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Multiliteracies in an Outcome-Driven Curriculum: Where Is Its Fit?

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Abstract

This paper describes how the pedagogy of multiliteracies was piloted in a language arts curriculum for high-ability adolescent students. Specifically, it delineates the pedagogical intervention that was needed for its implementation within the formal language arts curriculum. Drawing on ethnographic research in two classes of 14-year-old students in Singapore, the study highlights that implementing multiliteracies within the formal school curriculum cannot be imported holus-bolus into the classrooms. It also emphasizes that teachers’ willingness to innovate is crucial for bringing about sustainable change in the classroom. In addition, the study also suggests that unless the learners’ literacy practices are considered, several literacy activities could be meaningless to the students. Finally, contrary to the widely-cited view that multiliteracies are paramount for the 21st century, this paper also highlights adolescents’ preference for traditional print-based literacy in language learning and tensions in implementing multiliteracies within the formal curriculum.

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Acknowledgments

The work represented in this paper was funded by a Learning Sciences Lab Research Grant, Number R59801120 from the National Institution of Education, Singapore. We wish to thank the teachers and the students of the collaborating school for working with us in the project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institution of Education, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore, 637616, Singapore

    Lynde Tan & Libo Guo

Authors
  1. Lynde Tan
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  2. Libo Guo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lynde Tan.

Appendix

Appendix

Transcription convention (Adapted from Freebody 2003)

[:

Beginning of overlapping talk

]:

End of overlapping talk

(x.0):

Pause of x seconds (.) is sometimes used to indicate a brief untimed pause

,:

Continuing intonation, typically annotated in written text

.:

Falling tone to indicate the end of a sentence

?:

Rising or rising-falling tone to indicate a question recognisable in Singapore Colloquial English or Standard Singapore English

!:

Rising tone to indicate any form of exclamation recognisable in Singapore Colloquial English or Standard Singapore English

((comment)):

Comment

((talk)):

Bold font to indicate translated talk

(giggle) :

Non-verbal features such as laughing, coughing, sighing etc. are written in italics and parentheses

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Tan, L., Guo, L. Multiliteracies in an Outcome-Driven Curriculum: Where Is Its Fit?. Asia-Pacific Edu Res 23, 29–36 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-013-0082-0

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