Multiliteracies in ELA Classrooms

There are several things that I would like to reflect on after reading both Baron and Carrington’s articles. First, as both articles were published in 2005, I was very interested in discovering whether or not the issues discussed in these articles have changed over the past few years. As I read Baron’s article, I found that the issue the article addresses (using IM) seems to be a declining trend. Drawing from my own experience, I remember that using IM such as MSN was immensely popular during my early teenage years (around 2001-2007). During the past few years however, I rarely find myself using a computer program that is sole developed for the purpose of IM. I am not suggesting that IM is not a common form of communication nowadays, what I am suggesting is that IM seems to take other forms (facebook chat, skype, twitter, etc.). These new forms of CMC allow users to not only use words, but also other forms of language (image, video, audio) to communicate with other participants. In this sense, multipurpose CMC is taking over the dominance of the single-purposed IM.

Second, I am drawn to the notion of teachers “as custodians of a particular ‘correct’ version of English” (Standard English) presented in both articles (Carrington, 170). I do agree with this notion, however, I think teachers are not only the custodian of Standard English, but also a bank of resources where students can learn new ways of communication, including short hand writing like the text-language which can be very useful under certain circumstances. On the other hand, as stated in Baron’s article, teachers should ensure students use Standard English in formal settings unless the perception of  Standard English changes among the society as a whole.

Last, I would like to propose a question under this topic. During my practicum, I have communicated with both my SAs through texting in a number of settings. In some occasions, they have used text-language to communicate with me. However, I have never replied them using text-language as I am not certain if it implies any notion of impoliteness. My question is that does using text-language depend on the social status of the participants? Does text-language imply any notion of impoliteness when it is used by a participant who has a lower status compared to another participant, for example, employer and employee?

Sarah Wu

Blog post #1

References

Baron, N.S. (2005). Instant messaging and the future of language. Communications of the ACM, 46(7), 30-31.

Carrington, V. (2005). Txting: the end of civilization (again)? Cambridge Journal of Education, 35(2), 161-175.