Reimagining Literacy Futures: That Was Then, This Is Now

• In Event: 60.016 - Mobilizing Canadian Curriculum Research as Counterpointed Breakthroughs

Abstract

Drawing wisdom from the phrase, “the only constant in life is change,” for my presentation, I will contrast past conceptions and framings of literacy as they were lived and understood then, within 20th-century mindsets, with conceptions and framings as they are lived now, in the 21st century. Taking a landscape view of research that I have conducted over the past five years, I will offer an integrated perspective on ways of thinking about contemporary literacy learning and some radical shifts in teaching and learning spaces that need to transpire for true change. The presentation is based within newer approaches to literacy research such as ‘multimodality’ (Jewitt, 2009; Kress, 2010; Rowsell, 2013) which starts from an assumption that literacy exists in different modes of representation and communication that can be written, visual, immersive, moving image and that encourages students to think and to communicate in multiple modes (as opposed to simply in words). Looking across four research studies on a range of topics from linking arts with literacy to iPads and the early years to learning and teaching literacy through Minecraft (a popular video game), I will then provide provocations and speculations on how literacy can be reimagined now (Collier & Rowsell, 2014; Rowsell, 2014; Rowsell & Harwood, in press).

Author

• Jennifer Rowsell, Brock University