Education Commons^™

Toward A Culturally Inclusive Canon Of Multimodal Picture Books: Developing Multiliteracies Practices And Assessments For Ontario’S Classrooms, Arwa Jammali

Major Papers

Multimodal picture books are a critical component of children’s literacy development, and in a multicultural province such as Ontario, it is vital that literacy development include cultural literacy. The demographics of the province’s classrooms are increasingly diverse; however, minoritized cultures are underrepresented among teachers, and there are sparse training mandates related to cultural inclusion. Thus, Ontario’s culturally diverse student body is encountering a number of barriers related to gender, ethnicity, perceived race, sexual identity, ability, class, and other social markers. To provide teachers with the tools needed to support their students, the current study utilizes a theoretical framework derived from …

Entrepreneurial Teachers: The Novice And The Experienced, Najmeh Keyhani

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Teacher entrepreneurship has been receiving growing attention in the field of education over the past 15 years in both scholarly and informal literature. However, the existence of preconceptions, various definitions of the term, and an overall lack of research in the area has resulted in a complex but underdeveloped understanding of the concept. Hence, much attention and clarification are required to recognize who such teachers are and how novice and experienced teacher entrepreneurs act. In chapter two of this study, we start with a systematic literature review of teacher entrepreneurship to recognize the existing state of the field in current …

The ‘ Dialogic’ Of Pedagogical Design: Elementary Teachers Who Consistently Integrate Digital Technologies, Aaron R. Gierhart

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the pervasiveness of digital technologies in society and educational settings, gaps in digital participation for elementary learners and means-end views of the benefits and effectiveness of digital innovations for teaching and learning persist. The focus on digital technologies at the elementary level must shift to critical pedagogy in order to promote effective teaching and learning and equitable student participation in an increasingly digital society. A teacher’s pedagogy continually evolves across their entire life journey and is never fully mastered; therefore, in order to better understand the development of pedagogical design with digital technologies by elementary teachers, it was vital …

Multimodal Dissertations: Opportunities For Multimodality In Higher Education, Annie Tran

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

multiliteracies, multimodality, higher education, technology, communication, dissertations, graduate education

In an era when communication and higher education are rapidly changing, there is much to learn about multimodality and the dissertation. For example, how can multimodality be used to forward an argument or inform research in a dissertation? How is technology changing the format of the dissertation? And how might multimodality and technology change the experience of composing a dissertation? This study addresses dissertations and the problem of understanding how research can be argued, represented, and presented in multimodal ways, and considers the lived curriculum of Ph.D. graduate students. My work …

A Critical Narrative Inquiry Of English Teachers’ Experiences Of Enacting A Pedagogy Of Multiliteracies In China, Lin Sun

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

When China’s Ministry of Education issued a series of curriculum change policies in 2011, major curriculum reform was initiated. Given the significant role that teachers play in curriculum reform, it is critically important to understand their experiences in their professional knowledge landscapes so that intentional and meaningful support for changes can be provided. This information will enrich the scholarly conversation on the theoretical and practical application of a pedagogy of multiliteracies in China and remind policy makers to consider the needs of teachers charged with implementing changes.

Situated in the global and local scholarship of multiliteracies, this empirical study explored …

Trends, Affordances, And Implications For Learners' Literacy And Identity Options: A Systematic Review Of Studies On Transnational Education, Bethany C. Mckishnie

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this systematic literature review (SLR) was three-fold: to identify the trends of the reviewed research on transnational education (TNE) and investigate the reported affordances of TNE and the implications for TNE in curriculum, pedagogy, and teacher training regarding expanding learners’ literacy and identity options. Through the lens of a multiliteracies framework, this SLR is premised on 60 screened articles that are based on the understandings of the relationships between TNE, literacy and identity options for students in globalized contexts. Findings indicate that this study offers TNE scholars future areas of research to investigate. It enhances the existent …

Multiliteracies Meaning-Making: How Four Boys’ Video Gaming Experiences Influence Their Cultural Knowledge—Two Ethnographic Cases, Carol Ann Lane

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Scholars have acknowledged the potential contribution of video gaming to complex forms of learning, identifying links between gaming and engagement, experiential learning spaces, problem-solving, strategies, transliteracy reflectivity, critical literacy, and metacognitive thinking. Despite this movement toward the inclusion of video gaming in literacy teaching, concerns about certain risks raised by scholars have slowed the adoption of using video games to foster learning.

Using a multiliteracies lens, this multi-case study examined the experiences of four boys engaged with video gaming in two different contexts: a community centre and an after-school video club. By drawing on Feminist Post-Structural Theory, Vygotskian, and video …

A Case Study Of Chinese Teachers’ Experiences Of Multiliteracies And Multimodality In Teaching Young Students Chinese Literacy In Canada, Xiaotong Xing

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Existing literature regarding teachers’ practices of multiliteracies has proven that multiliteracies enables teachers to deal with diversity and build creative teaching practices in classrooms. However, few studies have shed light on Chinese teachers’ understanding and practices of multiliteracies. This qualitative case study investigated and displayed two Chinese teachers’ diverse perceptions and practices of implementing multiliteracies in teaching young children Chinese literacy in Canada. A constant comparison approach was adopted to analyze the data collected from interviews, curriculum materials and reflective writings from two Chinese teachers. The findings show that these Chinese teachers have different perceptions regarding multiliteracies, and create innovative …

Multimodal Assessment In Action: What We Really Value In New Media Texts, Kathleen M. Baldwin

Doctoral Dissertations

As the Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing illustrates, writing teachers at all educational levels can no longer ignore multimodality and the challenges that come with incorporating multimodal writing—texts composed using a combination of sound, images, video, etc.—into the classroom (NCTE, Framework). A chief struggle most writing teachers face is how to evaluate the multimodal texts their students produce, texts that are inherently diverse. In answer to the calls of scholars such as Yancey, Herrington, and Moran for research exploring multimodal assessment in situated classroom practice, my dissertation examines what K-16 writing teachers are and should be valuing in …

Using Systemic Functional Linguistics To Inform A Language Pedagogy In A Middle School English Classroom A Case Study, Holly I. Graham

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative case study analyzes how a middle school teacher used the tools of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and genre based pedagogy (GBP) to support linguistically and culturally diverse students in analyzing informational texts critically in the context of curricular and school reforms in the United States. Using a combination of ethnographic case study methods (Dyson, 1993; Davies, 1999; Merriam, 2005; Dyson & Genishi, 2005) and critical discourse analysis (Eggins, 1999; Fairclough, 1995) the teacher collected an extensive corpus of diverse data over a school year. Focused data collection consistent with case study methods included instructional materials, paper and electronic …