Abstract:

This dissertation is an ethnographic examination of a learning site that incorporates multimodal media production, and through this examination it considers implications for the literacy development of urban middle school youth. The yearlong study took place inside one of Fanon Middle School's extended day programs, Digital Underground Story Telling for You(th) (DUSTY) a literacy intervention developed through a university-community partnership in the San Francisco Bay Area. The program serves a population of academically low-achieving African American, Latino, and Asian students. Contributing to the existing literature on approaches to using multimodal media production as a tool to develop multiliteracies, the study explores the multimodal media pedagogy and curriculum used by two teachers, the literacy practices of seven focal students and the multimodal media they produced. The study uses qualitative methods including participant observation, interviews and the collection and analysis of artifacts.

This study offers evidence that when teachers provided students with opportunities, structure and skills, the students produced multimodal media and felt optimistic about their ability to achieve academically. Students also demonstrated a commitment to improving their community in a school where teacher retention was low and students had minimal access to technology. Furthermore, this study illustrates how the multiliteracies involved in multimodal media production help prepare students for the adaptability and problem solving necessary for participation in future academic, civic and social contexts.

There are three key findings that complicate our understanding of multimodal media production in literacy development. First, teachers used a multimodal media pedagogy and curriculum and further developed students' ability to conduct research and think critically about a variety of issues in their communities. Second, through collaborating with peers, tutors and teachers, students increased their ability to use information and communication technologies to sketch new landscapes and challenge how they are currently positioned in society. Finally, students built confidence about their ability to think/perceive/speak because teachers, peers and community members gave them recognition and validation after the students successfully produced multimodal media. These experiences motivated students to engage in further learning.