Abstract
An educational chasm divides the Australian National Curriculum, which is permeated with detailed requirements for students to develop multimodal literacy, and the very substantially mono-modal literacy of the reading tests of the Australian National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). This paper proposes that mandated centralised largescale testing approaches to literacy assessment, such as NAPLAN, need to be re-thought and reformed to be consistent with curriculum requirements in relation to multimodal literacy and with the multimodal nature of international tests such as Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and, most importantly, to influence and support teachers in ensuring that students acquire essential multimodal literacy competencies in the twenty-first century.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
ACARA. (2018a). The Australian Curriculum: English. Retrieved from https://australiancurriculum.edu.au/download/DownloadF10
ACARA. (2018b). The Australian Curriculum: Science. Retrieved from https://australiancurriculum.edu.au/download?view=f10
ACARA. (2018c). The Australian Curriculum: History. Retrieved from https://australiancurriculum.edu.au/download?view=f10
Andrews, R. (2004). Where next in research on ICT and literacies. Literacy Learning: The Middle Years, 12 (1), 58–67.
Au, W. (2007). High-stakes testing and curricular control: A qualitative metasynthesis. Educational Researcher, 36 (5), 258–267.
Bennett, S., Maton, K., & Kervin, L. (2008). The ‘digital natives’ debate: A critical review of the evidence. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39 (5), 775–786.
Berry, R., & Adamson, R. (Eds.). (2011). Assessment reform in education: Policy and practice. Dordrecht: Springer.
Bezemer, J., & Kress, G. (2008). Writing in multimodal texts: A social semiotic account of designs for learning. Written Communication, 25 (2), 165–195.
Chan, E. (2010). Integrating visual and verbal meaning in multimodal text comprehension: Towards a model of intermodal relations. In S. Dreyfus, M. Stenglin & S. Hood (Eds.), Semiotic margins: Meaning in multimodalities (pp. 144–167). London: Continuum.
Chan, E., & Unsworth, L. (2011). Image-language interaction in online reading environments: Challenges for students’ reading comprehension. Australian Educational Researcher, 38 (2), 181–202.
Derewianka, B., & Coffin, C. (2008). Time visuals in history textbooks: Some pedagogic issues. In L. Unsworth (Ed.), Multimodal semiotics: Functional analysis in contexts of education (pp. 187–200). London: Continuum.
Hull, G., & Nelson, M. (2005). Locating the semiotic power of multimodality. Written Communication, 22 (2), 1–38.
Kamil, M., Intrator, S., & Kim, H. (2000). The effects of other technologies on literacy and learning. In M. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, P. Pearson & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 3, pp. 771–788). Mahwah, New Jersey: Erlbaum.
Klenowski, V. (2011). Assessment for learning in the accountability era: Queensland, Australia. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 37 (1), 78–83.
Kress, G. (2000a). Design and transformation: New theories of meaning. In B. Cope & M. Kalantzis (Eds.), Multiliteracies: Learning literacy and the design of social futures (pp. 153–161). Melbourne: Macmillan.
Kress, G. (2000b). Multimodality. In B. Cope & M. Kalantzis (Eds.), Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures (pp. 182–202). Melbourne: Macmillan.
Kress, G. (2000c). Multimodality: Challenges to thinking about language. TESOL Quarterly, 34 (3), 337–340.
Leu, D., Kinzer, C., Corio, J., Castek, J., & Henry, L. (2013). New literacies: A dual-level theory of the changing nature of literacy, instruction and assessment. In D. Alvermann, N. Unrau & R. Ruddell (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (6th ed., pp. 31765–32703). Newark, Delaware: International Reading Association.
Luke, C. (2003). Pedagogy, connectivity, multimodality and interdisciplinarity. Reading Research Quarterly, 38 (10), 356–385.
Mayer, R. (2008). Multimedia literacy. In J. Corio, M. Knobel, C. Lankshear & D. Leu (Eds.), Handbook of research on new literacies (pp. 235–376). New York/London: Erlbaum.
Mullis, I.V.S., & Martin, M.O. (2013). TIMSS 2015 assessment frameworks. Chestnut Hill, MA: TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center and International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA).
Mullis, I.V.S., & Martin, M.O. (2015). PIRLS 2016 assessment framework (2nd ed.). Chestnut Hill, MA: TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center and International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA).
Mullis, I.V.S., & Martin, M.O. (2017). TIMSS 2019 assessment frameworks. Chestnut Hill, MA: TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center and International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA).
New South Wales Department of Education and Training. (2005–2007). Basic Skills Tests. Sydney: New South Wales Department of Education and Training.
OECD. (2017). PISA 2015 Assessment and analytical framework: Science, reading, mathematic, financial literacy and collaborative problem solving (Revised ed.). Paris: OECD Publishing.
Oteiza, T., & Pinuer, C. (2016). Appraisal framework and critical discourse studies: A joint approach to the study of historical memories from an intermodal perspective. International Journal of Language Studies, 10 (2), 5–32.
Popat, S., Lenkeit, J., & Hopfenbeck, T. (2017). PIRLS for teachers: A review of practitioner engagement with international large-scale assessment results. Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment Report OUCEA/17/1. DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.10760.01281
Richards, C. (2001). Hypermedia, internet communication, and the challenge of redefining literacy in the electronic age. Language Learning and Technology, 4 (2), 59–77.
Rowsell, J., Kress, G., Pahl, K., & Street, B. (2013). The social practice of multimodal reading: A new literacy studiesmultimodal perspective on reading. In D. Alvermann, N. Unrau & R. Ruddell (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (6th ed., pp. 32723–33330). Newark, Delaware: International Reading Association.
Russell, G. (2000). Print-based and visual discourses in schools: Implications for pedagogy. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 21 (2), 205–217.
Stillman, J., & Anderson, L. (2011). To follow, reject, or flip the script: Managing instructional tension in an era of high-stakes accountability. Language Arts, 89 (1), 22–37.
Takayama, K. (2018). How to mess with PISA: Learning from Japanese kokugo curriculum experts. Curriculum Inquiry, 48 (2), 220–237.
Tang, K.-S.K., Ho, C., & Putra, G.B.S. (2016). Developing multimodal communication competencies: A case of disciplinary literacy focus in Singapore. In B. Hand, M. McDermott & V. Prain (Eds.), Using multimodal representations to support learning in the science classroom (pp. 135–158). Dordrecht: Springer.
Thomas, M. (2011). Deconstructing digital natives: Young people, technology, and the new literacies. New York: Taylor & Francis.
Thomson, S., De Bortoli, L., & Underwood, C. (2017). PISA 2015: Reporting Australia’s results. Camberwell, Victoria: Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).
Tytler, R., Murcia, K., Hsiung, C.-T., & Ramseger, J. (2017). Reasoning through representations. In M. Hackling, J. Ramseger & H.L. Chen (Eds.), Quality teaching in primary science education (pp. 149–179). Cham: Springer.
Tytler, R., Prain, V., & Hubber, P. (2018). Representation construction as a core science disciplinary literacy. In K.-S. Tang & K. Danielsson (Eds.), Global developments in literacy research for science education. Cham: Springer.
Unsworth, L. (2001). Teaching multiliteracies across the curriculum: Changing contexts of text and image in classroom practice. Buckingham, United Kingdom: Open University Press.
Unsworth, L. (2006). Towards a metalanguage for multiliteracies education: Describing the meaning-making resources of language-image interaction. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 5 (1), 55–76. Retrieved from http://education.waikato.ac.nz/research/files/etpc/2006v5n1art4.pdf
Unsworth, L. (2008). Explicating inter-modal meaningmaking in media and literary texts: Towards a metalanguage of image/language relations. In A. Burn & C. Durrant (Eds.), Media teaching: Language, audience, production (pp. 48–80). Adelaide, South Australia: Wakefield Press.
Unsworth, L. (2014a). The image/language interface in picture books as animated films: A focus for new narrative interpretation and composition pedagogies. In L. Unsworth & A. Thomas (Eds.), English teaching and new literacies pedagogy: Interpreting and authoring digital multimedia narratives (pp. 105–122). New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
Unsworth, L. (2014b). Multimodal reading comprehension: Curriculum expectations and large-scale literacy testing practices. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 9, 26–44.
Unsworth, L. (2017). Image-language interaction in text comprehension: Reading reality and national reading tests. In C. Ng & B. Bartlett (Eds.), Improving reading in the 21st century: International research and innovations (pp. 99–118). Dordrecht: Springer.
Unsworth, L., & Chan, E. (2008). Assessing integrative reading of images and text in group reading comprehension tests. Curriculum Perspectives, 28 (3), 71–76.
Unsworth, L., & Chan, E. (2009). Bridging multimodal literacies and national assessment programs in literacy. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 32 (3), 245–257.
van Leeuwen, T., & Selander, S. (1995). Picturing ‘our’ heritage in the pedagogic text: Layout and illustrations in an Australian and a Swedish history textbook. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 27 (5), 501–522.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Unsworth, L., Cope, J. & Nicholls, L. Multimodal literacy and large-scale literacy tests: Curriculum relevance and responsibility. AJLL 42, 128–139 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03652032
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03652032