Module 3: NEW

LITERACIES,
FUNCTIONAL
LITERACY AND
MULTILITERAC
Y
De Leon, Mary Angeline V.
BSED III-ENGLISH (1)
 LEARNING OUTCOMES
Cite how functional literacy and new literacies
Discuss new literacies and their impact can be integrated in the curriculum and
on the teaching-learning process. practiced in the classroom.

Draw relevant life lessons and significant

values from personal application of functional
literacy.
Describe a multiliterate teacher .
Analyze a research abstract on new literacies
and their implications on teaching and
learning.

Define functional literacy.

Make a project plan or action plan that
presents functional literacy in action.
 CONCEPT EXPLORATION
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization(UNESCO) asserts that a person, who is literate, can
comprehend and write simple and short sentences related to his/her daily
life.

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 New Literacies
- refer to new forms of literacy made possible by digital
technology developments.

Between 1950 and 1970, the development of

literacy, both operational and functional, was
established.
Beyond the 1990s, literacy had started to diversify
in the light of technological developments, change
of living conditions in cities, and the new
necessities.
 At first, literacy was used in various types, such as computer
New Literacies literacy, technology literacy, Internet literacy, and media
literacy, respectively (Altun, 2005).

Literacy is not confined only to knowing how to read and

write rather, it is a matter of applying knowledge for
specific purposes in particular contexts.

Lankshear & Knobel (2006) averred that literacies intend

to generate and communicate meanings through the
medium of encoded texts within contexts in various
discourses.
 A particular text may be
Kress (2003) posited that
understood for being connected or
literacy can only happen when
related. Hence, anything available
having a kind of potential
online can become a resource for
content through interaction with
making diverse meaning.
the text.

Literacies can bear a coding system that can capture the meaning, such as "letteracy" (i.e.,
within language and recognition of alphabetic symbols).

Primary English Teaching Association Australia (2015) asserts that 21 Century literacy has
expanded to include social change, increasing field expertise and digital technologies.
 Subject-specific literacies are
21st Century literacy combines
recognized to require the
cross-curricular capabilities
application of specialized
also called 'multiliteracies’ and
knowledge and skills, information
now commonly referred to as
skills, and the creative and
'new literacies.’
imaginative language.

Fused with traditional print literacy, to create

opportunities and enable students to understand
and use new text types, while exploring knowledge
and information with a wide array of technological
tools.
Leander (2003) noted that new literacies are
often flexible, continuous and open, where
online and offline lives and "literacyscapes"
merge.

New technologies enable and enhance these

practices in a way that is highly complex and
exciting for students.
Exploring the
New Literacies
Multicultural Literacy is about understanding ethnic groups that
comprise the population and focuses on complex issues of
identity, diversity and citizenship.
Social literacy is the development of social skills, knowledge and
positive values in human beings to act positively and responsibly in
sophisticated complex social settings.

Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media.

Financial literacy is the ability to make informed judgments and make effective decisions regarding the
use and management of money.

Digital literacy is the ability to effectively use digital devices for purposes of communication,
expression, collaboration and advocacy in a knowledge-based society.

Ecological literacy is understanding the principles of ecosystems toward sustainability.

Creative literacy is the ability to make original ideas that have value, and the ability to see the world
in new ways.
 Truth on 21st 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.
• Global economies, new technologies, and
exponential growth in information are
transforming our society.
• Teachers need to prepare students for this
world.
National Council of Teachers of English (2013) came up with a
research that reveals the following:

1. As new technologies shape literacies, they bring opportunities

for teachers to foster reading and writing in more diverse and
participatory contexts.
2. Sites, like literature's Voice of the Shuttle, online fanfiction,
and the Internet Public Library, expand both the range of
available 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.
5. 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.

6. College students, who keep e-portfolios, have a higher rate of academic

achievement and overall retention rate than those
who do not keep e-portfolios. They also demonstrate a greater capacity for
metacognition, reflection and audience awareness.

7. 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 was initially Functional Literacy serves as an
defined by UNESCO through adult training to meet
William S. Gray in his Teaching independently the reading and
of Reading and Writing (1956) writing demands placed on them.

It stresses the acquisition of appropriate verbal, cognitive and

computational skills to accomplish practical results in specific
cultural settings dubbed as survival literacy and reductionist
literacy.
Functional
Literacies

U 1. Literacy programs should be integrated to and

N correlated with economic and social
development plans.
E
S 2. The eradication of illiteracy should begin with
C population sectors, which are highly motivated
O and need literacy for their own and their
country's benefit.
Functional
Literacies
3. Literacy programs should be linked with
U economic priorities and carried out in areas
N undergoing rapid economic expansion.
E 4. Literacy programs must impart not only
reading and writing but also professional and
S
technical knowledge leading to greater
C
participation of adults in economic and civic
O life.
Functional
Literacies

U 5. Literacy must be an integral part of the over-

N all educational system and plan of such country.
6. The financial need for functional literacy
E
should be met with various resources, as well as
S be provided for economic investments.
C
O
Functional
Literacies

U 7. The literacy programs should aid in achieving

N main economic objectives (i.e. increase in labor
E productivity, food production, industrialization,
S social and professional mobility, creation of new
C manpower and diversification of the economy).
O
A number of functional literacy programs
A new functional literacy aspect, called
have been carried out that focus on
specific literacy, is becoming a trend.
different job skills and development
aspects.

In specific literacy, the student may learn

very little but will be of immediate value Functional
that would result in increased learner
motivation.
Literacies
 Significance of this approach includes literacy that:
(1) starts in the workplace;
(2) uses a diagnostic approach;
(3) identifies turning points in economic life that may act
as an incentive to learning;
(4) assesses the limits of a short-term intervention; and
(5) looks for generic skills.
Improving Functional
Literacy in the
Philippines
• Manuyo (2019) reported that based on the
2013 Functional Literacy. Education and
Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS), the
country registered a 90.3% rate.
• The proportion of girls and boys aged 11-
13, who were functionally literate.
• World Vision in 2016, the functional
literacy rate went up at 76.53%.
• Alternative Learning System (ALS) that
provides an opportunity for learning among
out-of-school youth for them to land in
better jobs. .
Integration of New
Literacies in the
Curriculum
 Integration of New Literacies in the
Curriculum
• International Reading Association (IRA)- believes that literacy
educators have the responsibility to integrate information and
communication technologies into the curriculum to prepare
students for the future they deserve.

• The multiliterate learner- new literacy

skills and practices are required by each
new ICT as it emerges and evolves.
Multiliterate
Learner
 The Internet and other forms of
information and communication
technologies (ICTs) are redefining the
nature of reading, writing, and
communication.
New literacies need to be
integrated into the curriculum to
prepare students for successful
civic participation in a global
environment.
 Students would desire for:

Peers who use A literacy curriculum

Teachers who
ICTs responsibly that offers
use ICTS
and who share opportunities for
skillfully for
their knowledge. collaboration with
teaching and peers around the
learning. world.
 Students would desire for:

Instruction that embeds Leaders and

critical and culturally policymakers who Equal access to
sensitive thinking into are committed
practice, standards and ICTs for all
advocates of ICTs
assessments that include
for teaching and classrooms and
new literacies.
learning. students.
Coiro, et al (2008) noted four common elements as broader dimensions of
new literacies, to wit:

Internet and other ICTS require new social

practices, skills, strategies, and dispositions for
their effective use.
New literacies are central to full civic,
economic, and personal participation in a global
community.

New literacies rapidly change as defining

technologies change.
New literacies are multiple, multimodal and multifaceted, thus,
they benefit from multiple lenses seeking to understand how to
better support the students in a digital age.
 Impact of new literacies on instruction.

Additional changes are taking place

in literacy instruction (Grisham and
Wolsey, 2009).
Henry (2008) restated that
engagement in literacy activities is
being transformed today like at no
other time in history.
There are multiple ways to view
the changes in literacy and
communication emerging from
new technologies (Labbo and
Reinking, 1999).
Impact of new literacies on instruction.

Leu, et. al (2004) posited that changes

in literacy are confronted by
innovation, that the new literacies of
today will be replaced by even newer
ones tomorrow as new ICTs
continuously emerge in a more
globalized community of learners.
Multiliteracies in
the Educational
Reform
 Educational Strategies:
Authentic

Outcomes-Based Learning

Project-Based Learning

Performance-Based Learning

Cross-Disciplinary Learning
 Assessment of
Multiliteracies
Assessment moves from usual memorization of
facts and disconnected processes to
demonstration of understanding through
application in a variety of contexts.
 Media Literacy Skills
Media literacy skills are honed as students
address real- world issues from the environment.

Students can freely express their points of view

as they create projects using multimedia.
 Preparing
Teachers for
Multiliteracies
 New London Group (1996) underscored for
Biswas (2014) asserted that one challenge
literacies as multimodal among communication
for educators to help students create a
that include communications between and an
sustainable literacy development throughout
other languages using diverse channels within
schooling, so that students can develop
cultures, applying ability to understand
strong literacy skills (Borsheim, et al, 2008).
technology and multimedia.

Ajayl (2011) recommended that teacher education must prepare teachers to

teach multiliteracies in their schools where there is a critical gap between
multiliteracies and classroom pedagogy.
 Newman (2002) and Biswas (2014) suggests that teachers
integrate four components of multiliteracies in teaching:

Situated practice leads students Overt instruction guides students to

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

Critical framing teaches students Transformed action teaches

how to question diverse perceptions students to apply the lessons they
for better learning experiences. learn to solve real-life problems.
Teaching multiliteracies Research shows that effective
can inform, engage, and instruction in 21st Century
encourage students to literacies takes an integrated
approach, helping students
embrace the multiplicity
understand how to access,
of learning practices
evaluate, synthesize, and
(New London Group, contribute to information (New
1996). London Group, 1996).
 Teachers insist to:
(1) encourage students to reflect regularly on the
role of technology in their learning; (6) use wiki to develop a multimodal
(2) create a website and invite students to use it reader's guide to a class text;
to continue class discussions and bring in outside (7) include a broad variety of media and
voices;
genres in class texts;
(3) give students strategies for evaluating the
quality of information they find on the Internet;
(8) ask students to create a podcast to
(4) be open about one's own strengths and share with an authentic audience;
limitations with technology and invite students to (9) give students explicit instruction
help; about how to avoid plagiarism in a digital
(5)explore technologies students are using
environment; and
outside the classroom and find ways to
incorporate them into one's teaching
(10) refer to the Partnership for 21 st
Century Skills website.
 For schools and policymakers:

(1) Teachers need both intellectual and material support for effective 21 century
literacy instruction;
(2) Schools need to provide continuing opportunities for professional development, as
well as up-to-date technologies for use in literacy classrooms;
(3) Address the digital divide by lowering the number of students per computer and by
providing high quality access (broadband speed and multiple locations) to technology
and multiple software packages;
(4) Ensure that students in literacy classes have regular access to technology:
 For schools and policymakers:

(5) Provide regular literacy- specific professional development in technology

for teachers and administrators at all levels, including higher education;
(6) Require teacher preparation programs to include training in integrating
technology into instruction;
(7) Protect online learners and ensure their privacy;
(8) Affirm the importance of literacy teachers in helping students develop
technological proficiency; and
(9) Adopt and regularly review standards for instruction in technology.
SYNTHESIS
• New literacy demands the ability to move confidently,
efficiently and ethically between and among a wide
range of written and visual, print, live, digital or
electronic text types according to purpose.
• Functional literacy is the level of literacy that
includes not only reading and writing but also
numeracy skills that would help people cope with the
daily demands of life.
 • There are various plans and programs of the government in
improving functional literacy in the Philippines.
• New literacies can be integrated into the curriculum through
effective teaching-learning implementation.
• Multiple literacies are multimodal ways of
communication, which include communications among
different languages, using language within different cultures,
and the ability to understand technology and multimedia.