Diversity and critical social engagement: How changing technologies enable new modes of literacy in changing circumstances

Abstract

This chapter takes a historical perspective on the notion of new literacies (Bruce, 1998), raising the question of how literacies, technologies, and social circumstances co- evolve and what changes in literacy practices mean for adolescents today. It presents first the case that a fundamental transformation is visible already in the literacy practices of young people, but follows that with questions about what this change really means. It then considers a framework for a critical examination of literacy and technology and its implications for research and teaching.