Sociolinguistics and Language Education.pdf

326 Part 4: Language and Literacy
Finally, resemiotization (Iedema, 2003) emphasizes the transformative
dynamics of social meaning-making. In particular, it deals with how
meaning-making shifts from one context to the next and attempts to
explain why certain semiotics are used to do certain work at particular
times. According to Nelson (2006: 63), ‘the meaning of a multimodal artefact
at any given moment is necessarily shaped by the meanings that are
imputed to its component semiotic parts over time, parts that have semiotic
histories of their own’.
Multiliteracies
The term ‘multiliteracies’ has become widely used in the fi eld of language
and technology since its conception by the New London Group in
1996. In a seminal paper the New London Group wrote:
We decided that the outcomes of our discussions could be encapsulated
in one word – multiliteracies – a word we chose to describe two
important arguments we might have with the emerging cultural, institutional,
and global order: the multiplicity of communications channels
and media, and the increasing saliency of cultural and linguistic
diversity. (New London Group, 1996: 63)
The authors then make a distinction between ‘mere literacy’, which we
take to be traditional literacy, and multiliteracy. They argue that ‘mere literacy’
privileges language only, what Lemke (1998) in our discussion on
modes and multimodality calls logocentrism, and, moreover, a standard
nationally accepted form of language which is perceived as correct.
Multiliteracy, on the other hand, also focuses on modes of representation
other than solely on language and the printed word.
The New London Group authors also propose that there are six design
elements in the meaning-making process: Linguistic Meaning, Visual
Meaning, Audio Meaning, Gestural Meaning, Spatial Meaning and
Multimodal meaning, which refers to the way the fi rst fi ve modes relate to
each other. Thus each of these design elements is referred to as a ‘mode’ by
the authors. The authors also emphasize that there are four components of
literacy pedagogy: Situated Practice, which draws on lifeworlds of students
for meaning-making; Overt Instruction, which is self-explanatory;
Critical Framing, which interprets the power relations of the text; and
Transformed Practice, in which students redesign the text in question
through their interpretation. These concepts will become clearer when we
describe the fi ndings of researchers in the area of multimodal literacy as
many of them use multiliteracies as a theoretical framework.
It is important that language teachers understand the concept of multiliteracy
as this will trigger innovation in the pedagogy and products
involved in literacy acquisition. Language teachers need to confront the