The Importance Of Teaching Multimodal Literacy In The Classroom

The textual shift that has allowed students to embrace a new working environment filled with visual, electronic and digital texts has created this idea of multimodal literacy within the classroom (Walsh, 2009). Multimodal literacy can be defined as “meaning-making that occurs at different levels through the reading, viewing, understanding, responding to, producing and interacting with multimodal texts” (Kress & Jewitt, 2003, p. 16) and displays the range of semiotic modes involved in learning such as visual, audio, gestural, spatial and linguistic (Anstey & Bull 2010). This ‘multimodal approach’ provides reasoning for why specific modes are chosen to signify the purpose of a text, the audience and context, and how these semiotics contribute …show more content…
Each primary school year group from kindergarten to year six, have key learning areas in the Australian Curriculum that need to be addressed by teachers. For example, by the end of year 4, all students should successfully be able to discuss “stories of the First Fleet, including reasons for the journey, who travelled to Australia, and their experiences following arrival” (Australian Curriculum and Assessment Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2014, ACHHK079) in regards to History. Using this content descriptor as an example, the creation of a lesson plan incorporating multimodal literacy in the classroom will allow students to gain a deeper understanding of information and issues involved. It is critical for the teacher to challenge students with their multimodal literacy skills to ensure they are extending their knowledge, not just doing what they already know (Derewianka & Jones, 2012). For example, the construction of a “WANTED” poster, where students informed readers of a convict who was being shipped on the First Fleet to Australia, the crime he convicted that caused him to be and the journey he was about to embark …show more content…
With the education system in a time of transition where new pedagogy is growing and technology is almost demanding in the classroom, multimodal literacy is at utmost importance. Enabling students to learn and express their work through different multimodal texts, challenges them to go beyond their current knowledge, as they become more engaged in complex learning. There are multiple ways to teach multimodal literacy in the classroom and it can definitely be brought in each lesson. However, the key is to find the balance between each mode, in order to cater for all students