By definition, “a multiliterate person has ideally developed functional, multimodal, visual and
digital literacies, is able to critically reflect about and evaluate texts, and displays multilingual
and transcultural awareness” (Elsner and Viebrock 28). But does this apply to you? Did your
teachers support your development to become a multiliterate person?
To gain these abilities, it is necessary to take multiliteracies into account in classrooms and,
consequently, in learning and teaching processes. In this blog entry, I want to focus on the
role of multiliteracies for writing in educational contexts in the 21st century. But what does the
term multiliteracies mean? “[It] was first used by the New London Group (1996) to
encapsulate a wider view of literacy, taking into account the impact of the increase
in communication channels and the prominence of cultural and linguistic diversity in the
world” (McKenzie). The change in different fields like technology, language, communication,
and culture is noticeable for all of us. One of the most severe developments is technology
which leads to changes in language and communication. Consequently, most of us have
downloaded Apps like WhatsApp. It is, of course, a great communication tool in our lives, but
it also changes the way of communication and the use of language, because people tend to
write short messages not respecting spelling or punctuation. Further, people are affected by
various mediums transferring diversified audio and visual material. It is necessary to learn the
handling with this amount of information, media and diversity.
In educational contexts, multiliteracies need to be considered too which makes it an important
topic. Teachers get a lot of possibilities to integrate multiple literacies and media in the
classroom. Moreover, learners get the chance to delve into the handling with different types of
texts and to create various literacies by themselves. In my opinion, teachers are able to
support every student to become a multiliterate person, who is able to handle multiliteracies.
Therefore, they need to “offer a broad variety of text and media combinations” (Elsner and
Viebrock 28), so that the learners can collect experiences and learn to critically reflect them.
If they are confronted with multiliteracies in the classroom, they will not be overstrained with
them in real-world contexts.
But just like teachers need to offer the variety, students need to produce different text types
using different media. That is why teachers have to create varied tasks for them. I want to
touch upon the skill of writing which offers potential for variety. Students should get the
chance to produce different text types, to write in multiple languages and to use different
media. Students enjoy writing stories, poems, sing, speeches and much else. Because of
05.05.2020 Blog – What role do multiliteracies play for writing in the 21st century? Lea
cultural backgrounds and foreign language classrooms, they should get the opportunity to
write in different languages. Moreover, they can use multiple media. It is not mandatory to
always write on a white sheet of paper. Technology has developed, so there are uncountable
possibilities to write and to exchange works. Various Apps and Media provide a great design
and handling for communication.
After getting this little insight into multiliteracies, please be sensitized to the opportunities for
creativity, variety and multiliteracy in classrooms.
Works Cited
Elsner, Daniela, and Britta Viebrock. “Developing Multiliteracies in the 21st Century:
Motives for New Approaches of Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages”. 2013.
McKenzie, Anita. Teaching Multiliteracies McKenzie, Anita. Teaching Multiliteracies,
www.teachingmultiliteracies.weebly.com/what-are-multiliteracies.html.
