Fusing Literacies-It’s Time
Image Credits: Acoustic Dylan- Public Domain; Electric Dylan-Chris Hakkens on Flickr CC-BY-SA
At the Newport Folk Festival in 1963, Bob Dylan's choice to play an electric guitar reportedly "electrified one half of his audience, and electrocuted the other."(1) In the “before times,’” our field’s response to edtech was similarly polarized. Enthusiasts and skeptics were firmly entrenched, each holding their convictions about what multilingual learners needed. When the Pandemic exposed the urgent need for effective virtual learning environments, a truth was revealed: digital skills, digital literacy, and above all, digital resilience are crucial facets of contemporary adult life. Despite this epiphany, many instructors worry that fostering digital literacy impacts the time spent on language skill development in the ESOL class.
In response to this concern, let’s welcome the concept of "Fusing Literacies” to the stage with its harmonious blend of robust language instruction and the communication, research, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills that define digital literacy and digital resilience.
A Reality Check
[...]It’s not about “adding discrete digital skills” to “regular instruction” but it’s more about seeing how digital resilience can be integrated into an intentional approach to foundational skills instruction that recognizes learners’ assets, in real-world contexts, and in ways that meet learners’ needs (both student learners AND practitioner learners), recognize their fears, encourage the mindset of being a lifelong learner, and celebrate their strengths.”
- Monica Leong (Digital Resilience in the American Workforce)
Beyond our literal and virtual classroom doors, being digitally fluent is a necessity on par with mastering listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English. When we integrate digital materials and tools in our instruction, we offer our multilingual learners the rich dynamic English language content of websites, videos, podcasts, social media platforms and more. When we teach learners how to navigate video or audio controls, how to post a comment, or reply to an email, they learn to identify and make use of the vocabulary, symbols, and processes that cross digital platforms, and acquire the foundational digital skills they need to pursue their own interests.
Can you identify what each of these images signify? Could your learners?
We can increase the relevance of our work in classic ESOL content areas–civics education, health literacy, financial literacy, workforce preparation, and family literacy– when we teach those areas through a digital literacy lens. Authentic contextualized instruction makes use of community websites, online job applications, telehealth sites, digital financial documents, and online communications between children’s schools and teachers. Aligning with CCRS and ELPS requires that our learners work on the key elements of digital literacy; finding, evaluating, creating, and communicating information as they engage with informational texts, knowledge building and evidence-based inquiry.
Building Digital Resilience
Digital resilience refers to the awareness, skills, agility, and confidence to be empowered users of new technologies and adapt to changing digital skill demands. Digital resilience improves capacity to problem solve and upskill, navigate digital transformations, and be active participants in society and the economy. (Digital US, 2020)
Much like learning a new language, navigating the online world requires persistence. What happens when the learner (or their teacher) encounters a 404 error or an app crash? Confidence, willingness to learn, and problem solving play a role in our ability to work successfully in a technology-rich environment. By integrating experiences where we and our learners have opportunities to fail, we have the opportunity to model and use the language associated with persistence, critical thinking, and flexibility.
A few Tips for Fusing Literacies
Think “Routines”: EdTech Instructional routines help learners master lesson content, while building the digital skills and/or digital literacy required to complete the routine. See the EdTech Integration Strategy Toolkit for ideas.
Promote Digital Exploration: If they don’t already have an e-library card, help learners apply for one and demonstrate how learners can use the local library website to access free movies, audio books, or classes.
Celebrate Mistakes: Whether it's a grammatical error or a mistaken click, mistakes are the stepping stones to mastering both language and digital interfaces.
'Fusing Literacies' isn't just a catchy phrase (or cool band name); it's a call to action. It’s a call to connect our rich andragogical approaches to adult English language instruction with the play and promise of digital exploration–to support our learners as they cope with the times that are always a-changin’.
End Notes
Critic’s comment cited in Wikipedia from Shelton, Robert. No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan. Backbeat Books. p. 181.
And for more on this topic, see Jen Vanek’s excellent Issue Brief on Digital Literacy from the Teaching Skills that Matter project.
