Week Two – Multiliteracies

I found the topic this week very interesting and eye opening. As discussed in the lecture (Phillips, 2013) and by Kalantzis and Cope (2012) we are constantly engaging in a variety of modes including gestural, tactile, linguistic, oral, audio, visual and spatial, often without even thinking. 

We are constantly shifting between different modes in order to make meaning and Kalantzis and Cope (2012) describe this process as synaesthesia or cross-sensory synthesis. This means that we are all constantly participating in literacy practices often without even thinking – meaning each and every one of us can be defined as literate! I very much like this concept as it is a positive view of looking at literacy and out abilities.

An example of shifting between different modes is when children are read a story book, much like in the following video. Children are able to engage with the written text, the images and words that are spoken and therefore make meaning from the text.

In this week’s tutorial we discussed the texts that are found within our bedrooms and what these say about us as learners. In my bedroom I found books and textbooks, CDs, pictures of friends and family and artwork. I think that these texts illustrate how I like to be educated and in the know but also creative and inspired. These also represent many of my daily literacy practices.