Multiliteracies: rethinking what we mean by literacy and what we teach as literacy [in] the context of global cultural diversity and new communications technologies

This paper examines the pedagogy of literacy in light of the radical changes taking place in the areas of citizenship, working life and community life. These changes will require what the authors term as ‘multiliteracies’, which will influence the way in which English literacy is taught. The concept of multiliteracies highlights two, related changes. The first is the increasing significance of cultural and linguistic diversity and the emergence of multiple Englishes. This change is intensified by immigration, multiculturalism and global economic integration. The second change is the influence of new communications technologies. Meaning is made in ways that are increasingly ‘multimodal’, i.e. integration of written-linguistic modes of meaning with visual, audio, gestural and spatial patterns of meaning. These two developments necessitate the transformation of both the substance and the pedagogy of subject English. The need for multiliteracies requires a functional grammar to help language learners to describe language differences (cultural, subcultural, regional/national, technical, context specific, etc.) and the multimodal channels of meaning needed for communication, particularly in light of the prominence of multimedia, desktop publishing, email and the Internet. The paper introduces the Multiliteracies Project, which aims to work collaboratively with teachers in the development of innovative ways to teach literacy and to supplement existing strategies, and discusses how the multiliteracies ideas are being implemented and adapted in places of learning, ranging from South Africa to Australia. Show less