Enacting Policy, Curriculum and Teacher Conceptualisations of Multimodal Literacy and English in Assessment and Accountability

Abstract

This article examines synergies and gaps in the construction of English, literacy, multimodality in policy and curriculum in Australian education with a focus on current assessment practices and educational accountability in order to make recommendations for future practice for teachers and for policy-makers. The article builds on analyses of the historical development of literacy, English and multimodality in Australian policy and curriculum published previously. In this article, we examine desirable constructions and activities for assessment of multimodal English in classrooms and research on student engagement in multimodal English tasks. The multimodality focus examined in this article is the use and role of technologies in English and assessment and the way new and emerging technologies can affect student learning processes and outcomes. The article concludes with recommendations for changes both for classroom assessment practice and also for future educational accountability practice, if the goals of the Melbourne Declaration of 2008 (MCEETYA, 2008) and the Australian English curriculum are to be attained.