Multiliteracies in Practice: Integrating Multimodal Production Across the Curriculum

Supported by ever-evolving digital tools and online spaces, we argue that multiliteracies can be used to close the gap between teacher-directed, individual, and assessment-driven learning, and authentic, shared, and purpose-driven learning. This is particularly evident through multimodal composition and collaboration in primary classrooms. Over two decades ago, the New London Group argued that all meaning-making is multimodal. By representing their knowledge through multiple modes and for local and global audiences, students can express their identity, exercise agency, and foster a sense of authoring through multimodal production.     

Climbing Bloom's taxonomy pyramid: Lessons from a graduate histology course

Bloom's taxonomy was adopted to create a subject‐specific scoring tool for histology multiple‐choice questions (MCQs). This Bloom's Taxonomy Histology Tool (BTHT) was used to analyze teacher‐ and student‐generated quiz and examination questions from a graduate level histology course. Multiple‐choice questions using histological images were generally assigned a higher BTHT level than simple text questions. The type of microscopy technique (light or electron microscopy) used for these image‐based questions did not result in any significant differences in their Bloom's taxonomy scores. The BTHT levels for teacher‐generated MCQs correlated positively with higher discrimination indices and inversely with the percent of students answering these questions correctly (difficulty index), suggesting that higher‐level Bloom's taxonomy questions differentiate well between higher‐ and lower‐performing students. When examining BTHT scores for MCQs that were written by students in a Multiple‐Choice Item Development Assignment (MCIDA) there was no significant correlation between these scores and the students' ability to answer teacher‐generated MCQs. This suggests that the ability to answer histology MCQs relies on a different skill set than the aptitude to construct higher‐level Bloom's taxonomy questions. However, students significantly improved their average BTHT scores from the midterm to the final MCIDA task, which indicates that practice, experience and feedback increased their MCQ writing proficiency. Anat Sci Educ 10: 456–464. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.     

How students with autism spectrum conditions understand traditional bullying and cyberbullying

Students with ASC are at heightened risk for bullying and their understanding of bullying is known to protect them from involvement in it (Humphrey and Hebron 2015). However, only a handful of studies have examined how students with ASC understand traditional bullying and none of them focused on cyberbullying. To fill this gap, we investigated how traditional bullying and cyberbullying are understood from the perspectives of 89 students with ASC attending inclusive schools and 490 students without ASC. Twenty vignettes were used from (Campbell et al. 2017a), based on the Olweus (1999) definition of bullying and verified by a Delphi technique. In the majority of traditional bullying and cyberbullying vignettes, students with ASC made more accurate responses than inaccurate ones and demonstrated higher accuracy rates than students without ASC. Findings of linear multiple regression analyses pointed out ASC status as a predictive variable for understanding both types of bullying, along with students' age for understanding cyberbullying. The findings highlight the ability rather than inability to understand bullying in students with ASC. It is therefore critical to include the voices and experiences of students with ASC in our research endeavour.     

Knowledge of derivational suffixes in students with language learning disabilities

Knowledge of derivational suffix meanings was investigated in 10- to 12-year-old students with language learning disabilities and individually matched chronological- and language-age peers. Students produced derived forms from nonce bases in an elicitation task and selected derived forms in a forced choice task. For instance, students produced a word to label the baby of an invented animal called a TEM (TEMlet, TEMette, TEMkin, etc.) and chose an appropriate label from four options (TEMlet, TEMkin, TEMship, TEMhood). Twenty-eight suffixes (e.g., less, y, ize) conveying seven derivational meanings (e.g., “without X,” “approximately X,” “to make X”) were studied. All groups showed higher accuracy on the forced choice task than on the elicitation task. However, elicitation task accuracy of students with language learning disabilities fell substantially below that of typically achieving students. Suffixes for “agent X,” “character of X,” and “to make X” were produced in the elicitation task with higher accuracy than suffixes for “approximately X,” “diminutive X,” and “state of X.” In both tasks, suffix use was associated with productivity (i.e., regularity of suffix attachment). All groups chose highly productive suffixes (e.g., TEMlet) over less productive suffixes (e.g., TEMkin) to convey each meaning.     

Review of research on mobile-assisted language learning in familiar,authentic environments

Familiarity with learning contexts is important in the field of mobile-assisted language learning (MALL). Several review studies on MALL have been published to date. However, scholars have not covered certain aspects of familiar contexts in their reviews, such as which learning/instructional methodologies support learning in familiar contexts or what the affordances of familiar contexts are for language learning. To address this gap, the authors in this study reviewed research articles related to MALL in familiar, authentic environments published in the past 10 years. The reviewed articles were from journals published in the Social Science Citation Index between 2009 and 2018. The main aim of this study was to review the published articles to understand (1) pedagogical approaches, (2) data collection, (3) locations, (4) affordances of authentic environments and (5) issues in MALL research. The results revealed that the most frequent items in reviewed articles were task-based learning and communicative language teaching (pedagogical approaches); questionnaires, pretest and posttests and interviews (data collection); the local community and campus (locations); daily encounters, language learning and cognitive load (affordances of authentic environments); and small sample sizes and short-term interventions (issues in MALL research). Based on the results, the authors in this study made several suggestions and provided implications for educators and researchers in the field about MALL in familiar, authentic environments.     

A study of the cognitive diffusion model: facilitating students’ high level cognitive processes with authentic support

For this study the researchers designed learning activities to enhance students’ high level cognitive processes. Students learned new information in a classroom setting and then applied and analyzed their new knowledge in familiar authentic contexts by taking pictures of objects found there, describing them, and sharing their homework with peers. An experiment was carried out in which 58 junior high school students were divided into a control (n = 30) and an experimental (n = 28) group. The control group studied and completed learning activities with traditional textbooks while the experimental group used electronic textbooks and a learning system, Virtual Pen for Tablet PC (VPenTPC), in order to gauge the feasibility of the proposed approach. The post-test results show a significant difference between the control and experimental groups. In our analysis of the various approaches students took to complete the task, we were able to identify thirty cognitive and metacognitive strategies for using mobile technology, from which we selected the ten most frequently used ones. The results show that low ability students make better use of strategies than their high ability peers, resulting in significant learning gains. The results also show that most students perceive VPenTPC positively. Based on these results, we suggest some implications along with conclusions and directions for future research.     

#poetryisnotdead: understanding Instagram poetry within a transliteracies framework

Adolescents are more connected to the globalised world than ever before, with an increased prevalence of social media use amongst youth. Young people are composing multimodal creative works, including digital poetry, to share with an online audience, using platforms such as Instagram. Drawing on transliteracies theory, this case study found that three main themes appeared regarding the nature of literacy practices on Instagram. Community and interactivity were important to poets, especially in regard to feedback. The platform and complementary apps, especially those used for photo editing, afforded poets agency and fostered multimodality when composing, thus highlighting the changing nature of digitised writing practices. Value was placed on the mobility and accessibility of Instagram as a mobile app, for composing and consuming digital poetry. Young people may therefore be considered innovators of multimodal writing who employ ever‐evolving technologies to engage in authentic literacy practices in digital spaces. As a result, this study suggests that the implications of Instapoetry on English pedagogy include the increased exposure and relevance of poetry writing and appreciation, a space for student‐centred writing, reading, and analysis of poems, as well as a relevant method of peer review and collaboration.