By Fiona Tsoi An investigation of multiliteracy practices in a Primary 5 class

Investigation of multiliteracy practices in my class The concept of multiliteracies means literacy is not limited only to printed words. It can also be related to the visual, the audio, the spatial, the multimodal. (New London Group, 1996:64)

Multiliteracies Pedagogy The impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is changing the nature of literary narratives for children and the contexts in which they experience and respond to such narratives outside of school contexts. However, in the main, teachers do not feel confident or comfortable in the world of digital multimedia (Unsworth, 2008).

Multiliteracies Pedagogy Mackey (1994) points out that children who come to school are already used to making cross-media comparisons and judgments. However, ten years later, although literature for children and young people maintains its significant role in state and national English curriculum documents, such documents are silent about literary narratives in the digital sphere (Locke & Andrews, 2004).

Multiliteracies Pedagogy Many students feel their teachers are ‘out of touch’ with the everyday realities of young people and their popular culture influences, and that there is a lack of commitment by teachers to critically analyse popular culture texts in the classroom (Savage, 2008). In general. teachers often shy away from student popular culture and feel that they have a moral responsibility of keeping popular culture out of the official school world (Alvermann, Moon. & Hagood, 1999; Brooke, 1998; Dyson, 1997; Finders, 1997).

Multiliteracies Pedagogy Academic literacies are in some sense qualitatively different from the literacies that today's students are learning out of class.

Popular Culture Popular culture may include, but not be limited to, popular music, books and magazines, movies, TV shows, Internet, computer/video games, audio recordings, and commercial advertising. Popular culture seems to play an increasingly permeating role in the lives and worlds of adults, adolescents, and young children (Brooks, 1998; Buckingham, 1993, 1998; Dyson, 1994, 1997, 1998; Steinberg & Kincheloe, Cited in Xu, 2002).

Advantages of the integration of popular culture in literacy instruction Students’ popular culture did have a place in teaching as it helped make better home-school connection for student literacy learning. (Xu, 2002) Research on student popular culture and its relationship to literacy practices has suggested that students demonstrate a broad spectrum of literacy skills through interactions with popular culture. (Alvermann. Moon, & Hagood, 1999; Brooks, 1998; Buckingham, 1993; Dyson, 1994, 1997; Finder, 1996, 1997; Mahiri, 1998; Worthy, Cited in Xu, 2002)

Objectives To understand my students’ popular culture. To design multiliteracy learning activities for my students in the coming year.

Data collection Data was collected on 3 June, 09 –Survey –Informal chatting with the learners My learners –Age: –School Year: 5R –(N=34, Female=18, Male=16)

General findings on my learners’ popular cultural practices

No one listens to radio nowadays. My students like watching TV, visiting websites, blogs and discussion forums. They like using YouTube and online discussion forums, but they seldom posting comments on online discussion forums or uploading videos to YouTube. Almost all of them agree that using popular culture and digital technology can help them learn English.

A learning activity Digital Storytelling Storytelling in the 21st century is no longer merely an oral tradition but is now accomplished through the rich combination of visual images, songs and stories (Chik and Hafnan).

How does it work? Students create a story which relates to their favourite cartoon characters. Start with a story plot; Write the script by using a storyboard; Practice the script;

How does it work? Find photos or scan images or take photos to visually present the story; Sort the order of the photos/images; Download Photo Story 3. Add photos/images; Record the vocal track;

How does it work? Add effects to the photos/images (e.g. adding texts, changing from color to black and white...); Find a good background music; Control the volume; Preview and save the file! Show the product to the class.

Digital storyteling An example

About the action learning It’s incomplete. It will be continued in the new school year.

References Xu, H. S. (2002, summer2002). Teachers' full knowledge of students' popular culture and the integration of aspects of that culture in literacy instruction. Education, 122(4), 721. Retrieved June 20, 2009, from academic search premier database. Unsworth, L. (2008, January). Multiliteracies, E-literature and English Teaching. Language & Education: An International Journal, 22(1), Retrieved June 20, 2009, from academic search premier database. Savage, G. (2008, March). Silencing the everyday experiences of youth? Deconstructing issues of subjectivity and popular/corporate culture in the English classroom. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 29(1), Retrieved June 20, 2009, from academic search premier database. Chik and Hafnan.