Reconceptualising Understandings of Texts, Readers and Contexts: One English Teacher’s Response to Using Multimodal Texts and Interactive Whiteboards

Abstract

The comprehension of multimodal texts is now a key concern with the release of the Australian National Curriculum for English (ACARA, 2010). However, the nature of multimodal texts, the diversity of readers in classrooms, and the complex technological environments through which multimodal texts are mediated, requires English teachers to reconsider how they may use multimodal texts to support reading comprehension. This paper presents a micro-analysis of one classroom event, where a Year Four teacher and her students read three texts from a Learning Object. The text was selected by the teacher for the purpose of exploring one key understanding of multiliterate practice; how texts have different meanings for different people. Field notes, transcripts from the video observation, and teacher reflection after the classroom event are analysed. The implications of teacher practice, as well as the consideration of multimodal resources as cultural artefacts that afford and constrain opportunities for student learning are discussed.