EDUC90482 Chap.7 Biliteracy and Multiliteracies
Biliteracy and Multiliteracies
Biliteracy includes reading and writing across two languages but develops within wider listening, speaking, signing, social and multimodal practices. This chapter distinguishes bilingualism from biliteracy, uses the multiliteracies sequence of situated practice, overt instruction, critical framing and transformed practice, and shows how assessment must name the construct before interpreting performance.
It also tests whether scaffolding reveals the intended knowledge, whether a polished product supplies enough evidence and which capabilities remain unmeasured by one task. Evidence across time is preferred when the claim concerns development rather than one performance.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Literacy as social practice
- 02
Bilingualism and biliteracy
- 03
Situated practice
- 04
Overt instruction
- 05
Critical framing
- 06
Transformed practice
- 07
Biliteracy assessment
Worked example · free
Map a multiliteracies lesson
- 1Interpretation of authentic notices is situated practice.
- 1Comparison of genre patterns is overt instruction.
- 1Analysis of inclusion is critical framing.
- 1The new audio-visual notice is transformed practice.
Key terms
- Biliteracy
- Reading and writing across two languages within wider communicative and social practices.
- Critical framing
- Examining how texts and practices sit within cultural, social and ideological systems.
- Transformed practice
- Redesigning and transferring meaning for a changed context, mode or audience.
Biliteracy and Multiliteracies FAQ
Is every bilingual person biliterate?
No. A person may use two languages richly in speech and listening but have received formal literacy instruction in only one. Biliteracy depends on access, explicit teaching, practice, materials and opportunities to read and write for meaningful purposes.
What are the multiliteracies pedagogy moves?
Situated practice immerses learners in meaningful activity, overt instruction makes relevant patterns explicit, critical framing examines social and ideological contexts, and transformed practice redesigns meaning for another context. The moves work as a connected design rather than isolated labels.
How should biliteracy be assessed?
First name the construct, such as comprehension, genre control, critical interpretation, mediation or multimodal design. Then gather evidence appropriate to both languages and the intended purpose, while ensuring that unrelated surface demands do not replace the knowledge being assessed.
Assessment move
Begin by separating bilingualism from biliteracy. Build a learner profile that records oral interaction, listening, reading, writing, signing and multimodal production in each language. Note where explicit literacy instruction occurred and which purposes the learner has practised.
This prevents conversational fluency from being treated as automatic evidence of academic writing, and it prevents limited formal literacy from being misread as limited language. Next, take one lesson and annotate the multiliteracies moves.
Identify the meaningful practice learners enter, the patterns made visible through overt instruction, the cultural or ideological frame examined critically and the redesigned use produced for a changed audience or mode. Explain how each move changes what learners can notice or do. If one move is absent, propose a concrete addition without turning the sequence into a rigid recipe.
For assessment, write the intended construct at the top of the task. Decide whether the evidence concerns comprehension, genre control, critical interpretation, cross-language mediation, multimodal design or broader biliteracy development. List what the task can establish and what it cannot. Check whether surface accuracy, digital polish or familiarity with hidden conventions could overwhelm the intended knowledge.
Select scaffolding that reveals the construct, such as a glossary, model, planning discussion or staged drafting, and state what independent performance remains expected. For quiz preparation, distinguish situated practice, overt instruction, critical framing and transformed practice through short classroom examples.
For essay work, connect literacy practices to social, cultural, political and economic conditions rather than treating them as neutral skills. For oral work, explain the cycle through one coherent lesson instead of defining four labels separately. For reflection, identify how your understanding moved from literacy as decoding toward meaning, participation and critical engagement.
Review evidence across time whenever possible, because development and transfer are difficult to infer from one high-pressure product. Finish every assessment judgement by naming the construct, the evidence used and the capabilities still untested. Add a validity drill using one polished bilingual poster.
List the capabilities visible in the product, such as visual arrangement or some genre choices, and the capabilities that remain uncertain, such as comprehension, independent language production or development over time. Propose two additional pieces of evidence and justify why they address the uncertainty. Then redesign the task for a different audience or mode and explain which multiliteracies move the redesign foregrounds.
This practice prevents decoration from being mistaken for meaning and helps you discuss scaffolding precisely. Support is defensible when it lets the intended knowledge become visible while leaving a clearly stated performance for the learner to complete independently.
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