A multiliteracies approach to online reading to learn: a case study

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to the discussion of a multiliteracies approach to online inquiry reading. After presenting the key principles of this theory, I focus attention on an online platform acknowledged for its learning aims – TED-Ed – as an empirical basis for researching the practicability of such an approach. An original lesson available on the platform was studied, revealing that it only partially complies with the pedagogy in question. This analysis showed that while multimodal, hyperlinked and purposeful online reading was clearly taking place as a situated and transformative experience, there were, nevertheless, significant restrictions in the enactment of the theory, specifically, the partiality of the meaning-making paths designed to scaffold students’ learning, the absolute invisibility of semiotic resources used for making meaning and the adoption of an uncritical attitude toward meaning making. Finally, discussion is made of the most significant insights to be drawn from this analysis, concerning the potentials of such platforms for practice and research and the need for practitioners to develop their understanding of online reading to learn in order to fully enact the theory underpinning the multiliteracies approach.