I made my first forays into the field of multi-literacies several years ago, researching the topic as part of a special high-level university unit.

In writing this plain-language guide, I have attempted to explain my understandings of the multiliteracies theory, as outlined by the academics. In a later post, I will discuss how this theory informs my personal philosophy of literacy teaching, and its’ impact on my classroom practice. 

What is literacy?

In Australia and many other Western societies, our social institutions, governments, schools, and economic markets are underpinned by the use of the English language, the language which most people in our society understand and use. This makes English literacy a fundamental social practice; for literate individuals have the knowledge, skills, and power to effectively live, work and communicate in our society (Anstey & Bull, 2004; Lankshear & Knobel, 2004).

Traditional conceptions of English literacy have focussed solely on reading and writing the printed word (Walsh, 2006). While favoured by the ‘back to basics’ movement in Australia, this definition of literacy fails to reflect the increasing social, cultural and language diversity of our times; and does not recognise emerging communication technologies and electronic texts such as blogs, email, YouTube™ and Twitter™ (Cazden, et al, 1996; Kalantzis, Cope, & Harvey, 2003; Unsworth, 2001).

Multi-literacies in the Real World

As an English-speaking educator, I am able to communicate and interact using a variety of oral, written, visual, and multimodal (multimedia) mediums. For example, in the course of my work:

• I use my oral communication skills to teach, interact with students, exert authority (for behaviour management purposes), share personal stories, encourage discussion, make phone calls, etc
• I use computer applications and internet resources to plan units of work, develop comprehensive databases of teaching resources, and preview Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) and digital learning resources. 
• I use Web 2.0 technologies, including wikis, weblogs (blogs) and online professional learning modules to further my understandings of effective ICT-integration in the classroom

This is not to mention how I tend to email friends, study bus-shelter advertising, deconstruct movies using film codes (a regrettable habit), read newspapers (print and online), watch DVDs, read comics, write letters, shop online, … and the list goes on. In fact, it is almost impossible to list all of the literate practices and texts I use in the course of my daily and professional life.

The Premise

We are not born with the inherent ability to communicate and interact using these diverse mediums. These texts place multi-literate demands on readers, who must simultaneously engage with words, still and moving images, and sounds to make meaning (Lankshear, et al, 1997).

To engage with the various texts and communicative practices of our society, we require different knowledge, skills, and reading practices, or different literacies, to those traditionally focussed on and learnt in schools (Anstey & Bull, 2004).

This has significant implications for literacy teaching practice.