Composing journeys: Integrating multiliteracies pedagogy into a ninth-grade English curriculum

Since the start of the 21st century, our means and modes of communicating have continued to expand rapidly. Despite the increase in new technologies and digital media, traditional views of literacy are still very much present in today’s classrooms, especially the secondary English classroom. Traditional views of literacy, and teaching practices based on these views, ignore the complexity of literacy as they do not encourage the development of literacy skills beyond print-based reading and writing such as oral communication, collaboration and creativity, and new media skills. As our means and modes of communicating continue to expand, so too must our definitions of literacy to ensure that all students are gaining the 21st century literacy skills needed to thrive in an ever-changing society. Drawing on theories of new literacies and multiliteracies, this research examines how new instructional methods such as multiliteracies pedagogy can enhance the school-based literacy practices of young people. A pedagogy of multiliteracies recognizes the need to account for the increasingly diverse language practices people from all cultures and communities participate in as well as the increasingly diverse ways people represent and make meaning with multimedia technologies. As a high school English teacher, I am in a unique position to implement the type of pedagogical interventions recommended for creating a pedagogy of multiliteracies. Therefore, I conducted a qualitative case study in my own classroom at a small, midwestern, rural public high school to discover how multiliteracies pedagogy is integrated into a ninth-grade English curriculum centered on multimodal texts. The participants in this study were thirteen of the ninth-grade students in my freshman English class. The study focused on two of the class’s major units—the Hero’s Journey unit and a graphic novel literature circle unit—as well as a final multimodal project students composed at the end of the semester. Data were collected through the use of student surveys, participant observations, and semi-structured interviews. I also collected and analyzed student artifacts that were most illustrative of the type of work and participation observed throughout the teaching of these units. In addition to mapping the interventions I designed, redesigned, and implemented, I also describe and analyze the ways in which my students responded to classroom practices informed by multiliteracies and multimodality, specifically focusing on how this pedagogical approach impacted my students’ perceptions of reading and writing, motivation to engage in school-based literacy practices, and ability to compose effectively. Findings showed that multiliteracies pedagogy was implemented by integrating students’ personal interests and out-of-school literacy practices into school-based learning, fostering social learning and collaboration, and integrating texts and learning opportunities that promote critical literacies. Findings also showed multiliteracies pedagogy expanded students’ ways of thinking about reading and writing, resulted in higher levels of student engagement and motivation, and showcased students’ ability to meet the challenges of multimodal learning and composition. Based on these findings, I argue that multiliteracies pedagogy is an effective framework for English teachers to integrate to develop students’ disciplinary knowledge and skills while also expanding their literacy repertoires in ways that value their existing literacy practices and encourage new ways of meaning-making. Overall, this study argues that when students are given opportunities to communicate about content and represent ideas and meanings relevant to their lived experiences in creative ways, they begin to see reading and writing not only as school- based practices but also as means for expressing their unique knowledge, interests, and identities.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Curriculum and Instruction

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Hendrickson, Briana Lyn

Contributors dc:contributor

• McCarthey, Sarah J
• Kalantzis, Mary
• Sanders-Smith, Stephanie C
• González Ybarra, Mónica

• Multiliteracies Pedagogy
• Multimodality
• Multimodal Composition
• Secondary English
• The Teaching Of English

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Briana Hendrickson

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124679

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F124679