Volume 4, Issue 2 - Special Issue: Critical Multimodal Literacy; Guest Editor: Edina Krompák

A contribution from multimodality studies, this paper offers a practice- and teaching-oriented approach to the stuff of words. I start by introducing language materiality , a heuristic framework proposed by linguistic anthropologists, but grounding it in four allied precedents: cultural studies , dispositif analysis , mediated discourse , and social semiotics . Then, drawing on illustrative case studies from my own work, I demonstrate a two-part framework for working with students. In Part 1, the focus is on little “m” materialities and the transmodal interplay between words and things. In Part 2, the focus is on big “M” materialities and the more structural effects of language – specifically, symbolic violence. By using banal, everyday examples students can be helped to pinpoint the multimodality of words; how words function as material artefacts in their own right; and the way words materialize societal structures. In this way, students also learn to engage the stuff of words as more than just an analytical curiosity, but rather as an explicitly political-critical consideration.

Natural human communication is expressed through various modalities, primarily spoken language and sign language. Many spoken languages have a long history and have developed a written form due to knowledge storage and transmission using various media. The transfer of knowledge and literature by means of fixation such as writing has also led to the development of different text types and formatting rules. In the case of sign languages, which until now were oral languages without a written tradition and were found mainly in the private register, an analogy to written languages is developing thanks to technology and digitalisation, particularly fixation on video. This evolution is leading to the generation of different text types and formatting rules for sign languages such as American Sign Language (ASL), German Sign Language (DGS) and Brazilian Sign Language (Libras). As academic interest in sign languages grows, with increased involvement of sign language users, an academic register is emerging. This article gives an overview of the development of these sign languages, explores their fixation and examines how academic formatting and text types are taking shape on a visual and multimodal level, corresponding to traditional written rules. In addition, I discuss insights that are of interest not only to non-written languages but also for dealing with artificial intelligence (AI).

This article approaches social transformation through a Freirean liberating perspective to address the challenges faced by language educators in our digital age. We are currently confronted with the adverse effects of neoliberal capitalism, misinformation, violence, human rights violations and environmental degradation. A critical, politically engaged (language) education seems increasingly necessary for fostering solidarity, global responsibility and radically transformative, distributed and affective agency. I also argue that, in these challenging times, such liberating premises are powerful for nurturing social change from a decolonial, southing or Southern standpoint. These premises lead us to the central question for this discussion: How can a critical and politically engaged Southern perspective nurture a liberating language education? To explore this complex question, transformative language education is linked to a decolonial perspective and a translingual enactive-performative viewpoint. Additionally, the basic principles of Freirean educational philosophy are outlined. To contextualise this discussion, a didactic project related to deaf education will be addressed. The proposed debate highlights that a critical and liberatory language education, experienced from a decolonial and translingual perspective, can provide a foundation for responsible and transformative praxis in our time.

Owing to increasing linguistic diversity in Norwegian classrooms, the national curriculum requires teachers to incorporate a resource perspective on multilingualism in their teaching Many of these classrooms have also become heavily digitized. Few studies, however, have concerned themselves with how these two developments interact, that is, how teachers utilize tablets for educational achievement in linguistically diverse classrooms. This study analyses in detail how two teachers in a multilingual fourth-grade classroom in Norway use tablets as an integral part of their didactic design to incorporate students’ heritage languages and funds of knowledge into the language arts class. The data consists of classroom observations, interviews with teachers and students, and selected screen recordings from students’ tablets. Applying a key incident approach, the analysis demonstrates that teachers make use of the opportunities offered by the tablets for pedagogical translanguaging practices and that the students respond by mobilizing various aspects of their semiotic repertoires. The students also expressed enjoyment during the design, in particular when drawing on their parents as resources and when taking on the role of language experts during metalinguistic conversations in class.

Narrative, a distinctly human activity, is the reason the species is sometimes labelled the storytelling animal or homo narrans . Research indicates that stories are characterised by features that mirror the functioning of the human brain. The digital transformation, with narratives proliferating across media formats and thriving in multimodal contexts, supports a “narrative turn” in English language teaching (ELT), since narrative can effectively contribute to the language acquisition process both in- and outside the classroom. Consequently, English teacher education in the twenty-first century ideally focuses on narrative when teaching multiliteracies. In a specific university setting, student teachers use a blog to report on their analyses of narrative media formats and thus create a resource for others and for their own future teaching. This assignment is motivated by the insight that learning should not only lead to present performance but should also result in future usage on digital platforms that permit global visibility and a worldwide audience. The data consists of these entries, combined with questionnaires completed by course participants, and the qualitative guided interviews of selected students. Reflexive thematic analysis permits first insights into the learning about narrative, multiliteracies and the affordances of a public blog.

The integration of technology, including social robots, into classrooms has paved the way for new opportunities in second-language (L2) learning. This emphasises the importance of understanding child–robot interaction (CRI) and its impact on comprehensive language development. This study investigated CRI in a French L2 setting through young learners’ L2 written productions and visual expressions, adopting an embodied digital interaction perspective. It explored the intersection of pedagogy and technology in education, aligned with digital language practices and robot literacy. Over four months, young learners engaged with a social robot in French language learning, using a friendship booklet ( carnet d’amitié ) task to establish rapport and encourage free interaction. We observed a transition from scripted interactions to a dynamic “imaginary space” within the CRI and the extended interaction that positively influenced engagement and language exploration. The learners exhibited diverse language strategies to convey meaning, reflecting metalinguistic awareness and adaptability within the French language framework. This study provided insights into the integration of social robots in L2 education, highlighting the transformative potential of CRI and the imperative for critical robot literacy.

The “Double Reduction” policy, implemented by the Chinese government in 2021, aimed to reduce the burden facing parents and students by restricting after-school tutoring. The policy had enormous implications for teachers working in China’s shadow education industry, hundreds of thousands of whom were forced to leave their jobs. Grounded in theories of language teacher identity, emotions, and agency, this study investigates the Double Reduction policy’s impact on Mainland Chinese English teachers employed by private tutoring institutes at the time of the policy’s announcement. Based on semi-structured interviews with teachers, the analysis focuses on teachers’ emotional responses and exercise of agency, the impact of the policy on their personal and professional identities, as well as their subsequent career trajectories. The findings illustrate an ostensible contradiction: participants recount anxiety and despair at the policy’s announcement and criticize the policy’s impact on China’s education climate while simultaneously expressing positive emotions to its impact on them personally. These findings are explained with reference to teachers’ negative feelings about working for private institutes as well as their internalization of neoliberal subjectivities. By providing insights into how teachers responded to and experienced the Double Reduction policy, this study contributes to scholarship on language teacher identity as well as scholarship on China’s evolving language education policies.