the qualitative paradigm supports our analysis. Our results show that the unit follows the principles of the two “multis” and the cycle of knowledge processes although its pedagogical design can be improved. Our analysis also reviews that much has yet to be done if we consider the responsibility students have to assume when learning.

Words belong to ourselves: Multiliteracies pedagogy in English language education

This study explores the possibilities and challenges of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) based on multiliteracies perspectives within New Literacy Studies (NLS). Teaching materials were developed for a group of Iranian EFL learners based on the four principles of NLS and were taught based on the same principles aiming at creating alternative language learning experiences. Class recordings, fieldnotes, interviews, and learners’ notebooks were collected as our data over three months, and were analyzed based on a grounded theory approach through coding procedures in search of emerging ideas about NLS-based EFL pedagogy. The findings revealed four possibilities: relevance to learners, their active engagement, their self-reliance, and owning the language forms. The challenges appeared to be stemming from preconceptions of the teacher and the students about language teaching, learning, and assessment. We discuss aspects of such opportunities and challenges in Iran, with possible implications for many similar EFL settings.

A leitura em sala de aula: implicações sobre o gênero multimodal

Multimodal reading is a linguistic competence of great importance for the formation of a critical and interactive student. Therefore, it is necessary to encourage and teach it in the classroom. Thus, this research aims to carry out a historical contextualization about reading and, then, to present how the reading of multimodal texts is an important tool in the teaching-learning process of students and teachers, since through this ability it is possible to carry out a teaching based on the pedagogy of multiliteracies, bringing the reality of the external area of ​​the classroom into it. To do so, this study will adopt a bibliographic methodology. It is concluded that studies that involve teacher training, combining theories and practices and their results in the training of proficient readers, are crucial for the review of curricula of licensure courses and others aimed at teacher training.

(Re)conceptualizing “Language” in CLIL

Abstract CLIL focuses on the integration of content learning and additional language learning. However, it is increasingly recognized that the re/presentation and communication of discipline-specific content involve not only language, but also other semiotic modes (such as visuals and gestures). This is accelerated by the advancement of digital technologies and multiplicity of communication channels in recent years. This article points out the urgent need to revisit and reconceptualize the roles of “language” in CLIL. It argues that, to prepare students for the multimodal communication landscape in today’s societies and to truly value their linguistic and semiotic diversity in learning, the “language” dimension in CLIL needs to be reconceptualized as a multimodal dimension, and CLIL classroom practices need to adopt an updated pedagogy of multiliteracies (New London Group, 1996) rather than focusing on “mere language” practice. The article reviews the recent development of theories and studies of multimodality and trans-semiotics and discusses their implications for what to teach and how to teach in today’s CLIL classrooms. It proposes the notions of translanguaging and trans-semiotizing to emphasize a dynamic and dialogic process of meaning (co)making process drawing on multiple linguistic and semiotic resources to enable students to both gain access to and critically engage in meaning/knowledge co-making/co-design. Ultimately, it aims at reconceiving CLIL to contribute to a more equitable school and classroom culture.

The potential of sound picturebooks as multimodal narratives

Abstract In this article, we study how Sound Picturebooks constitute a multimodal narrative that enables students to develop their literacy, not only in terms of basic reading and writing skills, but also as a multidimensional interaction with other forms of representation such as images, sounds and actions. In line with the aims of the Pedagogy of Multiliteracies (New London Group 1996), we select and analyze fifteen Sound Picturebooks whose features allows us to implement the Learning by Design tenets and the four pedagogical components of the Knowledge Processes Framework: experiencing, conceptualizing, analyzing and applying. The goal is to foster basic multimodal literacies – literary, linguistic, visual and musical – and provide learners with the opportunity to construct meaning as a dynamic process of transformation and creative inquiry. Specifically, we explore the auditory features that these Sound Picturebooks contain and the extent to which the themes conveyed in the stories can be connected with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for the further discussion of social concerns. Our analyzes show that such multimodal narratives integrate crucial features to cultivate and broaden students’ multiliteracies in the classroom.

Imagining Multimodal and Translanguaging Possibilities for Authentic Cultural Writing Experiences

This article proposes ways to authentically amplify writer’s workshop for emergent bilinguals. Through the study of one bilingual teacher’s mediation in teaching, we examined the affordances that translanguaging and transmodal practices have for emergent bilingual students’ writing processes. In this case study, we focused on a writing sequence associated with the well-known Latin American holiday of the Day of the Dead, in which 3rd grade emergent bilinguals wrote “calaveras,” or literary poems, as part of an interdisciplinary language arts and social studies lesson. Our work is framed by sociocultural theories of mediation, literacy, and language. Under a multiliteracies pedagogy, we observed how a bilingual teacher and emergent bilinguals negotiate meaning through a variety of linguistic and multimodal resources. In our interactional analysis of talk, we found how the teacher mediated background knowledge and vocabulary as a part of the writing process; we also identified ways in which her mediation included extensive scaffolding as she provided linguistic and disciplinary knowledge needed to write calaveras. Through integrating the tenets of mediation with biliteracy, multiliteracies, and translanguaging pedagogies, this study offers a promising example of how teachers can build a culturally-sustaining writers’ workshop to support emergent bilingual learners’ language development and writing practices.

Enhancing multimodal communicative competence in ESP: the case of job interviews

Abstract ESP teaching has traditionally centred on the discourse practices of specific genres to develop students’ discursive competence in the target language. However, with the advent of studies on multimodality, there has been a growing recognition that new pedagogical approaches are required in ESP teaching. In this study, we discuss a research-informed pedagogical proposal to deal with job interviews, a highly routinised spoken genre that is typically addressed in Business English courses. Drawing on previous literature (Cope, B. and Kalantzis, M. (2015). The things you do to know: an introduction to the pedagogy of multiliteracies. In: Cope, B. and Kalantzis, M. (Eds.), A pedagogy of multiliteracies. Learning by design. Palgrave MacMillan, Hampshire, pp. 1–36; Lim, F.V. (2018). Developing a systemic functional approach to teach multimodal literacy. Funct. Ling. 5: 1–17), we present a pedagogical proposal that aims to promote students’ awareness of the multimodal nature of job interviews and develop their multimodal communicative competence through instruction, practice and feedback.

From functional literacy to multiliteracies: understanding the challenges of integrating rich and visual texts in Singapore writing classrooms

ABSTRACT The recent exemplification of multiliteracies in the newly implemented English Language (EL) syllabus in Singapore clearly signals to EL teachers the great importance of integrating technology-mediated communication practices into their classrooms. An initiative of the New London Group, multiliteracies is a pedagogical approach that points to the urgency and challenges of preparing students for a fast-paced, dynamic and multimodal world that now shapes all aspects of modern text consumption and production. Yet, EL writing instruction remains particularly resistant to such reforms. What we have instead is a persistence of long-dominant functional literacy strategies which emphasize technical skills, language rules, and learning by rote. This paper utilizes data gathered from a two-year, grant funded multiple-case study that investigated writing pedagogy on the part of six teachers working in three typical secondary schools in Singapore. It seeks to explain how functional literary persists to constrain the pedagogical actions of teachers, either explicitly or implicitly. It also identifies teaching opportunities that emerged in classroom observations but remained unexplored as a result of this functional literacy focus. Most importantly, the paper articulates how this historical trend may be challenged and overcome with a more robust multiliteracies pedagogy.

Language teaching and critical literacy curriculum in Greek primary education: implementation and perspectives

The approach of the critical literacy principles in the L1 Language Curriculum (CL_L1C) in Greek primary education is strictly related to the study of social practices that focuses on the elimination of social inequalities and on the formation of critically thinking and socially active individuals. In the frame of this analysis, the development of new semiotic modes of communication is examined through the evaluation of the activities presented by the curriculum, in order to underline the significance of multiliteracies pedagogy in the critical understanding of forthcoming sociocultural changes. Through the presentation of basic teaching practices promoted in the context of critical literacy, the study of the contribution of the curriculum (CL_L1C) is pursued to change the way language is treated as a subject of teaching. For this reason, the documentary analysis is comparatively built by incorporating references into the older cross-thematic curriculum (CT_L1C) that focused more on the development of pupils’ communication—and less critical—skills. The differentiation brought about by the newer curriculum, however, is mainly realized via the experience accumulated in schools, alongside the difficulties and perspectives it presents in the formation of a modern and innovative educational discourse

Constructing the pedagogy of multiliteracies. The role of focalisation in the development of critical analysis of multimodal narratives

This paper aims to contribute to the construction of multiliteracies pedagogy. We argue that the analysis of focalisation is an essential dimension in multiliteracies pedagogy aimed at promoting the development of critical analysis of multimodal narratives. Our point is sustained by a case study of focalisation in an animated narrative comprising a hybrid multimodal text offered for students learning about refugees in a public digital platform. We performed a critical analysis of the visual narrative supported by a grammar of focalisation in animated images and a framework for critical analysis of multimodal discourse. The analysis shows that viewers (and characters) are differently positioned throughout the text as uninvolved observers of the represented characters as ‘others’; as emphatic witnesses of the others’ suffering; and as committed social actors who see the refugees as ‘one of us’. We interpret these findings as conveying different ideological meanings associated with assimilatory or liberating ideologies. We discuss the major implications of our findings concerning the role of focalisation in the enactment of critical analysis of multimodal texts, the interdependence of critical analysis vis-à-vis the other learning processes as well as the need for teachers’ professional development as a pre-requisite to construct the pedagogy of multiliteracies.

Exposure of English Ordinary Level learners to reading by ESL teachers

This study investigates the exposure to reading of English Second Language (ESL) learners at Ordinary Level (OL) in Khomas region Senior Secondary Schools. The study focuses on how ESL teachers expose OL learners to reading in the classroom. The qualitative approach with a descriptive case study design was used for this study. Data were collected using non-participant classroom observation and semi-structured interviews with ESL teachers. The collected data were analysed by establishing themes and emerging categories. The study is informed by the principles of the multiliteracies pedagogy of the New London Group (NLG) (1999). The study established that ESL teachers were not exposing OL learners to reading sufficiently, because they were still entrapped in mono-modal teaching habits. The ESL teachers who participated in this study revealed that it was challenge to find appropriate reading materials to use in the classrooms. In addition, participants in this study also demonstrated the lack of broad conceptualisation of literacy that is aligned with the principles and components of the multiliteracies pedagogy. The premise of this paper is to suggest ways in which OL learners can be exposed effectively to reading in ESL classrooms. This study recommends that the principles of the multiliteracies pedagogy (overt instruction, situated practice, critical framing and transformed practices) ought to be introduced in ESL classrooms in Namibia. As a result, ESL teachers will be able to create learning experiences that enable learners to develop strategies to read in a new and unfamiliar manner.

Awakening Sociocultural Realities in Pre-service Teachers Through a Pedagogy of Multiliteracies

Language learning that is grounded on learners’ sociocultural realities promises to be a meaningful experience they are likely to treasure when it comes to grappling with practical day-to-day matters. This article reports on a research study aimed at fostering socioculturally constructed language learning in a group of pre-service English teachers. This is a qualitative case study, grounded in a social constructivist paradigm, which draws on a pedagogy of multiliteracies through the Knowledge Process and the Concept of Design (Cope & Kalantzis, 2009) to embrace diverse modes of communication and to expand learners’ possibilities of engagement with text and the social and cultural world around them. The findings indicate that while learners are provided with opportunities to explore, reflect and co-construct socioculturally driven knowledge, they are involved in a meaning-making experience that allows them to make sense of the language they are learning.

Social activity and learning de-encapsulation under a multimodal approach in English Language Teaching

In order to attempt to bring language learning practices closer to students’ daily lives, studies regarding Social Activity (Liberali, 2009), under the Social Historical Activity Theory (Engestrom, 1999) have been gaining space in current research (Larré, 2018; Silva, 2017; Zanella, 2017). Accordingly, as an emerging necessity from the context here described and from our society in general, environmental education became necessary, along with interdisciplinary practices, as stated in Brazil’s official curriculum guidelines. In addition, in the 21st century, with the advances of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), the Pedagogy of Multiliteracies (Cope & Kalantzis, 2001) has become even more relevant in education, being it due to communication, social media, video, and images, for example. In light of this, the objective of this research paper is to analyze the outcome of an environmentally focused pedagogical intervention under a multimodal approach, developed during an internship program in a state school. After being in contact with planetary awareness in English language lessons, students customized ecobags alongside the Arts teacher, in an interdisciplinary way. Students’ productions were analyzed taking into account their multimodal choices when making meaning out of different semiotic modes, and to what extent learning de-encapsulation happened in this process. Results indicate that students were able to achieve synesthesia in their multimodal productions, combining linguistic, visual, spatial and gestural modes. Furthermore, learning de-encapsulation occurred as students made use of the environmental knowledge they acquired in English classes, not only by crossing boundaries inside the school, but also outside its walls.

The Senior High English Teaching Design Based on the Multiliteracies Pedagogy—From the Perspective of Cultivating Students’ Key Competency in English

Based on people-oriented moral education, the Key Competency of Chinese Students’ Development highlights the importance of cultivating students’ key competency, which means that students should have the essential character and core ability to adjust lifelong development and meet the demand of social development. According to the High School English Curriculum Standard (2017 Edition), key competency in English refers to language ability, thinking quality, cultural character and learning ability. And on the basis of multiliteracies pedagogy, linguistic symbols and non-linguistic symbols are combined together to create a multimodal teaching environment. And students will obtain new knowledge through four main stages: situated practice, overt instruction, critical framing and transferred practice, leading students mobilize their multiple senses together when learning English and help improve their comprehensive competence, which is in line with cultivating students’ key competency in English. This paper will firstly make a brief introduction of key competency in English based on the High School English Curriculum Standard (2017 Edition) and analyze typical views of multiliteracies pedagogy, then take the reading passage, Learning English from Unit5 Languages around the World, compulsory I, PEP as an example, applying multiliteracies pedagogy to English class, in order to cultivate students’ key competency in English to some extent through multiliteracy training.

The pedagogy of multiliteracies as a code breaker: A suggestion for a transversal approach to computing education in basic education

AbstractWhile computing has been (re)introduced into the basic education curricula in various countries, its actual implementation appears to be inconsistent. There are schools in which computing education is commonplace, while the implementation seems to be lagging behind in others. There is emerging evidence that some teachers do not consider computing education relevant, meaningful and important and, thus, intentionally neglect its provision. This is problematic as understanding the principles of code and computing is crucial for agentic citizenship in the post‐digital era. This paper argues that one main reason for these teachers' reluctance is the economy‐driven discursive framing of computing education, which is in contrast with the socialization‐oriented manner in which teachers approach their work. To contribute to resolving this issue, the present paper introduces a transversal approach to computing education. It conceptualizes code as a sociomaterial text with social and societal histories and consequences. Theoretically and conceptually, the approach draws on the pedagogy of multiliteracies. The leading idea is that digital technologies are examined with students from functional and critical dimensions and through micro and macro perspectives. The use of wearable sports technologies, such as activity wristbands, are used as practical examples to put the theoretical ideas into context. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Computing has been (re)introduced in the curricula of basic education in various countries. Some teachers are found to be reluctant to teach computing in basic education. What this paper adds This paper introduces a transversal multiliteracies‐based approach for computing education. Implications for practice and policy Computing should be included in curricula and classrooms in a holistic manner that includes both functional and critical approaches to computing.

Evaluating Global EFL Coursebooks in the Iranian Context: A Multiliteracies Approach

Global EFL coursebooks are used in numerous educational contexts throughout the world based on the assumption that they are the optimal source of English educational input. Their widespread use calls for a systematic analysis of these coursebooks using a framework that can reveal their defining characteristics. One such framework is the knowledge process framework, which is based on the multiliteracies pedagogy. The present study deployed this framework in an attempt to analyze seven widely taught coursebooks in the Iranian context. The findings revealed that knowledge processes of analyzing functionally and applying appropriately were more frequent in the analyzed coursebooks and the other knowledge processes were present in lower numbers. Based on the findings of the study, EFL teachers in the Iranian context are encouraged to include more activities with the knowledge processes of analyzing critically and applying creatively to address the absence of these knowledge processes while teaching the global coursebooks.

“The Door Was Always There”: Transnational Youth Leveraging Their Multiliteracies for Civic Justice

AbstractIn this practitioner research study, I explored how a pedagogy of multiliteracies supported the civic learning of eight middle and high school Indonesian American youth in a summer literacy program. Tracing how transnational youth face barriers to civic learning and engagement in times of rising inequality and xenophobia, I analyzed the ways in which program participants engaged with a curriculum featuring discussions of contemporary civic issues, transnational literary texts, and opportunities for expression. I found how, using their multiliteracies and border‐crossing lives as resources, participants critiqued systemic issues hidden in everyday interactions, expressed the tensions of claiming transnational identities, and repurposed academic literacies to argue for civic justice. I name the affordances of using multiliteracies‐oriented civic pedagogies that center the semiotic resources, identities, and experiences of transnational youth, as well as the civic openings that such learners themselves identify.

Harnessing the potential of transmedia narratives for critical multimodal literacy

ABSTRACT Literary narratives are well recognised for their power to foster engagement with complex social themes. Transmedia narratives, which present the same story in different media, can help advance both critical multimodal discourse studies and multiliteracies pedagogies. To harness this potential, we need to develop methods for systematically relating media affordances to discourse-semantic patterns and the broad social themes these patterns construct in narratives, and ensure these methods build on the knowledge learners bring to the classroom. This article introduces a social semiotic method for analysing transmedia narratives and illustrates its ability to reflect the persuasive power of narrative and build on young children's critical multimodal awareness. This is achieved through a case study comprising data from three adaptations of the same award-winning narrative - animated film (Joyce, W. (Producer), Joyce, W., & Oldenburg, B. (Directors) (2011). The fantastic flying books of Mr Morris Lessmore [Motion Picture]. Moonbot Studios), interactive app (Moonbot Studios. (2011). The fantastic flying books of Mr Morris Lessmore (Version 1.4). [Mobile Application Software]), and traditional-format picture book (Joyce, W. (2012). The fantastic flying books of Mr Morris Lessmore. Illustrations by William Joyce and Joe Bluhm. Moonbot Books) - and mother-child interactions with the book and the app.

A educação infantil e a pedagogia dos multiletramentos

Esta pesquisa, de cunho qualitativo, tem como objetivo analisar as contribuições da Pedagogia dos Multiletramentos em uma escola municipal de Uberaba-MG tendo em vista a relevância da formação continuada de professores como norteadora do uso das tecnologias digitais de informação e comunicação (TDIC) na Educação Infantil. Buscamos responder à seguinte questão: Quais as contribuições da Pedagogia dos Multiletramentos em uma escola de Educação Infantil e o papel da formação continuada de professores frente à ascensão dessa pedagogia? Para a coleta de dados dos 14 (quatorze) professores participantes utilizamos entrevista por meio de questionário e realizamos oficinas em grupo. Para discussão dos dados, usamos a análise de conteúdos por meio da análise categorial. Como resultados destacamos a colaboração da pesquisa para reflexões acerca da Pedagogia dos Multiletramentos, permitindo a valorização e inserção das TDIC nas turmas de Educação Infantil, desenvolvendo um olhar crítico quanto à utilização dessa pedagogia no contexto escolar.

“I expect boredom”: Students' experiences and expectations of multiliteracies learning

Multiliteracies has been incorporated in the curriculum of many education systems around the world. Beyond the broadening of focus in literacy to include multimodal meaning‐making, multiliteracies pedagogies are also associated with certain pedagogical shifts, such as a focus on bridging the students' out‐of‐school literacy practices with what and how they are learning in school. This often involves appropriating social media as well as introducing popular culture topics in the classroom. This article discusses the students' perspectives of these ideas to inform the teacher's design of multiliteracies learning. Drawing on data collected through surveys and focus group discussions from a multi‐phased research project on multiliteracies in Singapore, we reflect on the students' expressions of their experiences and expectations on multiliteracies learning. In particular, we surface an instrumental view of learning where concerns over examinations and future career prospects cloud the students' learning. We also identify a desire among the students to keep their worlds of home and schools separate. While the discussion of the students' perspectives is anchored in the context of Singapore, the implications contribute to the global discourse among curriculum planners, educational researchers and teacher practitioners who are interested in improving the design of multiliteracies learning in their contexts.