New Literacies
The term ‘New Literacies’ was defined by New London Group (1996) as they defined their mission in education; they see this mission as ensuring that the students are able to:
Participate fully in public, community, and economic life.
They looked at the teaching of literacy and saw it as a page-bound process. The New London Group therefore sought to set literacy and literacy teaching within a new world of what they defined as ‘Multi-literacies”. They were looking to extend literary pedagogy to the wider global and extended cultural diversity of language. The group also felt there was a need for the pedagogy to reflect the wider diversity of text associated with our multimedia technologies. As the group said;
How do we ensure that differences in culture, language and gender are not barriers to educational success?
The New London Group used the term multi-literacies as they say this word was a combination of:
The multiplicity of communication channels and media, and the increasing saliency of cultural and linguistic diversity.
This multiliteracy would also need there to be a new type of pedagogy. The New London Group suggest that there needs to be a new digital environment and this they decided would need a new pedagogy that would encompass this new digital age. As the group said in 1996:
This article represents a statement of general principal. It is highly provisional, and something we offer as a basis for public debate.
Leu et al (2004) suggests that we the way we read is changing. This is also affecting what we define as literacy. Leu at al, suggest that the new technology we use to read and understand will require new literacies to exploit the technology. They suggest these new literacies are not static and are moving and developing as fast as new technology emerge. As literacies change it influences how we define literacy in the classroom. Those in the classroom have also undergone great change and the continuing change of tools, equipment and literacies available in the classroom. However, they do say that they are unable to define what these new literacies are. They therefore seek a usable definition with the following:
The new literacies of the internet and other ICT’s include the skills, strategies, and dispositions necessary to successfully use and adapt to the rapidly changing information and communications technologies and contexts that continuously emerge in our world and influence all areas of our personal and professional lives. These new literacies allow us to use the internet and other ICT’s to identify important question, locate information, critically evaluate the usefulness of that information, synthesize information to answer those questions, and communicate the answers to others. (p3 2004)
Through this definition Leu et al, indicate the ever changing way new literacies exist both within and without the classroom. They seem to suggest that we need to be aware of these literacies and be able to adapt and accommodate the changes.
Whereas Lu at al, talk of literacies Victoria Carrington and Muriel Robinson (2009) talk of text. Somehow the use of the term ‘text’ has more resonance for the style of work I am looking for. The concept of new literacies has at its heart the need to define and explain the new digital world, which is not just word based. Text must now include the world of digital technology. Carrington and Robinson describe a visit to Hong Kong where the world is negotiated via the use of digital equipment for communication, transference of information, music, film, and digital payment systems for transport, this is a wide span to encompass. They contrast this with the classroom where pupils still sit behind desks receiving facts from the teacher. They also reflect on the fear that these devices and texts are seen in relation to children and learning.
Cope and Kalantzis (2006), talk about the way work in the world of multiliteracies changed the pedagogy of learning. In the old literacy the learner was the passive recipient. With multiliteracy that pedagogy changes and the learner is now an active participant. The learner has become enabled by new technology and can decide the pathway of their personal learning.
In reading the initial work of the New London Group I am very aware of the historical nature of their first statements set in the 1990’s. This digital world has moved so fast that comments seemed to refer to the digital Natives arguments that have since been dismissed. This was the idea that there were the digital natives, young people who had grown up with digital technology would be more able at using this technology because it would become natural to them. Digital Immigrants were those who had to learn how to use the technology and therefore would find it more difficult to use. This has proved to be an erroneous idea, as aptitude to use digital equipment is not just seen in young people. However, the New London Group are not static in their research and have moved forward and developed ideas in many areas of multiliteracies. A learner today is expected to be aware of multiliteracy in the classroom and for many there is no understanding that this is a new form of learning.