Abstract of

Khmer Rap Boys, X-Men, Asia's Fruits, and Dragonball Z: Creating Multilingual and Multimodal Classroom Contexts

Theresa Ann McGinnis

In our rapidly changing global culture, students' social worlds are becoming increasingly multilingual and multimodal, yet school practices do not often reflect the complexities or diversity of students' literacy and language practices. Valuing students' experiences with language and culture is important in creating supportive learning environments. This is true for all learners, but perhaps particularly so for immigrant students.

This article presents the use of inquiry-based projects as one pedagogical practice that can support students' literacy and language, create supportive classroom environments, and provide an avenue for teachers to learn more about the social worlds of their students. In particular, it describes how the use of inquiry-based projects with middle school–aged children of migratory agricultural workers served as a small space for some of the students to address feelings of loss of home and country. For others, the project served as a way to make sense of their new American identities. Important for this discussion is the notion that when students are allowed to bring in the literacy and language practices they engage in naturally in their social worlds, it is possible to broaden the monolingual and one-dimensional nature of our curricula and create multilevel literacy communities within the classroom.

Abstract from McGinnis, T. (2007, April). Khmer Rap Boys, X-Men, Asia's Fruits, and Dragonball Z: Creating Multilingual and Multimodal Classroom Contexts. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50(7), 570–579. doi: 10.1598/JAAL.50.7.6