New Literacies in the Classroom
As Sang (2017) described in her paper, the term "literacy" no longer refers to being able to read and write in academic English. Recent advances in technology and information retrieval have brought a new digital side to the term. Simply put, "literacy" now encompasses the ability to derive and display meaning within various forms of media. In Music Education, "literacy" is often viewed as being able to read and write from standard sheet music notation. However, many students struggle to translate elements of rhythm and melody into sheet music. Last school year, I worked with a voice student who could never quite manage to decode the symbol for a Quarter Rest and understand that it meant he needed to be silent for one beat. One day, this same student showed me two parentheses that he had put on his computer ( ) and asked, "Is this what a Quarter Rest could look like?" During each subsequent lesson, if I showed the symbol he had created, he could perform Quarter Rests perfectly. Just like the phenomenon Sang (2017) described when a Chinese character was recontextualized on the internet to show a specific emotion, my student recontextualized the use of keyboard parentheses to successfully derive the meaning of Quarter Rests. In today's world of New Literacies, one does not need to read notes and rhythms of sheet music to become "musically literate". Photos, keyboard characters, and other media have given students more personalized ways to perform music.
Just like technology has opened up more opportunities to develop musical proficiency, they have also taken the sole power of disseminating literacy skills away from printed books. Under the traditional view of literacy, the process of reading and analyzing printed texts was the primary way in which students were taught to derive meaning. This heavy reliance on printed material might work in communities that can easily obtain books. However, as stated by Beecher (2023), studies have found that low-income communities do not have easy access to books in schools or public libraries. Moreover, the same communities report lower levels of reading and writing ability compared to wealthier communities. A strong reliance on printed books can only continue to disadvantage communities that cannot afford fully stacked libraries.
One could argue that allocating more funding to public schools could solve this shortage of printed materials. However, teachers do not need to use printed books as their primary text sources. The NCTE (2019) advocates for students to have ready access to digital text sources when printed ones are not available. As long as fair copyright rules are followed, teachers can search databases of texts that they can print for reading activities. Additionally, as long as students have access to a laptop or tablet, they can be taught how to search the internet for their own reliable sources of information. The dawn of this new technological age means that teachers no longer have to rely on printed books to develop literacy skills. While it may take more work for teachers to print texts and teach their students how to recognize reliable sources, I believe it is a worthy sacrifice. By utilizing access to digital text sources that New Media and Literacies have given us, we can provide students from low-income communities a chance to close the literacy gap.
References
Beecher, Constance (2023). Methods of Teaching Early Literacy. Iowa State University Digital Press.
National Council of Teachers of English (2019). Definition of Literacy in a Digital Age. http://www.ncte.org
Sang, Yuan (2017). Expanded Territories of "Literacy": New Literacies and New Multiliteracies. Journal of Education and Practice. http://www.iiste.org
Mr. C- your example of giving a student another symbol for a quarter rest is genius! The wide availability of texts DOES indeed increase accessibility for all students. And, in a boon for music teachers everywhere, the definition of what counts as a text now includes those which use sound/aurality as their semiotic mode. For example, given the rise of short-form video sharing (e.g., Tiktok, Instagram Reels, and Youtube Shorts), being literate in the 21st century now means being able to understand if sound is original to the visual, or dubbed, if it is AI-generated or human-generated, and if components of the video reference memetic sounds from OTHER videos. For an example of this, see short-form videos appropriating Donald Trump's recent debate comments about immigrants eating domestic pets in Springfield, OH. The meaning of the videos are contingent on both the sound and the visual working together, which work together to produce social commentary on the political speech, some humorous, some heartbreaking, some angry, etc. Take a look and let me know what you think!
ReplyDeleteHello Dr. Schindler! Thank you very much for directing my attention to sound as a semiotic mode for students. What I took away from researching the audio tapes appropriating former President Trump's is that evaluating a sound's adherence to a visual skill needs development. I have started to develop these skills by asking my students to identify if a graphic representation of a melody is accurate to how the melody sounds. For example, if a melody I play on the piano ascends while the graphic notation shows it descending, a student who critically listens could discern that the visual does not match the aural contour. This practice of melodic error detection can help students move toward being able to aurally evaluate audio that may be generated by AI and not produced from the physical words of an individual.
DeleteI love concept of co-opting different form of musical notation. Being trained classically in violin I learned to read musical notation. If I'm honesty, many times I would memorize the melody as looking at those tiny notations while peering through my glasses, and balancing a violin on my shoulder was challenging. Your example amplifies the importance of finding multiply entry points into a lesson.
ReplyDeleteHello Patricia! I appreciate you sharing your experience as a classical-trained violinist. I think a lot of my students would agree with your sentiment on balancing musical literacy with instrument technique. Ultimately, it does not matter how a student internalizes the contour of a melody. Whether it is through making a graphic notation or simply memorizing it through aural exposure, the goal is to help students make music with expression and masterful technique. That is why I will always stand for pursuing other avenues of musical literacy outside of Western Notation.
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