NCTE Guideline: Multimodal Literacies

I am writing this in response to the NCTE Guidelines on MultiModal Literacies. Essentially, I had a difficult time understanding it. The written mode is not my first choice for communicating my difficulties, but since this is an online class, it is the means I use. I often talk about a section but I only copied the first sentence. It will probably be easier to read this post if you also have a copy of the guidelines so that you can refer to the whole section.

From one perspective, I think these guidelines makes so much sense. From another, I’m not sure what it’s saying. So I’ll try taking it apart section by section.

“Declarations concerning the broadest definitions of multimodal literacies:”

*Integration of multiple modes of communication and expression can enhance or transform the meaning of the work beyond illustration or decoration.” What does this mean? I think this is related to McLuhan’s statement, “The medium is the message.” You can’t directly translate a work of artistic painting to a novel or to a poem or to a movie. Certain kinds of messages or nuances can be best communicated through different mediums. And when you change the medium, the message gets conveyed in a qualitatively different way. Students need to learn about the different media or meaning-making systems because each requires students to learn from a different perspective and therefore to take away a different kind of meaning from the experience. For example, if you write a persuasive essay and then you decide to give a speech on the same topic, you’ll probably want to rewrite the essay. An audience of readers takes in the information differently than an audience that is listening. Not only is the message different, the experience of delivering the message is also different. The speaker is face to face with the audience and thus there will be some kind of an immediate interaction even if it is only non-verbal on the part of the audience.

It looks to me like this is also saying you can’t have one type of communication without the others. I’m not sure I agree with this. In some cultures, there is no written language. They have a spoken language and it exists without a written language. Whether or not a culture has a written language most certainly affects it in profound ways but the spoken language exists without the written language. So I don’t know what they mean when they say that “all modes of communication are codependent.”

The next section about young children is one that I think I understand so I won’t try to write about it.

“*The use of different modes of expression in student work should be integrated into the overall literacy goals of the curriculum and appropriate for time and resources invested.” What does this mean? I think it means that students need to be able not only to communicate through reading and writing, but also through art and speaking. These subjects are an essential part of the curriculum. Myself, I don’t remember ever really trying to communicate through art. For me, my focus was on learning the medium. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t see myself as learning another forum for communication. Maybe they mean something else by visual works or maybe art is taught substantively differently these days.

I understand how projects would demand high levels of collaboration and teamwork so I won’t comment on that. I’ve never taught at the high school level, so I really have no basis to comment on the practicality of implementation.

“**The use of mulitmodal literacies has expanded the ways we acquire information and understand concepts. . . . “ I interpret this to mean that we need librarians.

“**From an early age, students are very sophisticated readers and producers of multimodal work. They can be helped to understand how these works make meaning, how they are based on conventions, and how they are created for and respond to specific communities or audiences.” I don’t know what this means. I don’t know what they mean when they say that students are very sophisticated readers of multimodal work. What do they mean by sophisticated? They are producers of what kind of work? Do they mean that most young students are sophisticated producers? Students and teachers collaborating together sounds real nice, but how would you organize that in a classroom setting? I don’t know.

I think I understand the next section, so I won’t comment on it.

“Declarations concerning the unique capacities and challenges of digital forms:
*There are increased cognitive demands on the audience to interpret the intertextuality of communication events that include combinations of print, speech, images, sounds, movement, music and animation. Products may blur traditional lines of genre, author/audience, and linear sequence.” In the context of this class I imagine they’re meaning dvd and streaming videos. But when I read “We must be able to approach others with generousity, alert to the differences in language use and in assumptions about what constitutes appropriate communication in any context.”, then somehow I think of the debate about ebonics. They also say that “certain
conventions of design are more effective than others for visual, aural, or multimodal texts.” At one level, that seems rather obvious. But I don’t know which conventions of design are more effective for the different texts or how one decides or who decides.

“*In digital forms, students , even very young students, are often more literate in the technical aspects of digital production than many of their teachers.” I imagine this is true. Probably more kids were downloading music and videos before adults were and they may buy their technological gadgets sooner than the adults do. But teachers don’t need to know how to use all of the latest. They just need to know how to use the technology that the school has purchased. The lack of funds generally prohibit schools from purchasing all of the latest equipment. So here we have it: teachers are saved by budget restraints. For all the downloading of music and videos that students may do on the internet, I’m not aware of many young people actually producing videos or music or online games. I would hope that students would be expected to produce original works in school which is quite different than downloading.

I think I understand the last section well enough that I won’t try commenting on it.

If anyone would like to respond, I welcome hearing from you.

Becky