Multiliteracies in the Analysis of a Multimodal Tweet from a Former Brazilian Minister of Education

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly led millions of teachers and students in Brazil to migrate massively, quickly, and at scale to online remote teaching. This created a strong tension between different sectors of society and rekindled (old) beliefs, values, and prejudices related to the use of new technologies in education. On the one hand are vehement defenders for adoption of these technologies at schools;on the other are those who reject them, as they consider that transitioning from in-presence to online teaching at scale is a very difficult and highly complex undertaking for education systems. In this chapter, one seeks to discuss how the perspective of multiliteracies, updated for the currently pervasively digital age, can contribute to understanding the clash between defense and resistance to new technologies at schools. To do so, first, this article will explore the main features and concepts of the theory of multiliteracies. Second, in order to highlight the close relationship between multiliteracies and education, the article analyzes an example of a multimodal tweet posted on Twitter by a former Minister of Education in Brazil, addressing the Brazilian public school setting of online remote teaching.