Expanding Pre-Service Teachers’ Conceptions of Texts, Readers, and Response Through Multimodal Response

Abstract

The author conducted a qualitative study of multimodal digital response to children's historical fiction that his 23 pre-service graduate students read in book clubs. Grounded in sociocultural and multimodal theories of literacy, the study addresses the following two research questions: What influence did sociocultural and multimodal engagements with text have on students' meaning-making? What influence did these engagements have on their conceptions of texts, readers, and response? Findings show how social negotiation of meaning and robustness of design work expanded participants' understandings of texts, readers, and response that challenge current autonomous, verbocentric conceptions of literacy that predominate in schools.

Bringing the Book to Life

“…In R1’s reflective journal, he wrote how the room soon filled with sounds of gunshots, sirens, and hurricanes: “The students delighted in the sounds they found, and were quickly teaching each other how to download the sounds to their files” (March 14, 2010). This outcome is now a common finding for digital reading responses (e.g., Kesler, 2011; Larson, 2008; McVee, Bailey, & Shanahan, 2008; Mills, 2011; Whitin, 2009). It is also expected in a community engaged in authentic joint activity.…”

“…From previous work with multimodal design, both R1 and A1 had explicit knowledge to guide students' development toward intermodal layering of meaning. Therefore, we reiterate Shanahan's implication for professional development of pre-and in-service teachers that provides knowledge of and experience with the codes and conventions of various modes and their integration in digital design work, as expressed in studies by Kesler (2011), Larson (2008), McVee et al (2008), and Whitin (2009). A1 explained that although students enjoyed working in book clubs, discussion alone was not enough.…”

“…A1 was most comfortable with PowerPoint, and because she intended to occasionally teach students features of the software and might have to supervise their work after R1 left for the day, we chose to use PowerPoint for students' digital storytelling. We began by showing students two examples of digital stories in response to historical fiction books using PowerPoint by graduate students (see Kesler, 2011) and R1. We discussed how they might focus on a pivotal moment in their historical fiction texts, as both of these digital stories did.…”

“…We began by showing students two examples of digital stories in response to historical fiction books using PowerPoint by graduate students (see Kesler, 2011) and R1. We discussed how they might focus on a pivotal moment in their historical fiction texts, as both of these digital stories did.…”

A szakmai könyvklub mint a pedagógusképzés sajátos tanulási környezete

“…A hallgatót a folyamat középpontjába helyező szándék a könyvklubok irányításában is tett en érhető. A klubok vezetését jellemzően az oktató végezte, akinek jobbára facilitáló-mentoráló szerepe több szerző tanulmányában jól körvonalazódik (Hall, 2009;Mensah, 2009;Burbank et al, 2010;Skerrett , 2010;Kesler, 2011;Scheffeel et al, 2018). Az oktató szerepét ezzel együtt szükségesnek látt ák ahhoz is, hogy olyan biztonságos közeg alakuljon ki a csoportban, mely a megszólalásokat támogatja, és oldja a résztvevők személyes dolgok megosztásával kapcsolatos félelmét (Stanulis, 1999).…”