Multimodality and contemporary literacy.pptx

Multimodality

1. Literacy, Language and Communication Module leader: Nicole Brown [email protected]

2. Module aims collaborative and provisional nature of learning-related literacy practices in educational settings literacy and language studies as these pertain to education significance of digital and traditional forms of ‘composition’ critical reflection on key concepts as they relate to own experiences

3. Four main themes multimodality and contemporary literacy practices language histories in the context of diverse linguistic and cultural education settings film and media in education digital mobility and collaborative knowledge building

4. Course outline Tuesdays Session topic Lecturers 8 th and 15 th January Multimodality and contemporary literacy practices Nicole Brown 22 nd and 29 th January Language histories in the context of diverse linguistic and cultural education settings Nicole Brown and Alexandra Georgiou 5 th and 19 th February Film and media education Nicole Brown, Michelle Cannon and John Potter 26 th February and 5 th March Digital mobility and collaborative knowledge building Ben Bachmair 12 th March Connecting the topics and key concepts Nicole Brown 19 th March Group presentations Nicole Brown and Alexandra Georgiou

5. Assessment A group presentation (15 minutes) (30%) in class on the 19 th March Fully prepared presentation (5-10 mins) Questions on the day (5-10 mins) An essay (2,000 words ± 10% excl. bibliography) (70%) due on 7 th May

6. How to get the most out of the module Readings Discussions Reflections

7. Overview of the first “lecture” What is literacy? What is multimodal communication?

8. What is literacy?

9. What is Literacy? – REFLECT! Literacy Practices Literacy Events Texts What people do with literacy Values, attitudes, feelings, social relationships Connect people eg ideologies and identities Shaped by social rules and help shape regulation Straddle individual and social divide Exist between people rather than individual Activities where literacy has a role Usually a written text and talk around a text Observable episodes shaped by literacy practice Situated in a social context Often regular, repeated activities, routine Often formal, eg workplace, school procedures Some informal: home, peer group A crucial part of literacy events Barton, D and Hamilton, M (2000) ‘Literacy Practices’ in Barton, D., Hamilton, M. and Ivanic , R.( eds ) Situated Literacies: Reading and writing in context (Ch1 pp7 – 15), London: Routledge

10. What is multimodal communication?

11. What does online writing look like? What orientation to “the world”, and what ‘functions’, are implied or projected by each of these digital platforms? For example, what social relations audience authorship genre

12. Online Writing At present, paper and print are in many contexts being displaced by digital means of producing texts on screens, and with that, the centuries’ long naturalized relation of the site of the page and the mode of writing are being loosened and undone. In these processes, texts and principles of composition in general are being rapidly and radically remade.

13. Media Media: the ‘sites of appearance’ of texts.

14. Digital Platforms Platforms : sites for appearance of social relations. Digital platforms : text making with and of digitally enabled multimodal ensembles, to shape meanings on the screen: often quite differently compared to ‘traditional’ page-based genres.

15. Multimodal Texts The term ‘multimodal text’ draws attention to the realisation of closely integrated meanings on the page using a range of modes (e.g. writing, image, video, colour).

16. Multimodality & Learning How content is represented, as well as the modes and platforms chosen, is a significant aspect of knowledge construction. The ways in which content is represented shape both what is to be learned – the curriculum, and how it is to be learned – the pedagogy. Domingo, M. (2016). Multimodality in virtual learning environments: exploring traces of the page in designs of screens. In Andrews, R. & Haythornwaite , C. (Eds.)  The Sage Handbook of E-Learning Research.  London: Sage.

17. How do we learn? – REFLECT! ACQUISITION Listen to a lecture, podcast, reading, watching demos or videos DISCUSSION Articulate ideas and questions, challenge and respond to ideas and questions PRACTICE Adapt actions to task goals and use feedback to improve PRODUCTION Consolidating what is learnt by articulating current conceptual understanding and how it is used in practice INVESTIGATION Explore, compare and critique the texts, documents and resources that reflect the concepts being taught COLLABORATION Taking part in the process of knowledge building itself

18. Modal shaping of Learning and Knowing Modes Suggest forms and structures Put constraints on and provide potentials for demonstrating learning Shape learning Different modes Bring a specific lens to an engagement with the world Drawing attention to features Shape and structure engagement and potentials for learning E.g. speaking, writing, drawing a map or acting out – all provide distinct potentials for learning, showing and experiencing the world newly, differently Bezemer , J. & Kress, G. (2016). ‘Transformative Engagement’, in Multimodality, Learning and Communication. A social semiotic frame . Abingdon, Oxon:Roultedge . Pgs. 37 - 61

19. Institutional Settings How the learner’s demonstration of learning was shaped by the modes available to the learner / re-maker ‘Evidence’ of learning: The modes provided to the learner to produce that evidence need to be considered carefully Any limitation on the modes available to the learner leads to a limitation on the learner’s potential to demonstrate what he has learned e.g. Asking someone to ‘write up’ what they know can put severe constraints on ‘evidencing’ their tacit, embodied knowledge By allowing learners to demonstrate learning in different modes the range of what is and can be recognised can be vastly expanded Bezemer , J. & Kress, G. (2016). ‘Transformative Engagement’, in Multimodality, Learning and Communication. A social semiotic frame . Abingdon, Oxon:Roultedge . Pgs. 37 - 61

20. Three theoretical assumptions underpin the concept of multimodality: all communication draws on a multiplicity of modes to make meaning; meanings realised by any mode are always interwoven with other co-present modes to produce meaning; and the more a set of resources (modes) has been utilised in the everyday social life of a particular community, the more fully articulated it will have become for members of that community. What is Multimodality – REFLECT! Domingo, M., Jewitt , C. and Kress, G. (2016) 'Multimodal social semiotics: Writing in online contexts' in K. Pahl and Rowsel (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Literacy Studies , London: Routledge.

21. What’s next?

22. REFLECT!! Old Paradigm New Paradigm Environment Language Education Certain/ Predictable Nation States Mono-cultural Control over information Linear Classroom delivery Transmission Uncertain / Unpredictable Globalisation / Mega cities Multi-cultural Universal, multi platform access Multimodal Mix of Dominant and vernacular literacy practices What does this mean for What learners bring to the experience The relationship between verbal, visual and aural codes What is the impact of digital technologies

23. Modal shaping of Learning and Knowing ( Contd ) Distinct learning potentials of different modes are recognised across different communities Different modes Translation from one mode to another Carpenter’s sketch Architect’s 3D model Police investigator’s reconstruction Researcher’s diagrams and transcripts ‘fix’ a specific ‘take’ on the matter in focus Provide different insights into the world in focus, the world framed Can never be ‘perfect’ Always produce different ‘takes’ Also produce different epistemologies on the world Hence a distinction made between re-arrangements of modes: Inter-modal; Intra-modal Intra-modal changes : Transformation in which the elements remain the same, though their re-arrangements differ (entities, units, elements remain the same Inter-modal changes: Changes from one mode to another: ‘Can someone tell me about a cell?’ ‘Come to the front and draw what you have said’ Alteration of entities, units , elements not simply a rearrangement Bezemer , J. & Kress, G. (2016). ‘Transformative Engagement’, in Multimodality, Learning and Communication. A social semiotic frame . Abingdon, Oxon:Roultedge . Pgs. 37 - 61

24. (Kress 2010) Learning about a cell Diagram of a cell and nucleus: ‘Where in the cell is the nucleus? Is it in the centre or somewhere else? How / what is the relation between cell and the nucleus? Is it possessive e.g. ‘a cell has a nucleus’… Or a spatial relation: ‘There is a nucleus in a cell Modal shaping of Learning and Knowing ( Cont ) Bezemer , J. & Kress, G. (2016). ‘Transformative Engagement’, in Multimodality, Learning and Communication. A social semiotic frame . Abingdon, Oxon:Roultedge . Pgs. 37 - 61

25. From Learning Environments to signs of learning Re-enactment of surgical training; video footage; screens Orientation During the reenactment visitors were orientated towards different and varying directions e.g. surgeons or screen Orientation is rendered visible through ‘gaze’ and ‘facial expression’ This gives insights into the different transformations taking place within the learner from the one ‘sign complex’ Example: an audience member who had recently undergone an operation would shape meaning in response to this Bezemer , J. & Kress, G. (2016). ‘Transformative Engagement’, in Multimodality, Learning and Communication. A social semiotic frame . Abingdon, Oxon:Roultedge . Pgs. 37 - 61 How Surgeons learn to operate London Science Museum event laid on for an audience of adults