We now talk about Englishes rather than English and multiliteracies rather than literacy'. As English is becoming a world and global language, this topic has gained a lot of attention from a lot of linguists across the world in the 21st Century. In order to understand this emerging trend, it is important to lay down the basis of diversity of the English language across time, geography, culture, and class. It is also of great importance to address the issue of multiliteracy and variation of the English language. English speakers can be broadly classified as either native English speakers or English language learners (ELL). ‘English Language Learners are students whose first language is not English and includes those students who are beginning to learn English (Cope 2008, p. 6). According to this author, there is often issues of imperfect linguistic replication during learning, which brings about, to some extent, diversity in the English language. Diversity can also result due to bias, in the learning process, towards regularization in systemic drift. Teachers often conform to their English use and most of the time do not expose the learner to Standardized English Language.
The English language has changed over time. All languages change as they are passed from one generation to another. These changes are evidenced by the modes of the pronunciation of words, new words are invented while others are borrowed, some meanings are altered and soon, a new dialect arises. Over time, the mother tongue becomes distinct from the new language and then slowly disappears. New subgroups (divergent dialects) emerge and takes over the original language. The Native English language is very different from the English Language that is currently used. According to Ryan McCullah,' before the introduction of the printing press to Britain in the 15th Century, there was no single ‘standard' variety'. The national language was then chosen when printing began during the rise of the Renaissance state. It was codified (e.g. in dictionaries) and mythologized (e.g. as purer as and more logical than other dialects) (Christopher 2012, p. 123). During the 18th Century, a culture of correctness was adopted and this leads to the monolithic idea of Standard English which is the same as the language used today.
On the geographical basis, the English language is not the same language spoken across different parts of the world. The most obvious example is the UK English and the American English. These two languages are different in many aspects including pronunciations and spellings of certain words. For example, the British mostly use the letter‘s' in most verbs compared to the Americans who use the letter 'z' as in criticise versus criticize, emphasise and emphasize, etc. Other examples include the English language used in Australia. This language is very different from both the American and British English. The vocabulary, pronunciations, spellings and most of the times time the accent used are so distinct from one another. This difference due to the difference in the location of these speakers. As people travel from one place to another over time, there is a divergence in the language in the places they travel to.
Geographical differences are caused by trade, migration, conquest, etc. There is often contact of native speakers with other languages used in the region. The end result is that there is a merging of the different languages to bring about one common language which is different but related to the comprising languages.
Social differentiation is another cause for English language diversity. Social groups conform to the different culture, dressing norms, beliefs, gesture, and more importantly language used. The evidence of this variation is seen from the different cultures in America. Different vocabularies, slang, and jargon are used by these different cultures. Some cultures, in fact, have distinct intonation and exaggeration during the pronunciation of certain words. The most common example is the Black English. There are certain vocabularies that are specifically used in the black culture and is seen as disrespectful if other people outside of this culture uses them. Many people have argued that this constitutes social indicators or markers and to the extreme end even stereotyping. Another example is the Pidgin English associated with various cultures all over the world. These other dialects are different from the Standard English in terms of syntactic construction and morphological process.
Closely related to the social factors are education, class, and occupation. People of different occupations will not use the same dialect or style of speech. A pilot will not use the same jargon as a laborer because of their differences in their line of work. In the same way, a professor will not use the same style of speech as a high school student. Both of these factors constitute a social class.
On the other hand, The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) (2006) defines multiliteracy as a process that involves purposeful social and cognitive processes…that helps individuals discover ideas and make meaning; to enable functions such as analysis, synthesis, organization, and evaluation. In 1990, the New London Group proposed an approach that explained multiliteracy in terms of literacy and pedagogy. This view highlights two items; linguistic diversity and multimodal forms of expression and representation based on their research on the influence of new technologies on society and how globalization was affecting education. Multiliteracy worked in the old economy which happened over a millennium ago during the industrial revolution. As Johnson and Kress (2003) state, ‘some people planned and designed things while others worked on atomized tasks'. Therefore, schools focused on digestible, memorization of knowledge from an authority figure, readying the students for a production workforce (Kalantzis, Cope " Harvey 2003, p. 114-120).
However, in the new economy, a lot more is expected from the society. As Voogt and Pareja (2012) point out, people in today's labor force will require more skills that required during the old economy. These skills include creativity, fast decision-making, problem-solving, information, communication, and technology literacy. Therefore, the old education system that focused on memorization will face challenges because of its assumption that knowledge is accepting authority passively (Kalantzis, Cope " Harvey 2003, p. 258). This is the opposite trait of a problem solver and a critical thinker.
Multiliteracies in the English language instills more skills in a student. These skills include but not limited to collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, quality work and production, and information and communication technology literacy. A class that is involved in multiliteracies will use linguistic, visual, audio, spatial and multimodal modes of multiliteracies methods in order to match the aforementioned competencies expected of learners.
Today's schools are made up of students with increasingly diverse social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds, bringing to the schooling environment differences with text, interests and social identities (Mills 2006, p. 124). Schools that have already adopted a practical application of multiliteracies into their teaching curriculum have shown a positive outcome in learner productivity. Through the engagement of multiliterate texts into curriculum activities teachers have been able to discover how the multiple elements of contemporary text combine to create meaning and thus are successful in raising the performance of students through more authentic and meaningful teaching and learning practices (Hamston 2006, p. 8).
A teacher must consider the diversity and language variation in the classroom in order to actively involve all students in the learning process. He or she should also acknowledge multiliteracies in the curriculum for the benefit of the students. As discussed above, the multiliteracies used should match the competencies expected of the student in the learning objectives.
References
Dooley, Karen T. 2000, Multiliteracies and pedagogies of new learning for students of English as an additional language. In Healy, Annah H. (Ed.) Multiliteracies and diversity in education: new pedagogies for expanding landscapes. Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Vic., pp. 102-125
Cope, B., " Kalantzis, M. (Eds.). 2000, Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures. New York: Routledge.
Doering, A., Beach, R., " O'Brien, T. 2007, Infusing multimodal tools and digital literacies into an English education program. English Education, 40(1), 41-60
Hobbs, R. 2006, Multiple visions of multimedia literacy: Emerging areas of synthesis. In M. C. McKenna,
The New London Group 1996, A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard educational review, 66(1), 60-93.
Cope, B., " Kalantzis, M. 2000, Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures. Psychology Press.
Lankshear, C., " Knobel, M. 2011, New literacies. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
Johnson, D., Kress, G. 2003, Globalization, literacy, and society: Redesigning pedagogy and assessment. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy, and Practice. 10(1), 5-14.
Kalantziz, M., Cope, B., Harvey, A. 2003, Assessing multiliteracies and the new basics. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy, and Practice. 10(1), 15-26.
The New London Group. 2000, A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. In B. Cope and M. Kalantzis (Eds.), Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures (pp. 9-39). Youth Yarra, Australia: MacMillan.
Voogt, J., Pareja Roblin, N. 2012. A comparative analysis of international frameworks for 21st-century competencies: Implications for national curriculum policies. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 44(3), 299-321.
