Multiliteracies Lit Learning

Multiliteracies considers the future of literacy teaching in the context of the rapidly changing English language. Questions are raised about what constitutes appropriate literacy teaching in today's world: a world that is both a global village yet one which local diversity is increasingly important. This is a coherent and accessible overview of the work of the New London Group, with well-known international contributors bringing together their varying national experiences and differences of theoretical and political emphasis. The essays deal with issues such as: the fundamental premises of literacy pedagogy the effects of technological change multilingualism and cultual diversity social futures and their implications on language teaching. The book concludes with case studies of attempts to put the theories into practice and thereby provides a basis for dialogue with fellow educators around the world.

First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Putting a multiliteracies framework at the center of the world language curriculum, this volume brings together college-level curricular innovations and classroom projects that address differences in meaning and worldviews expressed in learners’ primary and target languages. Offering a rich understanding of languages, genres, and modalities as socioculturally situated semiotic systems, it advocates an effective pedagogy for developing learners’ abilities to operate between languages. Chapters showcase curricula that draw on a multiliteracies framework and present various classroom projects that develop aspects of multiliteracies for language learners. A discussion of the theoretical background and historical development of the pedagogy of multiliteracies and its relevance to the field of world language education positions this book within the broader literature on foreign language education. As developments in globalization, accountability, and austerity challenge contemporary academia and the current structure of world language programs, this book shows how the implementation of a multiliteracies-based approach brings coherence to language programs, and how the framework can help to accomplish the goals of higher education in general and of language education in particular.

First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Investigates the changes in literacy standards in a rapidly growing and evolving global environment. Proposes that the way English is taught must change in order to incorporate cultural and linguistic diversity that has emerged as a result of multiculturalism and global economic integration. Also analyses the nature of new communications technologies and their potential impact on the way English literacy is taught. Simultaneously published in paperback and downloadable PDF format. Includes notes on contributors and references.

Using a multiliteracies theoretical framework highlighting social diversity and multimodality as central in the process of meaning making, this book examines literacy teaching and learning as embedded in cultural, linguistic, racial, sexual, and gendered contexts and explores ways to foster learning and achievement for diverse students in various settings. Attending simultaneously to topics around two overarching and interrelated themes—languages and language variations, and cultures, ethnicities, and identities—the chapter authors examine the roles that multiliteracies play in students’ lives in and out of classrooms. In Part I, readers are asked to examine beliefs and dispositions as related to different languages, language varieties, cultures, ethnicities, and identities. Part II engages readers in examining classroom and community practices related to different languages and language varieties, cultures, ethnicities, and identities.

Literacy Teacher Educators: Preparing Teachers for a Changing World brings together the perspectives of 26 literacy/English teacher educators from four countries: Canada, U.S., UK, and Australia. In this unique text the contributors, of whom many are renowned experts in critical literacy and multiliteracies, provide readers with an overview of trends in literacy/English teacher education. The chapters begin with authors’ personal stories and current research, giving readers insight into the personal and professional worlds of the contributors. Included in each chapter is a rich description of approaches to literacy instruction in teacher education. These exemplary teacher educators show in concrete detail how they are addressing our evolving understanding of literacy . This timely text, written in a highly engaging style, will be of value to teacher educators throughout the world. I have never read anything quite like this book. It contains explicit representations of the conceptual frames and work of distinguished literacy teacher educators at various stages in their careers, accounts that provide a strong counter-narrative to the mainstream discourse in policy and education, that fully embrace the uncertainties and complexities of practice." From the Forward by Susan L. Lytle, Professor Emerita of Education in the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania

This book explains the concept of multiliteracies and provides the literacy knowledge, resources, attitudes, and strategies that elementary and middle school students need to succeed in a changing world. The authors present a range of new and established ideas about literacy, emphasising successful practices. Chapters cover how teachers can rely less on print texts; respond to new trends in children's literature; and balance guided reading, outcomes-based curricula, and school-wide approaches to planning. New concepts are accompanied by reflection strategies to help understandings of literacy, multiliteracies, and texts. All chapters include Theory Into Practice: Classroom Application sections throughout to demonstrate how to incorporate multiliteracies every day in the classroom. [Back cover, ed].