Dana L. Grisham

Technology is changing the way we think about and teach literacy. Decker Walker (1999) predicts that the widespread use of information technology will change our expectations of what the educated person must know and be able to do in order to effectively participate in society. As the bar is raised for what constitutes good literacy instruction, expectations for what reading and language arts teachers must know are hoisted skyward.

An important consideration is how a teacher conceptualizes literacy. We now define literate individuals as those who are proficient in all forms of communication. In fact, humans use varied symbols and systems of symbols to communicate with one another. Reading and writing are symbol systems, but only two of the many that we use to convey our thoughts and ideas. Any agreed upon or culturally shared symbol system allows us to communicate with one another. New media combine symbol systems in entirely new ways (e.g., multimedia).

“Multiple literacies” is the newest term for the many symbol systems identified by semiotics. There are many such terms that have resulted from the broadened definitions of literacy. As Ann Watts Pailliotet (2000) noted in an article in this journal:

Over the years, as a former classroom teacher and now as a literacy teacher educator, I have discovered many compelling reasons for extending ideas about literacy and for teaching with new technologies and mass media. These include

• The prevalence of electronic media and popular culture in our students' lives (Buckingham, 1993a)
  
  
• Making teaching and learning pleasurable, relevant, and interesting (Alvermann, Moon, & Hagood, 1999)
  
  
• Connecting home and school environments (Dyson, 1997)
  
  
• Developing learners' positive identities and democratic values (Watts Pailliotet, in press)
  
  
• Extending existing print literacy instructional frameworks (Hobbs, 1997)
  
  
• Developing critical thinking and appreciation for diverse cultures (Considine & Haley, 1999)
  
  
• Fostering literacy learning processes and content (Semali & Hammett, 1999)
  
  
• Responding to changing communications environments (Reinking, 1998)
  
  
• Utilizing useful, up-to-date resources (Leu & Leu, 1999)
  
  
• Preparing an educated workforce (Tyner, 1998)
  
  
• Encouraging critical consumers (Steinberg & Kinncheloe, 1997)
  
  
• Promoting democratic values (Kellner, 1990, 1995)
  

Bolter (1998) discusses and attempts to (re)define visual literacy in the hypertext medium. He reminds us that word processing is now the dominant form of writing in North America, but that straight linear word processing may become as passé as the yellow tablet due to hypertext. In hypertext, we can combine various symbol systems in multilinear formats. An example of this is shown at the Web site for Amazon.com. The site features a main page with graphics, images, and text. Readers can select any of a number of predetermined choices (books, toys, etc.) or can use the search engine to make different choices. Thus, multilinear texts have no "standard" or "natural" reading order; the reader can choose where to start, where to go next, whether to use the "buttons" offered or search for some other area of the Web site.

McEneaney (2000) has discussed a number of substantive differences to be considered when writing in the hypertext as opposed to “traditional” format. Many hypertexts allow the reader to focus more deeply on a topic by linking it to another page. If you are reading an article in Reading Online, for example, you may be referred to a related article or Web site through a hypertext link. This practice is revolutionizing the way we read (and write) and is contrary to the linear way in which we must read the printed word. While some of us may elect to read excerpts from the middle of a book, we know that the conventional or "natural" way to read printed text is from beginning to end. However, in hypertext, readers enter the text at some point, then figure out how the links work. Readers then can choose to link or not, in any order, skipping some links, and following others.

An important feature of hypertext is the ease with which graphic elements are included. Reinking (1998) advises us to try to picture the future of literacy, believing that "we are heading toward a post-typographic world; that is, one in which printed texts are no longer dominant” (p. xi). He notes that the transformation is in process and speculates how our literacy is shaped and limited by the technology that we possess. How will multiple texts, formats, and genres affect us?

Good teachers need to be cognizant of these new technologies and literacies in order to know how to scaffold learning activities for our students. Instead of asking students to write a research paper, teachers may want to coordinate the effective use of multiple texts, formats, and genres, and assign a multimedia project that includes representations such as print-based text, graphics, video streaming, audio, and pictures. Children "writing" on the computer—using a software package such as Hyperstudio, for example—may be considered by their peers to be good writers if they can easily navigate the technological aspects of the writing, such as importing graphics. In other words, adding computer technology to writing may redefine what we consider as "writing."

Obviously, the World Wide Web has changed our lives in many ways, including how we read and process information. Thus going online to several Web sites and analyzing the structure of multilinear texts is critical to teacher education students' professional development. Literacy events are planned and situated electronically so that teacher education students are asked to experience them in preparation for using online resources in their own classrooms.

Preservice Teachers