Teaching strategies and resources for interpreting, analysing, evaluating and creating multimodal and digital texts

Teaching strategies and resources for interpreting, analysing, evaluating and creating multimodal and digital texts

This task will be completed in two parts: Part A and Part B

Part A

The task requires you to prepare a presentation that demonstrates teaching strategies and resources appropriate for scaffolding students’ abilities for interpreting, analysing, evaluating and creating multimodal or digital texts in a specific year level of the Australian Curriculum: English. The presentation must identify specific curriculum content descriptions and achievement standards that are the focus for learning at the chosen year level.

The presentation should take the form of a PowerPoint with voice over or accompanying notes pages for each slide and should be designed for a specific audience which may be parents of students in your class attending an information session; or fellow teachers attending a professional development session.

The presentation should include the following sections:

· A summary of the content descriptions and achievement standards related to interpreting, evaluating and creating the chosen text type at the specific year level

· Teaching strategies used to scaffold the textual, linguistic and literacy knowledge required by users and producers of the specific multimodal or digital text at the chosen year level. (In this section you should illustrate practical ways of using resources and ICTs to teach the content descriptions you have identified.)

· A concluding statement that explains how the targeted knowledge contributes to the acquisition of literacy across a range of curriculum learning areas and real-world contexts.

Part B

You must submit written documentation to support the presentation. The documentation should include the following:

· An explanation and justification of the approach to teaching the conventions and structures of the chosen texts included in the presentation. This justification must show understanding of how students learn to be literate and include reference to the work of researchers and educators who have contributed to the development of pedagogical knowledge in multimodal and/or digital literacy. (Maximum 1500 words)

· A copy of the PowerPoint and/or practical activities included in the presentation.

NB: Include Word and PPT files only – NO PDF. 

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Assessment 1, EDCU20039, Part B

“Literacy programs must include the ability to consume and produce the multimodal texts that are an increasingly large part of students’ lives”. (Citation removed)

Society today is saturated with all kinds of literacy. Students are exposed to an increasing number of multimodal texts. These texts are defined as those that convey meaning through a combination of elements drawn from several semiotic systems. (Citation removed) have described the five broad semiotic or meaning making systems as: written-linguistic, visual, audio, gestural, and spatial patterns in texts. Two or more of these elements combined indicates a multi-modal text.) (Citation removed). If we are to equip our learners with the skills and tools to understand and produce these texts, we need to provide literacy programmes that focus on the different semiotic systems that are used to convey meaning and create texts. In this way we can ensure that we are teaching students to assess information in a critical manner, drawing on what they already know through their ‘funds of knowledge’, their understanding of different texts and the written elements associated with them. Visual systems for example, need to be assessed for their purpose, their underlying messages, their power to inform and persuade. In addition, audio, gestural, and spatial patterns in texts are all increasingly evident systems employed in literary texts today. (Citation removed) describe a multiliterate person as being a problem solver and strategic thinker, that is, an active and informed citizen. (Citation removed). An awareness that texts have been consciously constructed to impart particular messages or meanings, to shape beliefs, attitudes and/or behaviours is critical in understanding different texts and information received. A critical understanding of literacy is paramount in accessing information in an informed manner.

A multiliteracies pedagogy must provide an awareness to students of the diverse nature of literary texts, of the ways in which we are positioned to accept the messages of texts and to observe the parts of the messages that are omitted and the reasons for this, “a multiliterate person must be able to critically analyse texts and contexts and take informed action” (Citation removed) A multiliteracies pedagogy will also enable students to recognise their own “literacy identity, in order to be strategic and flexible in a changing world”. (Citation removed) A pedagogy that focusses on exposing students to the five semiotic systems found in texts to gain meaning and understanding, coupled with a framework that (Citation removed) describe as having four pedagogical practices of situated practice, overt instruction, critical framing and transformed practice, provide for a thorough teaching framework that teaches students how to analyse and make meaning out of the texts they are exposed to. (Citation removed)

Informative texts, in particular life-cycles, have provided the text type for my presentation focus. In following the pedagogical practices as described by (Citation removed) the four areas – situated practice, overt instruction, critical framing and transformed practice have formed the framework for my instruction of this informative text type. Engaging students in discussion about the text type in terms of what they already know, activating their prior knowledge, helps to increase their understanding and comprehension of the text. When students make connections to the texts they are reading, their comprehension increases. Cultural and social influences that all students bring to the classroom, as part of their funds of knowledge, are part of the students’ literacy identity, as explained by (Citation removed). Situated practice or immersion into the new multimodal text type helps students formulate their ideas about what the text type is, how it is presented, how similar information can be presented in different ways, increasing fluency with the comprehension and later production of their own similar text. Using a variety of different resources to demonstrate the text type will also help students develop their understanding of semiotic systems and how information can be presented in different forms – the use of traditional texts and digital resources to demonstrate similar information for example. Immersion or situated practice engages the student as a meaning maker, as they begin to understand the purpose and meaning of the text, in relation to their own prior knowledge. Students will take on the text participant role (Citation removed) whereby they make sense of the new texts and make meaning based on their prior knowledge and experiences. The next phase of instruction, or ‘overt instruction’, sees the student in the code breaker role, whereby they begin to deconstruct the text in terms of grammatical conventions, recognising and using the fundamental features of the text including grammar, spelling, vocabulary, tense and sentence structure. In this text type, it will be important to address the visual semiotic system, the images and the way in which they add to and enhance the text. Images in life-cycles play an important role, often becoming the main focus of information. Explicitly modelling this convention to students, by comparing and contrasting different examples of the same text type, will help explain this. It also allows students to make judgements about the suitability of the visual text used and connections between the two systems and enables students to understand the interconnectedness of visual and written elements. A focus on the structure of the texts will specifically acknowledge the importance of sequencing events in this text type and how this creates cohesion for the reader. As (Reference removed) explain, the meaning of a multimodal text is afforded through the cohesion and coherence within and between its elements and the context in which it is used. (Citation removed) The purpose of the text will be studied in the ‘critical framing’ stage of practice. As a text analyst the student will come to understand the purpose, audience and message of the text at a different, deeper level of comprehension. Critical framing encourages the user to understand texts in terms of what has been, and what has not been included, to understand the motives or purpose of the author. This ability helps students to become informed and active participants in their world, critically analysing information that is so vital in forming appropriate understandings. “Being a text analyst helps a person have control over his or her own future”. (Citation Removed) The final part of the pedagogical framework sees students engaging in applied learning, transformed practice, producing their own text based on the understanding that the meaning of multimodal texts is distributed across all the elements present and that each element has a specific role or function in contributing to the overall meaning of the text. (Citation removed)

In their PEN digest article, (Citation removed) the pace of change in multimedia and information technologies. They state that these phenomena are shaping the way in which meaning is created and exchanged, generating a plurality of texts. In order for our students to compete in this fast moving, information saturated world, they need to have the skills and resources that are flexible and adaptable. Technology and the vast amount of information we are exposed to, necessitates a literary skill set that can evaluate, critically assess and understand information and respond to it appropriately. These skills will also need to be flexible, as technology and the information we receive changes. Students must be taught how to process information that increasingly contains multiple semiotics systems and critique the author’s message. In the Literacy Labyrinth (reference removed) state that teaching multiliteracies is vital in developing skills and abilities in students to combine multimedia and technology, semitoic systems, social and cultural diversity and critical literacy. (Citation removed)

In conclusion, literacy teaching must recognise the changing face of literacy practice and information dissemination if we are to provide our students with the skills necessary to compete and succeed in the fast-paced world we find ourselves in today. Students must be flexible in their skills and understandings and be able to adapt their knowledge to suit new purposes and new contexts. Students need to develop critcal mindsets and understand the purpose of the texts they are exposed to. Technology has brought the world closer, connecting people, information and ideologies togther. Never has it been more important for students to understand the messages they receive are rarely neutral and become literacy users who are flexible but also informed in the information they receive. As Anstey and Bull highlight “the implications of change as the new constant for literacy education are vast and apply not only to the content of literacy programmes but also to the pedagogy”. (Citation removed) A comprehensive and appropriate pedagogical approach to literacy is vital for our students, if they are going to have the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in and understand the world now and in the future.

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