A Multimodal Approach to Foster the Multiliteracies Pedagogy in the Teaching of EFL through Picturebooks: The Snow Lion

Abstract

espanolEnsenar lenguas en el siglo veintiuno implica prestar atencion a las demandas pedagogicas multimodales de un mundo digital global. Para alcanzar este objetivo, la ensenanza efectiva del ingles requiere una preparacion de los instructores para guiar de manera consciente el desarrollo de la literacidad de los alumnos e integrar las distintas maneras de construir significado que van mucho mas alla del mero uso de la lengua. Este articulo suscribe la nocion de literacidad como un concepto multidimensional y propone un conjunto de herramientas multimodales como medio para que los maestros de ingles como lengua extranjera (ILE) trabajen con elementos literarios y visuales clave. Centrandonos en la lectura de The Snow Lion (Helmore and Jones 2017), analizamos la relacion caracteristica entre palabras e imagenes que define el album ilustrado e implementamos la pedagogia de las multiliteracidades, que consta de cuatro procesos de conocimiento, esto es, experimentar, conceptualizar, analizar y aplicar. El objetivo final es guiar a jovenes estudiantes en la produccion de significados y en el pensamiento critico en el marco del aula de ILE a traves del analisis e interpretacion de los albumes ilustrados. EnglishTwenty-first-century language education involves paying attention to the multimodal pedagogical demands of a global digital world. To this end, effective English language teaching (ELT) requires preparation on the part of instructors in terms of consciously guiding learners’ literacy development and integrating multiple modes of creating meaning that are broader than language alone. This article supports the notion of literacy as a multidimensional concept and proposes a multimodal toolkit as a means for teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) to work with key literary and visual elements. Focusing on the reading of The Snow Lion (Helmore and Jones 2017), we discuss the meaningful interaction between words and images that defines picturebooks and implement the multiliteracies pedagogy approach, which is comprised of four knowledge processes, i.e., experiencing, conceptualizing, analyzing and applying. The final objective is to guide young students to produce meaning and think critically in the EFL classroom through the analysis and interpretation of picturebooks.