Multiliteracies

Text can be constructed using gestures, words, sounds, images, symbols, body language and signs. According to Hill "the term multiliteracies actually covers what has also been regarded as electronic literacies, technoliteracies, digital literacies, visual literacies and print-based literacies" (Hill 2006, p.323) For children to learn about multiliteracies is for them to learn about and interpret all available forms of texts such as pod casts, wikis, blogs, radio, media print, scientific reports, essays and books etc. Children can be surrounded by different multiliteracies from an early age through the use of symbols, signs and logos in advertising. They learn quite quickly to connect the logos with the advertised product, for example most children would recognise the target signs or coca cola signs or Macdonalds signs, from a very early age, because they know that when they see these logos on signs that they are going to recieve a certain product from this place and although they may not be able to understand the written text associated with these signs they still understand what the logos mean. Multimodal texts are becoming more widely used within classrooms as advances in technology introduce new forms of viewing and creating multimodal texts. Most students experience these types of technologies within their homes and lives outside of school therefore may be more willing to engage with the resources.