Multiliteracies in Education - South African Perspectives

Educational preparation is currently steered by two oppositional forces in contemporary society: global connectedness and local diversity. The traditional notion that literacy entails the technical ability to decode abstract letters in order to recognise and form words and sentences is contested by the pedagogy of multiliteracies - that there is a wealth of linguistic and cultural pluralism in the world and that people can be part of multiple life contexts that overlap in interest, affiliation and education. Multiliteracies in education develops a pedagogical framework to weave multiliteracies into the fabric of the South African classroom. Multiliteracies in education takes the approach that knowledge is contextually situated and rapidly changing and diverse, which calls for new skills and flexibility, and the ability to work in teams. Chapters are sequenced according to the four pillars of the multiliteracies framework: overt instruction, situated practice, critical framing and transformed practice.