Being literate: then and now.
Mackenzie, Noella M.
One of the most significant changes in literacy education over the
last twenty years is our understanding of literacy as literacies or
multiliteracies. To be literate in today's world, you must be able
to create, interpret and question 'oral, visual, audio, gestural,
tactile and spatial patterns of meaning (Kalantzis & Cope, 2012, p.
2). This has taken us way beyond the notions of reading, writing,
listening and speaking as discrete areas of learning and highlighted the
importance of multimodality and critical literacies. Technology has
supported this process, making the creation, interpretation and
dissemination of multimodal texts possible in ways not seen previously.
The introduction of the Australian Curriculum has supported our
understandings of contemporary literacies and provided the scaffold for
teachers and schools to embrace literacies as tools for learning across
all disciplines and life generally. However, it almost seems that in
parallel to this shift in understanding of what it means to be literate
in contemporary times, we have seen the introduction of high stakes
testing, increased accountability and a 'back to basics' cry
from the more conservative members of Australian society.
While high stakes testing in Australia does not begin until year
three, anecdotal evidence suggests that there has been a downward
pressure on Australian teachers to start literacy instruction, which is
easily measurable and reflects old definitions of literacy, even before
children begin school. Formalised, structured approaches to literacy
instruction have also been linked to high stakes testing in the United
States of America and the United Kingdom. Sadly, schools and preschools
in Australia have felt the pressure with parents often asking for
'back to basics' approaches to literacy instruction that they
believe will advantage their children. Commercial phonics programs and
literacy coaching provided outside the preschool or school have also
become popular. Many teachers are being required to program and teach in
ways that are more structured, less creative than they have been in
generations and given less freedom to trust their professional judgement
and their children's interests and needs.
The contradiction between what it means to be literate in
today's world and the pressures of high stakes testing is causing
frustration for many teachers as they try to force children who have
been born into a multimodal world to adopt and learn old understandings
of what it means to be literate. Contemporary students deserve and
respond to approaches to teaching which value 'contemporary
literacies and students' existing ways of knowing' (Mackenzie,
2011, p. 338).
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References
Kalantzis, M., & Cope, B. (2012). Literacies. Port Melbourne:
Cambridge University Press.
Mackenzie, N.M. (2011). From drawing to writing: What happens when
you shift teaching priorities in the first six months of school?
Australian Journal of Language & Literacy, 34(3), 322-340.
Noella Mackenzie is a Senior Lecturer in literacy studies at
Charles Sturt University, Australia. She has been an active member of
ALEA for many years, on the planning committee for the national
conference in Victoria and is a contributing author to ALEA
publications. Email: nmackenzie@csu.edu.au
