Critical Framing; interpreting your practice
Mar 6th, 2007 by admin
I’ve been revisiting an old favourite, Multiliteracies edited by Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis. I first came across the book during some research in 2003 and the concepts within strongly influenced my paper, Rethinking models of literacy provision for the 21st century of the following year. The interesting thing is that what attracted me this time around was quite different to my original highlights.
Essentially the notion of multiliteracy is based around two important considerations:
- the multiplicity of contemporary communications channels and media, and
- the increasing salience of cultural and linguistic diversity in our global community of connectedness
It encourages a shift from traditional views of literacy, and authoritarian styles of pedagogy based on rules to instead ‘focus on modes of representation much broader than language alone’ which ‘differ according to culture and context’; where meaning is made in ways that ‘are increasingly multimodal’ (p.5).
The book is rich in discussion around concepts such as ‘lifeworlds’, ‘civic pluralism’, ‘active designers’, ‘contact zone’, ‘hybridity’ …..
The authors consider pedagogy a complex integration of four factors: Situated Practice, Overt Instruction, Critical Framing and Transformed Practice. Not new concepts but combined here to complement each other and to meet our contemporary teaching and learning needs.
The notion of Critical Framing is particularly relevant to your LearnScope project work and teaching practice. It’s about interrogating the social and cultural contexts of particular Designs of meaning (strategies, approaches, tools, styles, modes, media). It requires us as learners to stand back from what we are studying (in our case, e-learning and technologies) and to view it critically in relation to its context.
We need to ask how a particular Design fits in with both local and global meanings.
What’s the immediate function? - what is it doing to whom? for whom? by whom? and why?
What’s the structure and immediate context?
What’s the larger social and cultural context? (p.247)
As you approach your investigations for 2007 be prepared to question current and proposed practices.
Who is privileged? Who is excluded/ subordinated? Do they enable the validation of collective identities (age, ethnicity, gender etc), and the expression of personal voice?
“The Challenge is to make space available so that different lifeworlds can flourish; to create spaces for community life where local and specific meanings can be made. The new multimedia and hypermedia channels can and sometimes do provide members of subcultures with the opportunity to find their own voices. These technologies have the potential to make possible greater autonomy for different lifeworlds”. (pp 16-17)
Make your project make a difference.
Robyn Jay
NSW LearnScope Manager