Production 2 Response

PRODUCTION 2

In the Mid 1990s, the New London Group coined the term Multiliteracy to refer to the approach used to explain concepts about literacy theory and pedagogy. The approach highlights two important aspects of the literacy meaning; linguistic diversity (multilingualism) and the multimodal forms of linguistic expressions and representations. (Kalantzis & Cope, 2009, pg. 165-166). The term is used in response to the significant changes in the globalized environment. First of all, there has been dramatic change or improvements in the mode of communication, earlier forms of communication gradually changed and new ways of communication gradually came into use mainly through new modes of communication technology such as the internet, multimedia, and digital media. Whereas previously, texts and speech were the only or commonest methods of communication (Kalantzis & Cope, 2009, pg.173). Today’s media combines text with sounds and images and being incorporated into movies, and the television. Secondly, there has been considerable diversification of the languages and cultures. There was the formation of subcultures and dialects within the same language and culture, the aspect of the growing cultural and linguistic diversity needed to be considered and addressed in the pedagogy of literacy. (Kalantzis & Cope, 2009, pg.166) The way people communicate is changing due to the influence brought about by the developments in communication technology and the growing variations of the English language within the cultures and geographical setups. For instance, English spoken in Australia or India would be somehow different than the one spoken in England even though it is the same English. A factor inspiring the changes is also the increased transnational migration and cultural exchange across nations and communities of the world. For this reason, it has become necessary to develop new literacies to help in literacy learning. Connecting this concept to our BHER case, if you critically observe you will note that our East African English spoken by us the students is quite different from the Canadian English accent spoken by some of our lecturers. Nonetheless, with years of interaction, understanding every word was spoken as possible. The formulation of a pedagogy of multiliteracies by the New London Group extended the focus of literacy from the basic tradition of writing and reading to an understanding of the multiple discourses and the forms of representation in public and professional domains. The current pedagogy was developed to incorporate and address the learning needs of students to assist them to cope with and keep abreast of the developments of technology in the changing environment of a culturally and linguistically diverse society. The concept of multiliteracies has been applied to various contexts. Kalantzis & Cope, 2009, pg.168-173) Multimodality as a concept describes communication practices in terms of textual, oral, linguistic and visual resources or modes used to compose a message in a media. Multimodality addresses the use of various forms of modes & media to create a concept and meaning. the different modes or elements that contribute to forming a multimodality concept provide the rhetorical situation or opportunities for the audience’s reception of the concepts, that helps create meaning. Texts are no longer relied on as a primary source of communication in the current digital age because multimodality has evolved from simply a print text to screen-based presentations, the speaker – audience relationship greatly improved. The development of multimodality in recent times has hugely assisted educational institutions to change the form of its traditional education of learning in the classroom. For example, Teachers are now able to use storyboards for a visual organization to strengthen the writing skills of learners and help in the learning process. Other desired learning or conceptualization results are achieved by integrating music, video, use of laptop and modern data projectors as well as PowerPoint slides. (Kalantzis & Cope, 2009, pg.176-178). Of practical example is our BHER case, the use of this concept made it possible for us to connect to lecturers and Teaching Assistants in Toronto while we are in Africa in a virtual classroom made possible by the use of technology. We use zoom, skype for lectures that combine audio-visual and made virtual classes possible. Intertwined in this concept of multimodality and situated learning is the societal expectation of education in a modern environment. Unlike before, it is expected that an educated person is one who is well exposed, understands diverse languages and cultures and technology conscious; a person who understands the world better and secure a good job with the type of education acquired. And. The fundamental goals of a pedagogy of multiliteracies are therefore to create the conditions for learning that support the growth of this kind of person. To take advantage of the concept of the pedagogy of multiliteracies, education systems and institutions that compete to offer the best and with the rhetoric of meaning-making and modeling the kind of person the society has been set up in the corner trying to employ modern ways of transferring knowledge, institutions that have fully embraced the concept of multiliteracies and multimodalities, schools well equipped with modern communication learning technology as storyboards for visualization, screen-based presentations, data projectors, etc. as well as teaching diverse languages. This is taken care of in modern curriculums that target to incorporate teaching languages as part of the knowledge set transferred to learners. It is not surprising to see these institutions charging higher prices making profits and societies keen to get a chance for their kids in such institutions. Thus, Literacy teaching is not only about skills and competence, but it is aimed at creating a kind of person, an active designer of meaning, with a sensibility open to differences, change and innovation. (Kalantzis & Cope, 2009, pg.175)

Cope, B. & Kalantzis, M. (2009). ‘Multiliteracies’: New literacies, new learning