Health Education Teachers’ Contributions to Students’ Multiliteracy Learning

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article describes how Finnish health education teachers reflect on their views of multiliteracy and the instructional practices they used to implement it. Narrative interviews were conducted among eight junior high school and high school teachers. Nexus analysis was used to guide the analysis on the teachers’ views and practices. The results indicate that the study participants considered the promotion of multiliteracy to be part of their work as a health education teacher and they implemented multiliteracy instruction in diverse ways, such as assigning information-seeking and production tasks, or by creating role-playing games. However, the study revealed tensions between need-based literacy teaching and curriculum-steered multiliteracy promotion as well as common and novel teaching practices. At its best, reflecting on these tensions can serve as a steppingstone toward professional change and development.