Teaching Multiliteracies Across the Curriculum: Changing Contexts of Text and Image in Classroom Practice by Ken Unsworth

This book explores the theory and practice of teaching multiliteracies in academic contexts. Multiliteracies refers both to the various literacies of multimedia and the diverse language backgrounds of students. Unsworth argues a responsive, twenty-first century literacy pedagogy must address both types of literacy. Chapter one explains the need for multiliteracies pedagogy and frames multiliteracies within an academic context. Chapter two addresses multiliteracies from a functional linguistic perspective, providing an overview of systemic functional linguistics and how teachers can implement functional approaches to language in the classroom. While chapter two provides a functional overview to language, chapter three examines the use of functional linguistics in supporting visual literacies. This chapter borrows from Kress and van Leeuwen’s work on using systemic linguistics to analyze images. Chapter four offers a useful discussion on academic genres, even providing an inventory of the most common genres of schooling. Chapter five examines methods for teaching and analyzing children’s books in the classroom. Chapter six focuses on integrating multiliteracies in primary education, while chapter seven discusses the integration of multiliteracies in secondary content areas. Finally, chapter eight provides a multiliteracies framework for designing curricula.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in functional approaches to academic and visual literacies, as well as teaching English Language Learners. This is the first book I am aware of specifically dealing with the theory and practice of multiliteracies. Multiliteracies in Motion is another book on multiliteracies; however, that is an edited collection that does not cover the theory and practice of multiliteracies in-depth. In terms of my project, which is investigating the bridging of visual and verbal literacies in the classroom, Unsworth’s book is essential, and I wish I had read it sooner. In chapters two and three, Unsworth provides a useful theoretical overview to analyzing verbal and visual texts. Chapter four offers one of the first systematic inventories of the genres of schooling. It has always been my hope that the same kind of inventory could be performed for genres on the college level. At first I had some issues with Unsworth’s discussion of the Literacy Development Cycle. This cycle seems very similar to the Teaching/Learning Cycle discussed by Martin, Rose, and others; however, Unsworth’s adaptation of this cycle does work to specifically address multiliteracies. Finally, Unsworth offers a multiliteracies framework for designing meaningful curricula that integrates visual and verbal literacies while scaffolding literacy instruction for English Language Learners.

Unsworth, Len. Teaching Multiliteracies across the Curriculum: Changing Contexts of Text and Image in Classroom Practice. Buckingham: Open U, 2001. Print.