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This article describes how Finnish health education teachers reflect on their views of multiliteracy and the instructional practices they used to implement it. Narrative interviews were conducted among eight junior high school and high school teachers. Nexus analysis was used to guide the analysis on the teachers’ views and practices. The results indicate that the study participants considered the promotion of multiliteracy to be part of their work as a health education teacher and they implemented multiliteracy instruction in diverse ways, such as assigning information-seeking and production tasks, or by creating role-playing games. However, the study revealed tensions between need-based literacy teaching and curriculum-steered multiliteracy promotion as well as common and novel teaching practices. At its best, reflecting on these tensions can serve as a steppingstone toward professional change and development.

Children’s and Young Adult books are an anomaly in many academic libraries and their presence is often overlooked or ignored. In particular, the dust jackets and other paratextual elements are ofte...

This work draws from a larger research project that centres a youth summer writing programme. In this article, the author recounts the multiliteracy experiences of a white student who found creativ...

The world we live in is increasingly multimodal, necessitating multiliteracy for learners to engage meaningfully with knowledge and skills. While verbal language is the primary medium for construct...

This qualitative case study explores an adolescent English learner’s (EL’s) expression of self and identity through multiliteracy practices on paper from an ecological perspective. The study follow...

This research investigates an intercultural praxis approach to using visual research methods, in Australia and Vietnam, with preservice teachers in a Diploma of Early Childhood (DEC) course...

With the increase in cultural and economic globalization and technological advancements, the very nature of communication has become more fluid. As a result, communication practices move past defining socio-cultural identity to become intercultural capital from which a more constructive bi-cultural identity can emerge. This study compares immigrant and transnational migrant multiliteracies at the transitional age of pre-adolescence, comparing both global and socio-cultural types. The study utilised ethnographic collective case study observation of three Nepalese families in the United Kingdom. The year-long study comparatively investigated; what types of multiliteracies do immigrant and transnational pre-teens participate in? And do these multiliteracies better enable constructive identity through intercultural capital? The research utilised 150 hours of ethnographic observation, meta-historical narratives and semi-structured interviews with three case study families who were transnational Gorkha ...

This paper examines emerging forms of multilingualism and multiliteracy in rural India (where the term ‘literacy’ is used broadly here to include digital media literacy and marketing literacy as well as literacy in the traditional sense of the knowledge of a writing system). Here forces of globalization and digital communication have created unique communication circumstances that have a serious bearing on our understanding of multilingualism and on theoretical and practical issues concerning literacy in developing and rural societies. The newly emerging form of bimodal communication (man-machine and verbal-visual) is a product of a new village institution called an e-Choupal, a meeting place housing a computer with Internet access, where local farmers meet to learn about developments in farming, crop prices, etc., on the basis of contact with the world beyond the village through the use of computers. Traditionally, communication between members of the rural population and members of the mainstream popula...

This article addresses challenges of multicultural education in the context of increasing transnational mobility and growing diversity in schools, and suggests ways to convert these challenges into new resources in education. We start with a brief overview of the contemporary transnationalism and new understanding of space and culture (Levitt & Glick-Schiller, 2004), and how they pose special challenges in multicultural pedagogy. Specifically, we examine the misleading conceptualizations and practices of culture and identity in multicultural education (Hoffman, 1996). Then, we redefine the culturally responsive, transformative pedagogy with focuses on its multidimensional and empowering aspects. Multiliteracy practices (New London Group, 1996) of students from culturally and linguistically diverse families are acknowledged as a new pathway to allow a wider range of learning opportunities, transform the interactive patterns between students and teachers, and empower students to critically reflect on, and s...

Technological innovation is only as powerful as the willingness of the people of a particular place to embrace it. Ghana’s multilingual landscape has recently been repositioned as a source for early childhood literacy development in order to enfranchise more children in public education. One of the innovative technologies in this new multilingual program is local illustration. The purpose of this short report is to highlight the role of Ghanaian illustration in early childhood mother tongue reading and writing instruction. The report will show how local visual literacy has the potential to motivate young learners to read and write in their mother tongue, as well as the official language of Ghana, English.

In our new multiliteracy age, texts have moved beyond the printed page to a variety of online formats that involve online reading, online navigation and research, and many-to-many synchronous and asynchronous communications. In the field of education, one way to bridge the shift to this new literacy is to expand the limited text forms that students are exposed to and to engage them with electronic books, or e-books. This study aims to investigate students' perceptions of an e-book reading program. The participants were 67 first-year university students drawn from two sections of an intermediate “English as a foreign language” (EFL) reading course in a national university in northern Taiwan. During the yearlong experiment, students read at least one online e-book weekly from the reading list provided by the researcher. In questionnaires and interviews, students provided positive feedback on the program's strategy tools and its learning effects; they pointed out e-books' potential to cultivate better readin...

This article proffers a critical reading of multiliteracy pedagogy and a materialism of the multimodal and machinic. A critical stance is taken against the mesmerising modes of representation that run rampant across our ocular territories. The article assesses the dangers of fetishizing technologies. To this end, Multiple Literacies Theory (MLT) is read through a Guattarian theoretical prism to emphasise four chief points: (1) the role of the unconscious, (2) the role of affect (affectus in the Spinozian sense; contrary to feeling which immobilises, affect moves us), (3) the apparent becoming cyborg of the human race and (4) the desire to desire repression. The author contends that while qualitative multiplicities play a central role for MLT, it is neither inconsistent nor contradictory to consider the role of the machinic in greater detail. It is argued that more research must be directed into the cartographic, ethological and noological mechanisms at work in plastic universes of reference (new technolog...

This study examines the use of humor as a mechanism for challenging prejudice. The authors posit that South Park's “boomer humor” is a pedagogical tool befitting college students of a multiliteracy age. The show's willingness to confront ethnic and social stereotypes provides educators new opportunities in challenging contemporary inequities. As a pedagogical mechanism, South Park's boomer humor functions as a guide rather than a directive, helping students in the evaluation and construction of their own antiracist identities. Survey results illustrate the potential of humor as an effective springboard in generating student discussions of prejudice, self, and other, making such dialogue more comfortable. Students also indicate that they are concerned with issues of intolerance, and using imaginative approaches to diversity would encourage them to become more involved in challenging racism.

Doing literature circles helps you look at a book in a different way. Last year I didn't care for reading, and I didn't pay attention to the characters, setting, or even bother to finish the books. Reading was boring. The online literature circles motivated me to read all of the books. I even would go home and get back onto Think Quest and start talking about the books some more. Online literature circles rock! (Kaitlin) Online discussions are stoopendos! Our literature discussion was much more in depth [than face-to-face] and there was less pressure to talk. It was fun and easy. (Brendan) These reflections were written by sixth graders after our first online literature circle discussions. The world is quickly changing with social networking sites (e.g., MySpace, Facebook) and Web 2.0 tools such as blogs and wikis. We wondered as teachers how we could use some of these technological resources in our classroom to help middle school students create, think, learn, communicate, and gain meaning in life. We wanted to know how we could enhance our language arts curriculum with technology and prepare our students for a technological world. Prensky (2001) calls students who have been using computers from infancy "digital natives." From a pre-survey, we learned that our sixth graders were very adept at using cell phones, digital cameras, iPods, and computers. They knew how to "surf" the Internet, play computer games, participate in MySpace, download songs, send e-mails, chat via instant message, and text friends. As "digital immigrants," we wanted to create a literacy environment in which we valued our digital natives' ways of knowing. National Council of Teachers of English (2005) asserts that teachers can enhance or transform the meaning of work for students by integrating multiple modes of communication and expression. Anstey and Bull (2006) define a multiliterate person as one who is flexible, strategic, and understands and uses literacy practices with a range of texts and technologies. Borsheim, Merritt, and Reed (2008) encourage teachers to give students opportunities to access, evaluate, search, sort, gather, and read information from a variety of sources and invite students to collaborate to produce texts for a variety of audiences and purposes. Our desire was to integrate multiple modes of communication and integrate literacy with technology to help students in their journey toward multiliteracy. Online literature circles In the last 20 years, many middle grades teachers have organized face-to-face literature circles in their classrooms (Daniels, 2002; Hill, Noe, & King, 2003; Johnson & Freedman, 2005). Online literature circles are very similar to face-to-face ones, except students talk about the books they have read in small virtual groups using online programs such as Moodle, Blackboard, Angel, or Nicenet. Literature circles are based on Rosenblatt's (1978) transactional theory, which contends that students bring their life experiences and knowledge to a text, then through collaborative discussions take on an active and new way of thinking about the text so that a new meaning is created. Short (1997) found that literature circles promote a love for literature and positive attitudes toward reading. She also claimed that children become critical readers and thinkers, understanding a text more deeply and responding to books in different ways, when they are involved in literature circles. Latendresse (2004) asserts that literature circles work well with middle grades students, because young adolescents enjoy participating in small, collaborative groups and having the freedom to interpret texts in light of their experiences. In this article, we share our journey of organizing online literature circles in a sixth grade reading and language arts classroom. Sally teaches in a large middle school located in the Pacific Northwest. During the 2007-2008 school year, she taught two groups of sixth graders (25 students in the morning and 26 students in the afternoon). …

This paper aims to critically examine the trends, issues and challenges in policy and practice of English language education in Pakistan. This is done first by historically reviewing the English language education policies since Pakistan's independence in 1947, looking particularly at policy objectives, implementation strategies and outcomes, and the rationale for policy change. Second, the practice of teaching English in varied instructional settings is described. It is found that implementation lags far behind the major policy change in 1989 for “democratising” English. Furthermore, the consequences of using English as the medium of instruction are discussed in the light of recent policy advisories about using English for teaching science and mathematics from Grade 6 onwards in all Pakistani schools. Other issues and challenges in implementing the policy of mass literacy in English are also highlighted. It is argued that while policy decisions are driven mainly by global change forces, strategic plannin...

This study examines the multilingual and multiliteracy practices of a group of Tibetan female youths from South Asia (India, Bhutan, Nepal) newly arrived in Toronto, Canada (Nthinsp;= 24). The main data are derived from a questionnaire surveying their language practices across contexts indicating the roles of education, community, and society in multilingual maintenance and loss. In addition, this study considers how language ideology and the other sociocultural factors have impacted on participants' language and literacy preferences and practices. The results indicate specific multilingual and multiliterate patterns within the diaspora with differences between South Asia and North America. As female youths, the participants offer an indication of future trends in cultural and linguistic participation given the unequal influence of women on family language practices.

This study explores the perceptions of Finnish 15‐year‐olds on the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet. The data, students' written responses (N = 3112), were gathered in the context of the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in the spring of 2000 as a national option. The data were analysed by close reading and using the Atlas.ti application for coding. Students regard easy access to a variety of current information as the most important advantage of the Internet. Finding new friends and chatting with old ones was also emphasised, as well as the downloading capacities of the Internet. Although problems of finding reliable and truthful information were recognised, students' main concerns were related to issues such as violations towards computers and people, and getting addicted or marginalised.

This paper explores alternative approaches to the conception of scientific literacy, drawing on cultural studies and emerging practices in language arts as its framework. The paper reviews historic tensions in the understanding of scientific literacy and then draws on the multiliteracies movement in language arts to suggest a scientific multiliteracy. This is explored through analyzing the writing practices of groups other than scientists who for a variety of reasons must engage science. Specifically the paper examines zine writers who are ‘professional’ human research subjects, i.e. derive a part of their annual income by signing up for psychological and medical experiments, and science fiction fans, who produce their own texts in response to the narratives they love. The paper argues that these literacy practices add to traditional notions of scientific literacy possibilities of history, fiction, critique, as well as more traditional empiricism embraced by national standards. The paper concludes by cons...

The present paper introduces a model for teaching art history while facilitating multiliteracy awareness and skills such as interpretation, comparison between texts, careful research, asking questions, and reflection. This innovative model applies these well-documented literacy skills to personal and universal visual texts, rather than to the usual context of verbal texts. Relying on a constructivist educational approach, we developed a model linking the curriculum with students’ personal worlds by using their personal photo albums, which we approached as a unique, multi-layered text and a rich source of data. The photos in the albums represent a significant text for their owners, holding the story of their lives through people, places, and events along various periods of development. As such, the model places the students at the center of a learning process, during which they perform various tasks related to their personal photos at the first stage, and then gradually expand to works of art. The ...

Finnish students' multiliteracy profiles are examined from the perspectives of both traditional printed reading and Internet activities in the light of the data collected as a national option integrated into the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2000 study. After reciting some previous findings on reader profiles as revealed by the initial international analyses of PISA data, the perspective is widened to encompass multiliteracy, which is defined according to the sociocultural view. Based on responses to a survey questionnaire, students were grouped by cluster analysis into six distinct clusters according to the frequency with which they read diverse printed materials and were involved in various Internet activities. The multiliteracy profiles are described, first from the perspective of literacy activities and further examined in relation to students' gender, reading literacy performance, socio‐economic background as well as access to books and computers. Finally, some pedagogical sug...

The central claim of this article is that contemporary cultural forms such as television and the Internet involve more than the perceptual system of sight and more than visual images as a communicative mode. Meaning is made through an interaction of music, the spoken voice, sound effects, language, and pictures. This means that even the recent shift to visual culture among art educators is insufficient to position art education within a reconceptualized, broad definition of communications. To be relevant to contemporary social practice, art education must embrace interaction between communicative modes. The recent concepts of multiliteracy and multimodality are suggested for this purpose. This article examines why these concepts have emerged, the challenge they make to art education's traditional interest in the visual, and what teachers can begin to do in the classroom.

The Publishers would like to apologise to the authors of the above article for the errors that were introduced into Figure 1 in the production process. The correct figure is reproduced below. 10.10...