The Course Design Of College English Based On The Pedagogy Of Multiliteracies

Since the New London Group (1996) first published an article-long manifesto outliningan agenda for what they called “pedagogy of multiliteracies”, there is an extensive concern ofliteracy education in the world. In the pedagogical context,“multiliteracies” refer to multipleliteracies including linguistic literacy, visual literacy, audio literacy, gestural literacy, spatialliteracy and multimodal literacy.“Multiliteracies” also refer to the skills of decoding andencoding meanings in multimodal environments. Multimodality is the nature ofmultiliteracies. With the advent of computer and network technologies, knowledge ispresented in various modalities. Learning is no more didactic, but autonomous and ubiquitous.Educators need to take a multiple look at every aspect of teaching and learning includingteaching objectives, models and evaluations.This study draws upon the research findings of the New London Group, especially thatof Cope and Kalantzis, and my College English teaching practices and reflections to probeinto the College English course design based on the pedagogy of multiliteracies. Bycomparison between the pedagogy of multiliteracies and the College English CurriculumRequirements (2007), this study finds that the pedagogy of multiliteracies can better realizethe requirements to cultivate multiliterate individuals.Students vary in their multiliteracies so the objectives of English teaching should beleveled as multimodal meaning decoders, critical participators of multimodal meanings anddesigners of multimodal meanings. Meanwhile, the roles of teachers tend to diversify. Theyare not only the initiators of linguistic knowledge and skills, organizers of classroom teachingand activities but also the designers of College English course design based on the pedagogyof multiliteracies.Three principles are raised to design the College English course based on the pedagogyof multiliteracies. Firstly, the design of teaching texts must be multimodalized to construct amultimodal meaning environment as real as the practical world. Secondly, the design ofteaching activities must be multiliteralized to cultivate learner’s multiple literacies abilities. Thirdly, the teaching assessments must be procedurized to improve learners’ motive ofautonomous study and the teaching effects of this pedagogy.This study suggests a teaching model based on the four Knowledge Processes. Byexperiencing the known, students make sense of the “new”. In order to achieve a higher levelof multiliteracies, experiencing should be scaffolded with conceptualizing, analyzing andapplying. Pedagogical weaving is conducted among the four processes to ensure an optimaleffect. In view of the differences of students, communicative environments andmultimodalities of meaning presentation, assessments should focus on students’ learningexperiences and performance. Formative assessments fit this well in that they are proceduraland de-standardizing.This study claims that multiliteracies are not only skills to survive the new media age,but also a behavior pattern in the hope that learners would adapt to the rapid social changesand face up to the challenges resulting from cultural diversity and communicativemultimodality. The College English course design based on the pedagogy of mulititeracieswill help to optimize the current College English teaching and improve the quality of talenttraining.