What do we mean by multiple literacies?  
  What is the difference between narrative and non-narrative text?  
  Is reading confined to print texts?  
  What types of materials are my students reading?  
  What about students who spend their time reading comics and
sites on the Internet?		  
 

What do we mean by multiple literacies?

Reading theorists believe that different reading tasks can require very different sets of skills. For example, the skills you use to read a novel may not help you locate information in a technical manual. Some theorists argue that the skills we select for narrative and non-narrative structures are so different that we cannot say there is an all-encompassing “literacy” that applies to both.

In fact, the range of literacies is even broader than can be captured in the simple words narrative and non-narrative. Narrative includes short stories, novels and autobiographies; non-narrative includes cookbooks, technical manuals, dictionaries and maps—all very different kinds of texts that require different reading skills. Furthermore, the Internet and other technologies are constantly producing new structures for both narrative and non-narrative text, which requires readers to be more flexible in their processing of information than ever before.

In today’s world, we all need to develop multiple literacies to deal with these different kinds of text. Thinking about literacy in this way can help us to understand how a student may have great difficulty with one type of text but be very confident when it comes to another type.

  
 

What is the difference between narrative
and non-narrative text?
The main difference between the two types of text is the organization. Narrative text unfolds as a story. In many stories, events are told out of order (for example, through flashbacks), but underneath the surface there is a plot in which events are tied together chronologically. In non-narrative texts, the structure might not be chronological. Instead, it can be organized in a number of ways, such as:
  • cause and effect
  • main idea and supporting details
  • alphabetical order; e.g., dictionary or encyclopedia.

The second major difference is that narratives have at least one lead character who has thoughts, feelings and experiences and who is intended to engage the reader.

Narrative and non-narrative texts create very different reading experiences. Many theorists and researchers believe that narrative is the form of communication that comes to us most naturally: when we share our experiences with others, we usually do so as a narrative. As well, most of us will have heard or watched many narratives before we learn to read them on our own. The reader’s involvement with the character(s) also makes the experience of reading a narrative more personal. Some people find it harder to get engaged with non-narrative text because it lacks this human involvement. Others enjoy reading for facts and information rather than for feelings and experiences.

Although the distinction between narrative and non-narrative can be useful in helping students approach different kinds of texts, literary theorists such as Kist (2001) point out these terms cannot begin to describe the multiple forms and functions of reading in today’s world. For example, a newspaper might feature an article written as a narrative alongside a point form list of related statistics. Similarly, a technical manual might have a short narrative to illustrate a point, followed by an explanation of how something works, a chart to provide a comparison and a graph to show various trends. As new technologies allow us to mix and match genres in ways that were not possible before, the difference between narrative and non-narrative is blurring even more.

 

 

Is reading confined to print texts?
Not at all. “Reading” occurs every time we interpret visual communication—think of the expressions “read my lips” or “body language.” New technologies have created whole new categories of nonprint texts. Some of our nonprint reading includes:
  • signs and symbols used in advertising
  • photographs and other visual arts
  • Web sites and e-mail
  • television and movies.

All of these media are having an impact on what we think of as narrative versus non-narrative, or fiction versus nonfiction, and the multiple strategies that we bring to reading.

  

 

What types of materials are my students reading?
Your students are probably reading a variety of materials, for leisure, for school and for information in their everyday lives. These texts could include everything from short stories to computer manuals to the back of a cereal box. Some of the materials they read, such as signs, message boards or video game narratives, may not be what we traditionally think of as “text,” but in fact they all involve important reading strategies and literacies that students can build on. 		 

 

 

What about students who spend their time reading comics, video games and Web sites?
There is currently no conclusive research on the benefits and costs of students who spend a great deal of time with nonbook reading material. Students today bring an array of literacies to the classroom that was unheard of several years ago. Some researchers believe that boys, in particular, who spend a great deal of time reading comics and computer-based material actually develop skills that are important for technical reading, including skimming and scanning and using visual cues such as photographs. Much of the new reading is not linear; as a result, it may help students develop skills important for reading genres related to new technologies.

At the same time, this change in reading habits means that our students may not have the same literary knowledge that we may have taken for granted when we were their age. They might be more adept at manipulating story events in a video game than they are at following a long written story. When reading with such students, it is important to realize that they might be missing some of the schema (sets of knowledge and experiences) that is necessary to help them connect with the meaning of the text. On the other hand, they might possess unexpected schema that can result in new and interesting connections. They may even have engaged with historical or literary knowledge in a different way within an online or video game, such as a game focused on mythology. This is just one reason why it is important to be in touch with our students. What do they know? How can their knowledge inform their reading?

  

Workshops

I.Responsive Teaching II.Contexts of Reading III.Active Reading IV.Multiple Texts/Multiple Literacies