Meanings emerging in practice for linguistically and culturally diverse students : an early years multiliteracies project

Abstract

This paper reviews the characteristics of changing education in new times (Castells, 2000, 2001; McNaughton, 2002). It draws attention to the complex nature of teachers’ work when working with linguistically and culturally diverse populations in an era of new literacies and new technologies. Attention is turned to one teacher, Mrs Jessie Alexander (pseudonym), as she implements a multiliteracies project within her culturally and linguistically diverse early-years classroom. The theoretical framework of the analysis draws on international work on student diversity (McNaughton, 2002) designs of meaning and components of pedagogy (New London Group, 1996, 2000; Cope & Kalantzis, 2000)) and knowledge processes within multiliteracies projects (Kalantzis & Cope, 2005) to analyse Jessie’s approach and its outcomes for her diverse student group. This examination highlights both the utility of Jessie’s ‘wide – but not vague’ approach and the robustness of the theorisation of multiliteracies for meeting the needs of this group of twenty-first century learners.