Interpreting Literacies
Asynchronous Session
Featured What Are We Really Being Taught?: Literacy in Colombia - a Critical Discourse Analysis View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jhon Eduardo Mosquera Pérez
This ongoing research study is set within two areas of knowledge: literacy, and critical discourse analysis. On the one hand, literacy refers to the ability to read and write to make meaning of the world. Although in previous years the overall field of literacy was associated principally with cognitive processes, contemporary theorists have acknowledged that literacy goes beyond these two abilities. Instead, it is argued now that literacy is a set of elements which allow individuals to raise a more critical perspective of their realities to finally defy and change them. On the other hand, critical discourse analysis is related to the profound analysis of the language employed by individuals/institutions with the purpose of unveiling and visibilizing asymmetrical and unbalanced power relationships, a constant disregard of the implicit sociocultural aspects that affect each community/group as well as the manufacture of consent for foreign intervention. In this order of ideas, the main aim of this paper is to share the partial findings of a critical discourse analysis study centered on establishing the role that literacy has been playing in the dissemination of such phenomena in Colombia because even if previous scholarly literature has already demonstrated that nationally designed policies have served the propagation of neoliberal agendas/interests, which seek to benefit a very reduced part of the population (the most powerful), it seems to be that very few research studies have addressed the just pointed aspects.
Unheard Voices: International Student Experiences View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Leila Kajee
South African universities host an increasing number of international students every year, given that it is one of the few African countries where tertiary institutions have been ranked along international lines (Dominguez-Whitehead and Sing, 2015). The trend for studying abroad is not new, and international students add to the quality and cultural composition of the student body (Altbach and Knight, 2007). While the number of international students in South Africa is growing, few studies bear testimony to the lived experiences of these students in the country. As Noreen Garman (1994: 6) suggests, we need to create academic space for the “unheard voices and human positions in human inquiry”. To address the voices of international students, this study is underpinned by concerns surrounding experiences and challenges encountered by international students in the university, and how these experiences are shaped by their resilience.
Sexism and Gender (In)equality: A Critical Language Proposal based on Multiliteracies Model View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Vasia Tsami, Nikoletta Panagaki
Despite the achievements concerning gender equality and the elimination of gender discrimination in western countries, patriarchal perceptions and male dominance are still reproduced. Even now, various incidents of gender-based violence (such as sexual harassment, abuse, rape, homophobic attacks, revenge pornography, gender motivated murders) are in the limelight, as a part of the broader phenomenon of sexism. Sexism combines a total of stereotypes that contribute (consciously or unconsciously) to the reproduction of discrimination based on gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation and are reflected in the language use, attitudes and practices that can lead individuals or groups in social exclusion (Mills 2008). To question the sexism, the role of education is crucial as it can cultivate students' critical literacy. In this context, the aim of our study is the development of indicative critical language proposals, following the multiliteracies model (Cope & Kalantzis 2000). This material is intended to enable students to become aware of the (subtle) normative assumptions around gender and sexuality and critically reflect on essentialist opposition between masculinity and femininity. References Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (eds.). (2000). Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures. London & New York: Routledge. Mills, S. (2008). Language and Sexism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
"Please, Draw Me A Dance": "Movement Literacy" to Represent the Ephemeral (and Learn Its Meaning) View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Shlomit Ofer
How can the ephemeral movement be represented? What is the value of such an experience for all learners? The term ‘movement literacy’ refers to the ability to conceive, perform, teach, write, and read movement based on developing awareness of its components. Such an ability may make a real contribution to the processes of education, teaching, and learning, given the combination of the movement experience, which is elementary and common to each person, and the aspect of graphical-symbolic representation - whether as a given language or generated by learners - relevant to (almost) every Field of Study. This paper shares the results of a study in which the participants - fourth-grade girls - experienced a long-term process of mutual communication through self-generated movement representations of various movement components, deciphering them, and translating them back into movement performance. An analysis of the 60 representation pages developed by the four groups over the school year, and the discourse between the participants, revealed aspects concerning - among others: existing graphic-symbolic knowledge and the possibilities of using it; individual and group resources that form the basis for symbolic representation and decipherment; challenges embedded in the process of transforming the three-dimensional movement into a two-dimensional representation; the representation of abstract factors, such as time and space; and the learning process as rooted in local contexts. This type of experience can be customized and integrated into any field that uses the graphic-symbolic representation to deepen and enrich the learning experience.
