ABSTRACT

The increasing popularity of digitally-mediated communication is prompting us to radically rethink literacy and its role in education; at the same time, national policies have promulgated a view of literacy focused on the skills and classroom routines associated with print, bolstered by regimes of accountability and assessments. As a result, teachers are caught between two competing discourses: one upholding a traditional conception of literacy re-iterated by politicians and policy-makers, and the other encouraging a more radical take on 21st century literacies driven by leading edge thinkers and researchers. There is a pressing need for a book which engages researchers in international dialogue around new literacies, their implications for policy and practice, and how they might articulate across national boundaries.

Drawing on cutting edge research from the USA, Canada, UK, Australia and South Africa, this book is a pedagogical and policy-driven call for change. It explores studies of literacy practices in varied contexts through a refreshingly dialogic style, interspersed with commentaries which comment on the significance of the work described for education. The book concludes on the ‘conversation’ developed to identify key recommendations for policy-makers through a Charter for Literacy Education.

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chapter 2|19 pages

Global Forms and Assemblages

Children's Digital Literacy Practices in Unequal South African Settings 1

chapter 3|17 pages

Paper Pterodactyls and Popsicle Sticks

Expanding School Literacy through Filmmaking and Toymaking

chapter 4|22 pages

Conceptualising Collaboration in Hybrid Sites

Playing Minecraft Together and Apart in a Primary Classroom

chapter 5|16 pages

(Im)material Girls Living in (Im)material Worlds

Identity Curation through Time and Space

chapter 6|15 pages

Literature, Imagination and Computer Games

Videogames and the English/Literature Curriculum

chapter 7|18 pages

A Tale of Multiple Selves

Im/materialising Identities on Facebook

chapter 10|13 pages

New Meaning-Making Practices

A Charter for Literacy Education