Title: Adopting a Multimodal Approach to Address the Multiliteracy Needs of My
Students
Publication Date: June 2008
Note: 13 pages
Pub. Type: Research Paper
Descriptors: new literacies, new digital divide, multimodality, print-based literacy, reconceptualizing literacy, out-of-school literacy
Abstract:
The technological advance that has dominated various aspects of our daily life has led to the emergence of new literacies. This created a need for reconceptualizing the old notion of literacy which was restricted to the ability of reading and writing. It has been stated forward by many scholars that we now require a richer and more diversified concept of literacy that includes not only verbal literacy, but also visual literacy (Buckingham, 2007; Jewitt, 2005; Makin &
McLachlan, 2006; Pahl & Rowsell, 2005). In order for schools to respond to „digital native‟
(Prensky, 2002) students, many of the new emerging literacies should be embedded in the curriculum. Working these new literacies into the curriculum will serve a two-fold purpose: keeping the „new digital divide‟ (Buckingham, 2007) to a minimum and relating students‟ outof-school literacy practices to in-school literacy instruction.
In an effort to embed the new burgeoning literacies into the curriculum, I have created a classroom website that would allow me to rely on my students‟ „digital capital‟ that has often been overlooked. The website will also help students move from a monomodal approach that relies mainly on print-based text to a multimodal one that requires them to explore a variety of modes to get access to meaning.
Adopting a Multimodal Approach to Address the Multiliteracy Needs of My Students
Introduction
The move from the dominance of the page to that of the screen (Kress, 2003) over the past century has had great impacts on youths‟ out-of-school literacy practices. The supremacy of the book, which used to be our sole meaning-making
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