Flowers of argument and engagement? Reconsidering critical perspectives on adult education and literate practices

This paper takes up an existing discussion around critical perspectives on adult education, in particular how empowerment and emancipation have been understood. Previously in this journal, concern has been raised with traditional understandings of critical adult education. The problem is that these tend to assume that learners require assistance from experts, be they teachers or researchers, in order to gain understanding of how they are oppressed. The purpose of this paper is to present a deeper engagement with this concern through an examination of how both empowering and emancipatory adult education have been understood and practised. The demarcation is examined in the context of the historical development of critical understandings and practices associated with adult literacies learning, as a significant field of adult education where the idea of empowerment and emancipation has been theorised. The ideas and practices associated with empowering literacies are defended as ways for learners to gain positions from which to speak and be heard, as well as support participation in work, community and family life. Informed by the ideas of Jacques Rancière, there is also acknowledgement that societal inequalities are increasing, necessitating a need to consider how adult education might encourage political transformation and emancipation.     

Supporting the teaching of the visual literacies in the earth and life sciences in higher education

Internationally, there has been increasing emphasis on the teaching of the academic literacies, particularly reading and writing, in higher education institutions. However, recent research is highlighting the need for more explicit teaching of multimodal forms of communication, such as the visual literacies, in undergraduate courses in a wide range of disciplines such as the sciences, engineering and architecture. The research recognises that this is an area of academic literacy teaching that has often been neglected. This article draws on the findings of a research project which set out to understand both the multimodal literacy requirements and current practices in the teaching of these literacies in the earth and life sciences at a South African university. Three key themes are discussed: learning to see like a scientist, the importance of learning by switching between and integrating different modes of representation and teaching the conventions of representation in the sciences. The conclusion proposes ways for academic developers to work with staff to develop more explicit ways of teaching the visual literacies.     

Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and Mikhail Bakhtin in dialogue: pedagogy for a spatial literacy of ecological selfhood

This article considers the philosophies of unknown Japanese educator Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (1871–1944) and his Russian contemporary Mikhail Bakhtin (1895–1975) as an Asian-Pacific pedagogical foundation for addressing the fierce urgency of human-induced environmental destruction and global climate shock. Specifically, the author compares Makiguchi's philosophy of geography with Bakhtin's views of chronotope, the other, and architectonics as a means of fostering ecological selfhood. The comparison raises awareness of Makiguchian philosophy, which the author argues anticipated, strengthens, and expands Bakhtin's discussed ideas in an educational context, while it simultaneously recasts Bakhtin's well-established ideas in light of environmental education. The author concludes by contextualizing these convergences in current pedagogical needs vis-à-vis the changing environmental and political nature of the world and multiliteracies education.     

Influences of reading online texts in Korean English language learners' cultural identities

This qualitative case study investigated 4 Korean elementary level English language learners' (ELLs) cultural identities when they read online texts at home and school. The participants were fourth- or fifth-grade students. The data consisted of observations, interviews, field notes, reflective journals, and the ELLs' verbal reports at home and school between the spring and the fall of 2010. The author's purpose was to identify the influences of reading online texts at home and school in Korean elementary level ELLs' cultural identities. Findings revealed that the online text readings helped the ELLs form, maintain, and shift their cultural identities. The author discusses Korean ELLs' languages, cultures, and technologies in the contexts of electronic literacies and suggests educational implications to facilitate their reading online texts.     

New media,evolving multimodal literacy practices and the potential impact of increased use of the visual mode in the urban environment on young children's learning

This article looks at the way in which the changing visual environment affects education at two levels: in communication patterns and research methodologies. The research considers differences in the variance and quantity of types of visual media and their relationship to the written mode in the urban landscapes of Tokyo and London, using Google Street View to make comparisons. It reflects on the parallels this might have in the ways in which children encounter text in the environment. The data were analysed using Visual Content Analysis and colour coding. It found the Tokyo sample to have a higher density and diversity of visual media types at a wider range of heights. Visual and written communication also appear to be confined to more separately definable spaces with more equal weighting in the use of written and visual modes. Particularly, within the context of early childhood education it is hoped these findings will increase knowledge concerning young children's exposure to the visual mode, initiate wider discourse around this less researched mode's role within new multimodal communication practices and that the methodology furthers understanding of the potential of new media in image‐based research.     

An Examination of How a Teacher's Use of Digital Tools Empowers and Constrains Language Arts Instruction

The Common Core State Standards produce a need to understand how digital tools can support literacy instruction. The purpose of this case study was to explore how a language arts teacher's integration of computers and iPads empowered and constrained her and the resulting classroom instruction. Constraining factors included (a) inadequate technological knowledge, (b) expectations of students’ comfort with technology, (c) inappropriate expectations for assignments, and (d) limited conceptions of the purposes of technology. Subthemes related to enhancement included: enhancement of classroom environment, simplicity and sophistication equal innovation and empowerment, combining tools, and digital tools support multimodal communication.     

How Can Blogging Help Teachers Realize the Goals of Reform-based Science Instruction? A Study of Nine Classroom Blogs

Science teachers struggle with meeting curricular goals outlined by professional organizations within the constraints of traditional school. Engaging science learners as a community who collaboratively and creatively co-construct scientific understanding through inquiry requires teachers to adopt new tools as well as a different mindset about the kind of classroom culture they need to nurture. Classroom blogs (i.e., blogs that are managed by a teacher for his/her students to post their work and exchange ideas) have been purported in the literature as offering unique opportunities to achieve this goal, although with little empirical support thus far. To fill this gap, nine classroom blogs were selected through an extensive search, and systematically analyzed to determine how the teachers’ instructional designs and classrooms’ enactment were able to capitalize on the specific affordances blogging may offer to support reform-based learning goals. The shift in teacher mindset needed to realize blogging affordances occurred as teachers engaged with students in the process of ‘living’ the classroom blog.     

Literacy,media and multimodality: a critical response

In recent years, literacy educators have increasingly recognised the importance of addressing a broader range of texts in the classroom. This article raises some critical concerns about a particular approach to this issue that has been widely promoted in recent years – the concept of ‘multimodality’. Multimodality theory offers a broadly semiotic approach to analysing a range of communicative forms. It has been widely taken up by literacy educators, initially at an academic level, and has begun to find its way into policy documents, teacher education and professional development and classroom practice. This article presents some criticisms, both of the theory itself and of the ways in which it has been taken up within the wider context of curriculum change. It argues that, in its popular usage, multimodality theory is being appropriated in a way that merely reinforces a long‐standing distinction between print and ‘non‐print’ texts. This contributes in particular to a continuing neglect of the specificity of moving image media – media that are central to the learning and everyday life experiences of young children. Drawing on recent classroom‐based research, the article concludes by offering some brief indications of an alternative approach to these issues.     

Self-Regulated Learning and New Literacies: an experience at the University of Barcelona

This article summarises the findings from an evaluation of a Media Literacy course at the University of Barcelona. It focuses on some aspects of Self-Regulation and on the learning environment used by students. The students' learning processes were embedded in an eLearning project, in which students analysed the representation of immigrants and ethnic minorities in the media.
Key findings are the usefulness of this particular Technology-Enhanced Learning Environment (TELE), and its specific settings regarding Self-Regulated Learning (SRL). Students self-regulated their learning processes, in that they were working in a blended learning environment. However, their acquired media literacy skills seem to be fostered by the TELE rather than by the self-regulation mechanisms.
Throughout the article, special attention is paid to the conceptual framework of digital and media literacy, and the specific competences related to them.