Multiliteracies in ELA Classrooms

Lankslear and Knobel discuss the influence and increasing popularity of blogging as a legitimate literacy.  They begin their argument with a differentiation of mindset between a tolerance for technology, with a focus on the individuals’ intelligence and ‘bookspace’ versus the collective intelligence created by the digital media space, in a world influenced by advances in technology. (Lankslear & Knobel, 2006).  This is an oversimplification, but the points remain valid: the juxtaposition of reluctance of embracing technological advances versus the embracing of the potential for technology.

The authors discuss the evolution of blogging from the early 1990s, where blogging was a forum for technologically astute, computer literate people.  However, by the late 1990s, blogging became readily accessible to the majority of the population and was more about being socially connected than being isolated.  Naturally part of the appeal is having instant recognition for your ideas or posts by friends or strangers, but also having a forum to voice your opinions about any issue or event.

One interesting phenomenon that results from blogging is that the more popular or controversial a post becomes, the greater the likelihood is that the originator of the post becomes more of a facilitator of their argument than an active participant. While this may create a deeper engagement with the content of the blog than with traditional published works, it also provides immediate feedback the ppossibility for revisions and corrections. However, it may remove the originator of the blog as a participant.

Obviously, this article was published 7 years ago and was starting to recognize the potential for influence  and legitimacy as a critical or analytical source, whereas today many people are dependent on blogs and social media to help them formulate their opinions on everything from where to eat, how to accomplish something, which teachers to avoid etc.

As a classroom tool, I believe that blogs are an excellent method for engaging a wide variety of responses from students.  On my practicum we used a variety of classroom blogs to keep students informed of classroom assignments, fieldtrips and to have a forum for current events.  Students were encouraged to participate on a weekly basis and to contribute ideas for journal writing prompts and classroom debate topics.  This was a successful way of monitoring class levels of engagement for topics and also it gave students who were reluctant to participate orally in class an opportunity to be heard.

Finally, the article concluded with a discussion of fan blogging and the impact it has on reality TV, but also over political campaigns, corporate images and the immediacy of disseminating all manner of information.

Work Cited: Lankshear, C. & Knobel, M. (2006) Blogging as Participation: The Active Sociality of a New Literacy. American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, US, April 11, 2006.

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