New Literacies

Situated at the intersection of two of the most important areas in educational research today — literacy and technology — this handbook draws on the potential of each while carving out important new territory. It provides leadership for this newly emerging field, directing scholars to the major issues, theoretical perspectives, and interdisciplinary research pertaining to new literacies. Reviews of research are organized into six sections: Methodologies Knowledge and Inquiry Communication Popular Culture, Community, and Citizenship: Everyday Literacies Instructional Practices and Assessment Multiple Perspectives on New Literacies Research FEATURES Brings together a diverse international team of editors and chapter authors Provides an extensive collection of research reviews in a critical area of educational research Makes visible the multiple perspectives and theoretical frames that currently drive work in new literacies Establishes important space for the emerging field of new literacies research Includes a unique Commentary section: The final section of the Handbook reprints five central research studies. Each is reviewed by two prominent researchers from their individual, and different, theoretical position. This provides the field with a sense of how diverse lenses can be brought to bear on research as well as the benefits that accrue from doing so. It also provides models of critical review for new scholars and demonstrates how one might bring multiple perspectives to the study of an area as complex as new literacies research. The Handbook of Research on New Literacies is intended for the literacy research community, broadly conceived, including scholars and students from the traditional reading and writing research communities in education and educational psychology as well as those from information science, cognitive science, psychology, sociolinguistics, computer mediated communication, and other related areas that find literacy to be an important area of investigation.

With contributions from leading scholars, this compelling volume offers fresh insights into literacy teaching and learning—and the changing nature of literacy itself—in today's K–12 classrooms. The focus is on varied technologies and literacies such as social networking sites, text messaging, and online communities. Cutting-edge approaches to integrating technology into traditional, print-centered reading and writing instruction are described. Also discussed are ways to teach the new skills and strategies that students need to engage effectively with digital texts. The book is unique in examining new literacies through multiple theoretical lenses, including behavioral, semiotic, cognitive, sociocultural, critical, and feminist perspectives.

This book examines the work of pioneers: teachers who have transformed their classrooms in an effort to broaden the literacy of their students, describing some of the most innovative examples of teaching and learning.

Thinking Through New Literacies for Primary and Early Years is an accessible text that encourages readers to consider deeply what is meant by ′literacy′ today. It explores the many different ways in which teachers and children develop their own literacy. Specifically written for education students in the later years of their course, the text draws on research and practice to explore the challenges and opportunities involved, while helping to develop the reader′s own critical thinking skills. The book begins by asking ′what′s new about new literacies?′ and goes on to explore some technological innovations designed to support the emergent reader and writer. It considers verbal literacy, speaking and listening, and visual literacy. Readers are encourages to think through the issues surrounding inclusion and the legal and ethical issues raised by this post-typographic age. Throughout, practical guidance runs alongside structured critical thinking exercises to help the reader reflect on both theory and practice. About the Thinking Through Education Series Thinking Through Education is a series of texts designed and written specifically for those education students entering the second or final phase of their degree course. Structured around sets of specific ′skills′, each chapter uses critical thinking and reflective exercises to develop greater subject knowledge and critical awareness. Each book contains links to the Teachers′ Standards providing students with a clear transition from study to practice. Jayne Metcalfe is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cumbria. Jayne is involved in e-safety training of student teachers. Debbie Simpson is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cumbria. She is currently the acting Programme Leader for the Primary PGCE course. Ian Todd is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cumbria, with a specialism in English and an interest in the teaching of ICT. Mike Toyn is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cumbria where he also coordinates the teaching of primary ICT.

“Like a compass guiding you to what’s important and why in this rapidly evolving field, this new edition is utterly stimulating but also thoughtful and measured.” Daniel Cassany, Literacy Researcher and Teacher, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain "Essential reading for those interested in new and emerging literacy practices, New Literacies maps the contours of on- and off-line participation and how it is transforming learning and communication. This book provides the necessary theoretical background and illustration of practice for a radical re-appraisal of how we think about literacy and literacy education." Guy Merchant, Professor of Literacy in Education,Faculty of Development and Society, Sheffield Hallam University The new edition of this popular book takes a fresh look at what it means to think of literacies as social practices. The book explores what is distinctively 'new' within a range of currently popular everyday ways of generating, communicating and negotiating meanings. Revised, updated and significantly reconceptualised throughout, the book includes: Closer analysis of new literacies in terms of active collaboration A timely discussion of using wikis and other collaborative online writing resources Updated and expanded accounts of digital remix and blogging practices An explanation of social learning and collaborative platforms for social learning A fresh focus on online social networking A new batch of discussion questions and stimulus activities The importance of social learning for becoming proficient in many new literacy practices, and the significance of new media for expanding the reach and potential of social learning are discussed in the final part of the book. New Literacies 3/e concludes by describing empirical cases of social learning approaches mediated by collaborative learning platforms. This book is essential reading for students and academics within literacy studies, cultural or communication studies and education.

New literacies have been researched with various age groups in a variety of settings, illustrating how text uses differ across contexts and highlighting stark divides between schooled and out-of-school literacies. Not surprisingly, schools have difficulty staying abreast of the technological and social aspects associated with new literacies. New Literacies Practices: Designing Literacy Learning takes into account these two concerns - the dichotomy of contextual uses of new literacies across spaces, and concerns that schooled instructional attempts with new literacies reify conventional literacy practices. Authors in this volume include classroom teachers and researchers who begin from a stance that in an interconnected, multimodal world, new literacies exist across spaces. It is no longer appropriate to consider if literacies between contexts, such as out-of-school and in-school, dovetail. Instead, we must shape examinations according to how they dovetail. The essays in this volume forge the amorphous divide between out-of-school and in-school literacies through a design of pedagogy and examine how teachers and researchers collaborate to design instruction that accounts for students' new literacies. This book acknowledges that new literacies must be embedded into the curriculum, not just included as an add-on course or activity to the school day.

New Literacies and Teacher Learning examines the complexities of teacher professional development today in relation to new literacies and digital technologies, set within the wider context of strong demands for teachers to be innovative and to improve students’ learning outcomes. Contributors hail from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Finland, Mexico, Norway, and the U.S., and work in a broad range of situations, grade levels, activities, scales, and even national contexts. Projects include early year education through to adult literacy education and university contexts, describing a range of approaches to taking up new literacies and digital technologies within diverse learning practices. While the authors present detailed descriptions of using various digital resources like movie editing software, wikis, video conferencing, Twitter, and YouTube, they all agree that digital «stuff» – while important – is not the central concern. Instead, what they foreground in their discussions are theory-informed pedagogical orientations, collaborative learning theories, the complexities of teachers’ workplaces, and young people’s interests. Thus, a key premise in this collection is that teaching and learning are about deep engagement, representing meanings in a range of ways. These include acknowledging relationships and knowledge; thinking critically about events, phenomena, and processes; and participating in valued social and cultural activities. The book shows how this kind of learning doesn’t simply occur in a one-off session, but takes time, commitment, and multiple opportunities to interact with others, to explore, play, make mistakes, and get it right.

This timely new edition explores new literacies, knowledge and classroom practices in light of growing electronic information and communication techniques.