NEW LITERACIES,

FUNCTIONAL
LITERACY, AND
MULTILITERACY
NEW LITERACY
 Literacy
Literacy was defined reading
and writing skills necessitated for
activities in modem society
(Güneş, 2000).
 New Literacies
21st Century literacy combines
cross-curricular capabilities now
commonly referred to as “new
literacies”.
New Literacies
• Visual Literacy
• Information Literacy
• Cultural Literacy
• Digital Literacy
 Exploring the
New Literacies
Multicultural Literacy Social literacy Media literacy

• is about understanding • is the development of • is the ability to access,

ethnic groups that social skills, knowledge analyze, evaluate, and
comprise the and positive values in create media.
population and focuses human beings to act
on complex issues of positively and
identity, diversity and responsibly in
citizenship. sophisticated complex
social settings.
 Exploring the
New Literacies
Financial literacy Digital literacy Ecological literacy

• is the ability to make • is the ability to • is understanding the

informed judgments effectively use digital principles of
and make effective devices for purposes of ecosystems toward
decisions regarding the communication, sustainability.
use and management expression,
of money. collaboration and
advocacy in a
knowledge-based
society.
 Exploring the
New Literacies
Creative literacy

• is the ability to make

original ideas that have
value, and the ability to see
the world in new ways.
The Truth on 21 Century
Literacies According to
Research

• Since success with technology depends

largely on critical thinking and reflection,
teachers with relatively little technological
skills can provide less useful instruction.
• Therefore, schools must support the
teachers by providing them professional
training and up- -date technology for
utilization in classrooms.
 1) As new technologies shape literacies,
they bring opportunities for teachers to
foster reading and writing in more
diverse and participatory contexts.

The National Council of

2) Sites, like literature's Voice of the Shuttle,
Teachers of English (2013)
online fanfiction, and the Internet Public
came up with a research Library, expand both the range of available
that reveals the following: texts and the social dimension of literacy.

3) Research on electronic reading workshops shows

that they contribute to the emergence of new
literacies.
4) Research also shows that digital technology
enhances writing and interaction in several ways.
 7) K-12 students, who write with computers,
produce compositions of greater length and
higher quality are more engaged with and
motivated toward writing than those who do
not write with computers.

The National Council of

8) College students, who keep e-portfolios, have a higher
Teachers of English (2013) rate of academic achievement and overall retention
came up with a research rate than those who do not keep e-portfolios. They also
demonstrate a greater capacity for metacognition,
that reveals the following: reflection and audience awareness.

9) Both typical and atypical students, who

receive an online response to writing,
revise their works better than those
participating in traditional method.
FUNCTIONAL
LITERACY
Functional Literacy
The term functional literacy was
initially defined by UNESCO
through William S. Gray in his
Teaching of Reading and Writing
(1956) as adult training to meet
independently the reading and
writing demands placed on them.
Referring to functional literacy states the
followin , UNESCO :

1) Literacy programs should be integrated to and correlated with economic

and social development plans.

2) The eradication of illiteracy should begin with population sectors, which are highly
motivated and need literacy for their own and their country's benefit. .

3) Literacy programs should be linked with economic priorities and carried out in
areas undergoing rapid economic expansion.
Referring to functional literacy states the
followin , UNESCO :
4) Literacy programs must impart not only reading and writing but also
professional and technical knowledge leading to greater participation of adults in
economic and civic life.

5) Literacy must be an integral part of the over-all educational system and plan of
each country
6) The financial need for functional literacy should be met with various resources, as
well as be provided for economic investments.

7) The literacy programs should aid in achieving main economic objectives (e.
increase in labor productivity, food production, industrialization, social and
professional mobility, creation of new manpower and diversification of the
economy).
Specific Literacy
• The job of the student is
analyzed to see exactly the
literacy skills needed and those
that are only taught.
• A planning tool that allows the
literacy worker to focus on skills
that are of value to the
learners.
 Significance of this approach
includes literacy that:

1) starts in the 3) identifies turning 5) looks for generic

workplace; points in economic life skills.
2) us a diagnostic that may act as an
approach; incentive to learning;
4) assesses the limits of
a short-term
intervention;
 The Education for All Global Monitoring Report (UNESCO, 2006) states that
functional literacy means the ability to make significant use of activities involving
reading and writing skills that include using information, communicating with
others, and following a path of lifelong learning necessary for the ability to
express him/ herself in daily life.

UNESCO's definition also adds that functional literacy includes those skills essential for
both official and unofficial participation, as well as those which are necessary for
national change and development that can be used to aid an individual in
contributing to his/her own development and that of his/her family and the society.

The National Statistics Authority defines functional literacy as

the level of literacy that includes reading, writing and
numeracy skills that help people cope with the daily
demands of life
 Improving Functional
Literacy in the Philippines
An analysis shows that low functional
literacy could mean low resilience to
respond to abnormal conditions and
increase a child's vulnerability to
exploitation. This could also result in
unpreparedness for gainful employment
and eventually increased dependency
on welfare programs.
 Improving Functional
Literacy in the Philippines

One of the government initiatives to

address this is the Alternative Learning
System (ALS) that provides an opportunity
for learning among out- -school youth for
of them to land in better jobs.
Integration of New
Literacies in the
Curriculum
The multiliterate learner.
Students would desire for:

1) teachers who use ICTS skillfully for teaching and learning;

2) peers who use ICTS responsibly and who share their knowledge:

3) a literacy curriculum that offers opportunities for collaboration with peers around
the world;
4) instruction that embeds critical and culturally sensitive thinking into practice,
standards and assessments that include new literacies;

5) leaders and policymakers who are committed advocates of ICTS for teaching and
learning
6) equal access to ICTS for all classrooms and students.
 Coiro, et al (2008) noted four common
elements as broader dimensions of new
literacies

1) the Internet and other ICTs

2) new literacies are central to
require new social practices,
full civic, economic, and
skills, strategies, and
personal participation in a
dispositions for their effective
global community:
use;

4) new literacies are multiple,

multimodal and multifaceted, thus,
3) new literacies rapidly change
they benefit from multiple lenses
as defining technologies
seeking to understand how to better
change; support the students in a digital age.
 Impact of new literacies on
instruction.
As students turn to the Internet and other
information communication technologies (ICTS)
at increasing rates to read, write and interact
with texts, they must develop new skills and
strategies, or new literacies, to be successful in
these multimodal, intertextual and interactive
environments. The Internet has become the
defining technology today's youth and may be
the most important ICT for students to learn how
to manipulate successfully.
Multiliteracies in the
Educational Reform
 Multiliteracies in the
Educational Reform

In a broader essence, the concept of 21 century

skills is motivated by the belief st that teaching
students the most relevant, useful, in-demand,
and universally applicable skills should be
prioritized in today's schools.
 Multiliteracies in the
Educational Reform

As such, students need to be taught different

skills that should reflect the specific demands of
a complex, competitive, knowledge based,
information-age, technologydriven economy
and society.
 Multiliteracies in the
Educational Reform
Educational strategies, that include authentic,
outcome-based learning projectbased learning
and performance-based learning tend to be
cross-disciplinary in nature. Students complete a
research project, create multiple technologies,
analyze and process information, think
creatively, plan out the process, and work
collaboratively in teams with other students.
Assessment of multiliteracies.

Assessment moves from usual memorization of

facts and disconnected processes to
demonstration of understanding through
application in a variety of contexts. Real-world
audiences are important part of the assessment
process, including self-assessment.
 Preparing teachers for
multiliteracies
New London Group (1996) underscored multi-
literacies as multimodal ways of communication
that include communications between and
among other languages using diverse channels
within cultures and an ability to understand
technology and multimedia. As such, applying
multiliteracies to teaching offers a new
classroom pedagogy that extends and helps
manage classrooms.
 Therefore, Newman (2002) in Biswas (2014)
suggests that teachers integrate four
components of multiliteracies in teaching:

1) Situated practice leads 2) Overt instruction guides

students towards meaningful students to the systematic
learning by integrating practice of learning process
primary knowledge. with tools and techniques.

3) Critical framing teaches

4) Transformed action teaches
students how to question
students to apply the lessons they
diverse perceptions for better learn to solve reallife problems.
learning experiences.
Research shows that fective instruction in 21st Cen ef tury
literacies takes an integrated approach, helping students
understand how to access, evaluate, synthesize, and
contribute to information (New London Group, 1996 ).

Teachers insist to: 1) encourage students to reflect regularly on the role

of technology in their learning;

2) create a website and invite students 3) give students strategies for evaluating
to use it to continue class discussions the quality of information they find on the
and bring in outside voices; Internet;

5) explore technologies students are

4) be open about one's own strengths
using outside the classroom and find
and limitations with technology and
ways to incorporate them into one's
invite students to help;
teaching:
 6) use wiki to develop a multimodal reader's guide to
a class text.

7) include a broad variety of media and 8) ask students to create a podcast to

genres in class texts; share with an authentic audience;

9) give students explicit instruction about

10) refer to the Partnership for 21 Century
how to avoid plagiarism in a digital
Skills website.
environment,
 For schools and policymakers:

3) Address the digital divide by

2) Schools need to provide
lowering the number of students
1) Teachers need both continuing opportunities for
per computer and by providing
intellectual and material professional development, as
high quality access (broadband
support for effective 21st well as up-to -date to
speed and multiple locations) to
century literacy instruction; technologies for use in literacy
technology and multiple
classrooms;
software packages;

5) Provide regular literacy

specific professional 6) Require teacher preparation
4) Ensure that students in
development in technology for programs to include training in
literacy classes have regular
teachers and administrators at integrating technology into
access to technology:
all levels, including higher instruction:
education;
 For schools and policymakers:

7) Protect online 8) Affirm the 9) Adopt and regularly

learners and ensure importance of literacy review standards for
their privacy: teachers in helping instruction in
students develop technology.
technological
proficiency;
• The integration of new literacies and the
teaching of multiliteracies open new
pedagogical practices that create
opportunities for future. literacy teaching and
learning.
• Multiliteracies can also help teachers provide
equal access to learning for all students.
• In effect, students learn to collaborate by
sharing their thoughts with others in online
spaces where they can engage in different
forms or modes of learning process.
• Consequently, students can be expected to
become more confident and
knowledgeable in their learning through
participatory and collaborative practices as
a result of this new literacy integration in the
curriculum for teacher education (New
London Group, 1996).