When educators discuss literacy and language, and how they will deliver their "product" to the diverse students who occupy the seats in their classrooms the conversation invariably leads to the phrase "multi". Whether it's multimedia, multiliteracies, multimodal or whatever, it means it has to cover a lot of bases to be inclusive and the more senses we can engage the better.
This dilemna is as old as the Tower of Babel. On pg. 217 of the readings is a discussion of literacy, especially the superiority of written language over oral as far as elevating the ability of literate people to progress and acheive "personal and cultural transformation". Yet written language also brings homogenation and destroys ancestral languages. (pg. 217) What we find is that we want it both ways - we want our teaching to be diverse and inclusive and we want everybody to know the same things. So we're hoping that digital technology will somehow deliver this.
Watching the spectacular opening ceremony to the the Beijing 2008 Olympics made me feel like I was part of a world-wide event, similar to how I felt when the new century began at midnight on 01/01/00, and also appreciative of the Chinese. This had elements of being both diverse and communicative to everyone in a language they could understand.
When I walk into Mountain View Market I experience it on multimodal levels. The first thing I always notice is the way the place smells - like good, spicy food. Sometimes there's music or NPR on the loadspeaker, or a din of conversation that's similar to a local coffee shop. The products for sale represent ethnic diversity and come from all over the world, but also they take great pride in their local produce. Recently they redesigned the store so that it's roomier and products are more logically grouped. These multimodal elements are delivered in an organic, actual way. The virtual world of digital technology is entered as you pay for your items. The registers are computerized and connected to a database, the money is transferred electronically with your debit or credit card.
On pg. 14 of the readings it says, "the most important skill students need to learn is to negotiate regional, ethnic, or class-based dialects," and "this is the only hope for averting the catastrophic conflicts about identities and spaces that now seem ever ready to flare up".
This is something I've given a lot of thought and effort to in my own personal life recently. I've begun to think in terms of communication as being from some level of energy. For example, gossip is a low energy form of communication, whereas, speeches that help people believe in their abilities are a high energy. When I am able to communicate, either orally or in writing, at a high level I almost always receive some form of praise or gratitude from the person I'm communicating with. I've been paying particular attention to the agency this gives me in my business and personal life. The higher my level of communication, even when I have to say no, the further it gets me towards the goals I have - like more fulfilling personal relationships and more productive working relationships and access to more knowledge. The exact opposite happens when I resort to low energy levels of communication. Doors close or slam in my face.
While we can't learn every dialect, identity and culture, I believe we can negotiate the world with the universal language of respect and not only avoid flare-ups but create and design more life-enhancing medias.
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3 comments:
Interesting blog... Your perspective seems to question some of the tenets of the readings for today... I take it you are skeptical that digital technologies will save us?
Your response to preserving less privileged dialects is a little confusing to me. Are you saying that something like gossip is a kind of dialect and that it doesn't take much energy or doesn't create much energy? I understand that you bottom line is to speak with respect to each other, right?
Maybe we'll have a chance to talk about this in class...
I do have a certain skepticism about technology in general. I want it to have it's place without taking over or taking the place of real, actual experiences.
Being culturally and diversity inclusive is highly valued in pedagogy now. Yet, literacy, especially written language, "does enormous damage to most the ancestral and primarily oral languages of the world, as well as their cultures". (pg. 217, Cope & Kalantzis)
Technology allows us to spread literacy and written language to more and more places in the world. That this will happen on a multimodal level with more pictures and sound is supposed to negate some of the homogenation that occurs with written language. I am skeptical about that.
I guess what I believe is that I am in favor of a more educated population and the embrace of diversity. Technology is a necessary part of that and without that knowledge most of couldn't even do our jobs. But sometimes, just how we speak to each other is the universal language that will do more to bring people on a level playing field than any technology, pedagogy or construct.
Cope, B. & Kalantzis, M. (2000) Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures. London: Routledge.
Like your posting about reading your office space as multimodal, I enjoyed your discussion here of how Mt. View Market engages so many senses and modes of communication. I also had similar interests and feelings about about whether there is such a thing as universal communication when I watched the opening ceremonies. This is a good example (and likely one that is not produced very often) of being able to communicate both locally and globally through a single presentation. Many of the components of that opening show were based on Chines cultural values, narratives, and traditions, yet they were presented in a way intended to invite others in. Of course, I might not have gotten all the symbolism simply from watching and not having access to the storytelling/interpretation of the announcers. As you conclude, this was an instance of culturally-specific multimodal communication that was intended to create communal understanding and respect rather than exclusion.
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