Plurilingualism and Critical Literacies in the Teaching of English in Higher Education

This work aims at discussing the concept of critical and plurilingual English teaching within the context of the Interdisciplinary Higher Education Program recently implemented at the University of Campinas, Brazil. This program aims at widening possibilities for public students to have access to Higher Education. The teaching of English as a foreign language is part of the curriculum and one of the challenges faced was to design a language course that meant to be meaningful to students and able to develop the necessary knowledge and literacies for active citizenship as well. A discursive approach to language was adopted and, this way, Bakhtinian theories, re-contextualized to the educational field, support the claim for the development of critical literacy in the process. Along with the concept of multiliteracies, linked to the notion of speech genres, the idea of a plurilingual, plurivocal, and pluristylistic language teaching is theoretically discussed and briefly illustrated. The results show that such an approach successfully led to meaningful and critical practices in the language classroom in Higher Education.

Multiliteracies in College English Pedagogy

Due to the expanding variety of modes of communication and tools for meaning-making, multimodal representation and multiple forms of text have been a common occurrence. It is essential for today＇s reader/viewer to foster the capacity to critically deconstruct and reconstruct multimodal texts. And it is a must to expand traditional conceptions of literacy to multiliteracies. This paper, from the perspective of both theories and practices, explores and analyzes visual literacy, media literacy, digital literacy, critical literacy, and postmodern literacy in college English pedagogy, so as to fully develop the learners＇ multiliteracies

Multiliteracies Pedagogy:An Integrated English Course Lesson Plan

Based on the multiliteracies framework proposed by New London Group,this paper puts forwards a 90-minute lesson plan for An Integrated English course which includes situated practice,overt instruction,critical framing and transformed practice,aiming to provide teachers with a new perspective to design lesson plans with multiliteracies pedagogy in this new era of media English language teaching.

Multiliteracies in practice:a call to creativity

In this article,I will provide a short historical account of curriculum shifts that have been dominated by discourses of reading and writing,in a context of standardised achievement,to one of multiliteracies and participation in a global world.I will critique notions of literacy divorced from its social context,and offer ideas that help teachers understand the ways in which a focus on helping

Technology-Assisted Reading Instruction for English Language Learners:A Methodological Review

Purpose:By methodologically reviewing the literature on Technology-Assisted Reading Instruction(TARI)for English Language Learners(ELLs)in K-12 settings,this study aims to advance the knowledge of TARI research and guide future research directions.Design/Approach/Methods:This study examines 32 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2000 and 2020.Each article was analyzed for research objectives,reading skills,learner demographics and contexts,theoretical frameworks,research designs,and outcomes.Findings:A review of the literature reveals a strong focus on evaluating the efficacy of TARI through summative assessments,but limited attention to learners'literacy practices and interactive engagement in digital contexts.Additionally,there is a marked lack of alternative approaches to assessing the effectiveness of technology in promoting ELLs'reading progression and a continued emphasis on developing traditional literacy over multimodal literacy.TARI can enhance reading motivation,foster collaborative learning,provide scaffolding,improve reading performance,andexpand semiotic resources.Originality/Value:As one of the first comprehensive methodological reviews of TARl,this study elucidates ELL reading education in the era of multiliteracy.Results have implications for technology-mediated education,which expanded rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Application of Learning by Design Into the Cultivation of Multiliteracies:A Case Study of College English Teaching Practice at Soochow University

Multiliteracies are an indispensable component of language abilities in the modern age of information technology.First proposed by the New London Group in 1996, multiliteracies refer to the abilities needed to obtain the learning resources that are transmitted through different media and modals, and to apply different modes and means to communicate with others to create meanings.The cultivation of multiliteracies is not only a systematic process of constructing knowledge but also a dynamic cycle of designing learning activities.In undertaking an international multiliteracies project, the New London Group adopted a mode of learning by design to cultivate multiliteracies.Learning by design includes three progressive components of available design, designing, and redesigned, with available design referring to the learning resources available, designing being the work to be done to make use of the learning resources obtained, and redesigned meaning the regenerated and transformed learning resources that are to become the new learning resources for available design.When it comes to the stage of redesigned, the mode of learning by design enters a new cycle.Ever since learning by design was adopted, it became the main theoretical framework used to cultivate multiliteracies.The college English teaching subsequently developed at Soochow University followed and specified the general principles of learning by design while constructing its own specific mode, trying to integrate available design and designing into a dynamic whole geared toward cultivating multiliteracies(one of the three abilities needed to use English, together with language expression abilities and intercultural communication competences).With regard to available design, efforts were made toward building and expanding various learning resources, facilities, settings, environments, and other learning support systems at Soochow University.This was done to provide easy and selectable accesses to the Net^+ based multimedia forms of different learning resources and specific course contents.In designing, different task-based and project-driven classroom and extracurricular/term explorative learning activities, particularly those revolving around the two courses of Film English and Media English Reading, were created for students to actively undertake cooperative and interactive learning, facilitating their language application.The teaching of available design and designing was interdependently progressed and students' language acquisition and application were systematically integrated to promote the effective cultivation of multiliteracies.