New technologies, new literacies: Focus discipline research and ESL learning communities

This paper describes a classroom study of a content-based instructional model that engages high intermediate 1 ESL students in sustained content study within collaborative learning communities and uses information technology resources to hone linguistic, academic, socioaffective, and metacognitive skills through an activity called focus discipline research (Kasper, 1998a).The paper describes how focus discipline research derives from the principles of cognitive learning theory and second language acquisition research and how it incorporates the four critical elements of a pedagogy of multiliteracies as outlined by The New London Group (1996).The paper goes on to detail the study, illustrating how pedagogical activities engaged students in situated practice, overt instruction, critical framing, and transformed practice, and it concludes by offering both quantitative and qualitative support for the efficacy of focus discipline research in promoting "multiliteracies." DEFINING AND ACQUIRING LITERACY IN THE AGE OF INFORMATIONMoll defined literacy as "a particular way of using language for a variety of purposes, as a sociocultural practice with intellectual significance" (1994, p. 201).While traditional definitions of literacy have focused on reading and writing, the definition of literacy today is more complex.The process of becoming literate today involves more than learning how to use language effectively; rather, the process amplifies and changes both the cognitive and the linguistic functioning of the individual in society.One who is literate knows how to gather, analyze, and use information resources to solve problems and make decisions, as well as how to learn both independently and cooperatively.Ultimately literate individuals possess a range of skills that enable them to participate fully in all aspects of modern society, from the workforce to the family to the academic community.Indeed, the development of literacy is "a dynamic and ongoing process of perpetual transformation" (Neilsen, 1989, p. 5), whose evolution is influenced by a person's interests, cultures, and experiences.Researchers have viewed literacy as a multifaceted concept for a number of years (Johns, 1997).However, succeeding in a digital, information-oriented society demands multiliteracies, that is, competence in an even more diverse set of functional, academic, critical, and electronic skills.To be considered multiliterate, students today must acquire a battery of skills that will enable them to take advantage of the diverse modes of communication made possible by new technologies and to participate in global learning communities.Although becoming multiliterate is not an easy task for any student, it is especially difficult for ESL students operating in a second language.In their attempts to become multiliterate, ESL students must acquire linguistic competence in a new language and at the same time develop the cognitive and sociocultural skills necessary to gain access into the social, academic, and workforce environments of the 21st century.They must become functionally literate, able to speak, understand, read, and write English, as well as use English to acquire, articulate and expand their knowledge.They must also become academically literate, able to read and understand interdisciplinary texts, analyze and respond to those texts through various modes of written and oral discourse, and expand their knowledge through sustained and focused research.Further, they must become critically literate, defined here as the ability to evaluate the validity and reliability of informational sources so that they may Loretta F.