ABSTRACT
The focus of this chapter is on the meaning of literacy in the digital age. The author argues that the difficulties faced in terms of definition and use are not technological but social and cultural. Taking as a starting point the idea that technologies are not neutral, the chapter uses Green’s three dimensions of literacy – the operational, the cultural and the critical – as a framework for analysis. The chapter examines the idea of multimodality and stresses the need for language to be viewed as the ‘metamode’ which provides access to the critical consideration of the cultural meanings of texts. In this sense the chapter is making a case for teachers to teach students discernment when they encounter a range of texts, images, sounds and information so they can reflect on meanings and be critical about the purposes and values of new media texts. The chapter thus aims to:
• highlight the need to blend operational, cultural and critical approaches in literacy teaching;
• challenge the idea that all literacies are of equal value and instead highlight the importance of language as the mode through which students can be taught to be critical and reflective;
• draw attention to a range of teaching approaches that will allow students to articulate the critical complexities of a variety of texts and images.
