21st-Century Literacy Teaching: Multimodal Texts and Meaning Making

The recent reading of Hall (2003) and Hammerberg (2001) let me think about the requirements and challenges of literacy teaching in the 21^st century.

While Hall (2003) from the perspective of teaching focuses on reviewing elements of effective teaching and perceptions held by effective literacy teachers, Hammerberg (2001) weaves three perspectives (i.e., the changing relationships between texts and images brought by media changes, the changing children’s literature, and the teaching of writing) together to discuss how to include multiple perspectives into the teaching of multiple texts with children. From Hall’s (2003) review, echoed with the Hallidayan Theory – “meaning is the driving force in literacy growth” (p. 320), effective literacy teaching should embrace: (1) reading as the priority of teaching (with all literacy activities connected to reading); (2) small group differentiated teaching (with an appropriate common evaluation system); (3) a culturally responsive curriculum; and (4) literacy skills applied to everyday life with authentic meaning making. The above requirements for effectiveness pose challenges for our teachers today. First, the first national study of elementary classrooms after NCLB tells us that unbalanced classroom instructional times have been observed in thousands of elementary classrooms in the U.S.: English literacy takes up a big amount of the instructional time while math and science take much smaller percentages. How to balance the instructional content/time across subjects and better weave reading into daily science and math instruction is something that needs to be considered by teachers. Second, differentiated teaching might be easily realized in a classroom with less than 25 students and a teacher aid. However, in many less privileged classrooms, such as some schools in Harlem with class sizes of 30-40 and most classrooms in China with common class sizes of 40-50, the strategy of differentiated teaching might need to be adjusted, from individuals to small groups, with a carefully crafted evaluation system. Finally, the culturally responsive approach and the increasing diverse student population further pushes teachers to reach out to families, knowing more about students’ family and ethnic cultures, which further poses lingual and cultural challenges for teachers today. Furthermore, Hall (2003) gives interesting summarization of effective teachers’ perceptions: (1) high expectation for students; (2) continuity of theory and practice in classroom teaching; (3) strong self assurance/confidence; and (4) optimistic view towards students’ growth. Some of the perceptions seem to be not only about believes, but also about personalities.

Hammerberg (2001) initiates the discussion of new formats of children’ literature brought by changing media. For example, some unconventional books discussed by Hammerberg embed children’s kinesthetic involvement and extra meaning making in book reading. I would love to read Black and White and Meanwhile when I get a chance. The media changes bring technologies (e.g., web, mobile, animation, etc.) and new interfaces of reading, including “handheld hypertext” (p. 208). Children’s literature in the 21^st century will give them more ways of interpreting texts, more ways of seeking for meanings, more ways of looking at authentic texts, as well more ways of communication and self expression. They learn reading and writing in social, cultural, media contexts together with instinct cognitive processes. The teaching of writing with younger children, according to Hammerberg (2001), should consider children’s multiple perspectives and voices, through specific approaches such as shared writing and interactive writing, help them on “the technique of filtering many voices into a planned and systematic product” (p. 212).

From 2001 to the current year of 2009, there have been further changes/innovations in children’s literature. School students today are familiar with computers and mobile devices. They have access to multiple reading resources, including comic books, video/mobile games, and animated online/video stories. While consciously noticing the changing literature, we need to catch up with the digital age, be open to new possibilities, and cater to students’ 21-century literacy needs.