From Language Skills to Literacy: Broadening the Scope of English Language Education Through Media Literacy

193 Pages·2018·1.815 MB·

by  Csilla Weninger

This book makes an important contribution to broadening our understanding of
how culture shapes the practice of media literacy education in schools.
– Renee Hobbs, Professor, Communication Studies,
Harrington School of Communication and Media,
The University of Rhode Island, USA
In an era of fake news and digital ideologies, internet surveillance and espionage,
with governments and corporations vying for our attention and privacy – Csilla
Weninger’s critical reworking of media literacy is essential reading. This is a
timely reminder of the foundations of work in the fi eld and the practical, ethical
imperatives for working with teachers and young people.
– Allan Luke, Emeritus Professor, Queensland
University of Technology, Australia
This book brings together a powerful overview of the development of English
language education, a clear presentation of ‘media literacy’ and its role in English
language education, and evidence of the importance of considering contextual
factors for effective literacy pedagogy no matter the current global/local political
landscape. It is well-worth reading for its clearly summarized broad sweep of
issues as well as the specifi c presentation of an empirical, school-based case study
which engagingly explores those issues. Readers will fi nd this book to be relevant
whether they are concerned with fi rst language (L1) or second language (L2)
English education and in various international contexts. Teachers and curriculum
developers will especially appreciate the implications developed at the end of the
book.
– Rita E. Silver, Associate Professor,
National Institute of Education, Singapore
In From language skills to literacy: Broadening the scope of English language
education through media literacy, Weninger grapples with a central question of
modern education, namely: How can educators prepare their students to critically
deal with the multimodal media they encounter everyday while at the same time
preparing them for the narrow skill-based exams they must face? In addressing this
question, Weninger describes her own attempt to integrate media literacy into a
traditionally skill-based language classroom in Singapore. The book is unique in
both raising a central concern of modern day education and in documenting how
media literacy, within a critical, aesthetic and ethical framework, can be introduced
into a traditional classroom.
– Sandra McKay, Professor Emerita, San Francisco State University, USA
English language and literacy skills are commonly connected to global cultural
and economic participation, to national productivity, and increasingly, to internal
cultural harmony. Nowhere are these imperatives more evident than in Singapore – a
multicultural Asian society, with an English-medium school system, with an ethos
of rapid technology adoption, and in the lead position in OECD’s global literacy
assessments. This setting presents Singapore-based media literacy educator Csilla
Weninger with a set of intriguing challenges, and this book develops her response:
that progressive and sustainable language pedagogies call for a richer account
of the rapidly developing policy, political, and cultural landscapes impacting
educators, students, and parents. Weninger’s book advocates designing innovative
pedagogies that can provide educators with productive ways of navigating the
multiple, often apparently opposing aims of English curriculums.
She gives us, instead of more utopian promises about the multimedia digital
world of learning, a detailed, ‘live’ picture of intelligent, committed teachers at the
sharp end of schooling’s confl icting promises to the economy, to communities,
and to individuals. Weninger fi nds encouragement only through confronting and
working creatively with these tensions. For working educators – in universities,
policy bureaus, districts and schools, and, especially, in classrooms – this book is
accessible and, importantly, useful. Weninger is a smart, even amiable, companion,
with a resolute optimism about the big picture and the long haul.
– Peter Freebody, Honorary Professor, The University of Sydney, Australia
From Language Skills
to Literacy
The narrowing of English language education curriculum in many contexts has
negatively impacted classroom teaching and learning. High-stakes standardized
testing, scripted curricula, and the commodifi cation of English have converged to
challenge socially meaningful classroom literacy instruction that promotes holistic
development. Although in different ways, these factors have shaped the teaching
of English as both fi rst and second language.
How can English educators respond? This book argues that the fi rst step is
to take account of the broader policy, political and cultural landscape and to
identify the key constraints affecting teachers, students and parents. These will
set the broad parameters for developing local pedagogic approaches, while still
recognizing the constraints that actively push against them. Using Singapore
English language teaching as a case study, this book illustrates how this process
can unfold, and how media literacy principles were vernacularized to design
English classroom pedagogies that stretched the bounds of what is acceptable and
possible in the local context.
Csilla Weninger is associate professor in the department of English Language
and Literature at the National Institute of Education, Singapore. Her research
examines the imprint and impact of political and institutional ideologies on the
conduct of schooling, including its material dimensions such as textbooks as
well as everyday pedagogies. Her publications have appeared, among others, in
Teaching and Teacher Education, Discourse, TESOL Quarterly, Linguistics and
Education , and E LT Journal .
Routledge Research in Language Education
The Routledge Research in Language Education series provides a platform for
established and emerging scholars to present their latest research and discuss key
issues in Language Education. This series welcomes books on all areas of language
teaching and learning, including but not limited to language education policy
and politics, multilingualism, literacy, L1, L2 or foreign language acquisition,
curriculum, classroom practice, pedagogy, teaching materials, and language
teacher education and development. Books in the series are n ot limited to the
discussion of the teaching and learning of English only.
Books in the series include
The Hopes and Experiences of Bilingual Teachers of English
Investments, Expectations, and Identity
Melinda Kong
Reading to Learn in a Foreign Language
An Integrated Approach to Foreign Language Instruction and Assessment
Edited by Keiko Koda and Junko Yamashita
Researching Chinese Language Education
Functional Linguistic Perspectives
Edited by Mark Shiu-kee Shum and Peter Mickan
Interdisciplinary Research Approaches to Multilingual Education
Edited by Vasilia Kourtis-Kazoullis, Themistoklis Aravossitas, Eleni Skourtou
and Peter Pericles Trifonas
From Language Skills to Literacy
Broadening the Scope of English Language Education Through Media Literacy
Csilla Weninger
For more information about the series, please visit www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Research-in-Language-Education/book-series/RRLE
From Language Skills
to Literacy
Broadening the Scope of
English Language Education
Through Media Literacy
Csilla Weninger
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Csilla Weninger
The right of Csilla Weninger to be identifi ed as the author of this
work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Weninger, Csilla, author.
Title: From language skills to literacy : broadening the scope of English
language education through media literacy / Csilla Weninger.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019. |
Series: Routledge research in language education | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2018031588 | ISBN 9780415788885 (hbk) |
ISBN 9781315223100 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: English language—Study and teaching. |
English language—Study and teaching—Singapore—Case studies. |
Language arts—Curricula. | Media literacy—Study and teaching. |
English language—Globalization.
Classifi cation: LCC LB1576 .W4825 2019 | DDC 372.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018031588
ISBN: 978-0-415-78888-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-22310-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Galliard
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of fi gures ix
List of tables x
List of appendices xi
Acknowledgments xii
1 Introduction 1
2 English language and literacy education:
a historical overview 10
3 Media literacy: key ideas and connections to English
literacy education 34
4 Challenges to a literacy approach to teaching English 53
5 Bridging theory, curriculum and pedagogy: developing
a framework for media literacy through English 70
6 A contextual look at the media literacy dimensions
in pedagogic practice 91
7 Developing and implementing the media literacy
unit in Eastridge Secondary School 110
8 The question of authenticity: students’ experiences
with school media/literacy education 133
9 Conclusion 150
viii Contents
Appendix 1: Observation sheet for coding classroom data
(adapted from the Singapore Pedagogy Coding Scheme
(Luke, Freebody, Cazden, & Lin, 2004)) 158
Appendix 2: Teaching package for expository writing,
Eastridge Secondary School 162
Appendix 3: Transcription conventions 176
Index 177
Figures
5.1 Skills, strategies, attitudes and behaviors to be developed as
part of the learning area Reading and Viewing at the secondary
level (MOE, 2008a, p. 42). 74
6.1 Relative frequency of media literacy dimensions (as percentage
of total activities) observed in English lessons in Eastridge
Secondary School 92
6.2 Relative frequency of media literacy dimensions (as percentage
of total activities) observed in English lessons in Brooks
High School 93
6.3 Visuals projected in Surina’s English class on gender stereotypes
in the media (Brooks High School) 99
7.1 Report writing prompt (Eastridge Secondary School) 121
7.2 Scenario from the speech writing prompt (Eastridge Secondary
School) 124