Multimodal Representation in Virtual Exchange: A Social Semiotic Approach to Critical Digital Literacy

Autor/inn/en	Satar, Müge; Hauck, Mirjam; Bilki, Zeynep
Titel	Multimodal Representation in Virtual Exchange: A Social Semiotic Approach to Critical Digital Literacy
Quelle	In: Language Learning & Technology, 27 (2023) 2, S.72-96 (25 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Schlagwörter	Critical Literacy; Digital Literacy; Semiotics; Foreign Countries; International Educational Exchange; Student Exchange Programs; Preservice Teachers; Computer Mediated Communication; Language Teachers; Second Language Instruction; English (Second Language); Intercultural Communication; Interaction; Videoconferencing; Turkey; United Kingdom + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Kritisches Lesen; Semiotik; Ausland; Internationaler Austausch; Schüleraustausch; Computerkonferenz; Language teacher; Sprachunterricht; Fremdsprachenunterricht; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Interkulturelle Kommunikation; Interaktion; Türkei; Großbritannien
Abstract	For agentive and influential involvement in online communities, language learners and teachers need to develop critical digital literacy (CDL), conceptualized by Darvin (2017) as an awareness of "how meanings are represented in ways that maintain and reproduce relations of power" (p. 5) and thus privilege some and marginalize others online. Virtual exchange (VE) provides an ideal socio-cultural and socio-semiotic context for fostering CDL (Hauck, 2019) as it is an educational intervention that is--by default--digitally mediated. In this contribution, we examine the employment of semiotic practices for multimodal representation and how they "shape power relations with others" (Bezemer & Jewitt, 2009, p. 1), thereby drawing on a social semiotic approach (Bezemer & Kress, 2016) to CDL (Bilki et al., 2023). Our insights stem from a six-week VE between two higher education institutions in Turkey and the UK, which brought together 48 future English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers. The task-based exchanges yielded a rich dataset which allows us to illustrate how CDL is materially achieved through transformative processes observed in multicultural, multilingual, and multimodal interactions. Our findings speak to Kern's (2014, 2015) appeal for a relational pedagogy and highlight the need to promote CDL in EFL teaching and teacher education to foster critical reflection on meaning-making conventions while exercising agency to establish powerful online relations with others. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	National Foreign Language Resource Center at University of Hawaii. 1859 East-West Road #106, Honolulu, HI 96822. e-mail: llt@hawaii.edu; Web site: https://www.lltjournal.org/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01