Multiliteracies: New pathways into digital worlds

This investigation describes a theoretical model that considers the way in which learners establish and develop meanings in popular-culture contexts. These contexts have become increasingly sophisticated and multimodal in the digital
age. The framework is based around the multiple modes of meaning as proposed by The New London group (2000). It explores the nature of multimodal texts, the multiliteracies learners bring to the texts and the transactional nature of the meanings generated between the two. Such connections enable learners to access new digital worlds. The paper draws on Rosenblatt's transactional theory of the literary work, and Iser's phenomenological approach to reading to inform our understandings of the meaning making processes. It also explores learner engagement when exposed to digital forms of texts and provides a focus on the increased complexity of these processes when learners move away from the more traditional forms of written literary texts.