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 Text I The “literacy turn” in education: reexamining 

what it means to be literate

In response to the phenomena of mass migration and the emergence of digital communications media that defined the last decade of the 20th century, the New London Group (NLG) called for a broader view of literacy and literacy teaching in its 1996 manifesto, A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures. The group argued that literacy pedagogy in education must (1) reflect the increasing cultural and linguistic diversity of the contemporary globalized world, and (2) account for the new kinds of texts and textual engagement that have emerged in the wake of new information and multimedia technologies. In order to better capture the plurality of discourses, languages, and media, they proposed the term ‘multiliteracies’.

Within the NLG’s pedagogy of multiliteracies, language and other modes of communication are viewed as dynamic resources for meaning making that undergo constant changes in the dynamics of language use as learners attempt to achieve their own purposes. Within this broader view of literacy and literacy teaching, learners are no longer “users as decoders of language” but rather “designers of meaning.” Meaning is not viewed as something that resides in texts; rather, deriving meaning is considered an active and dynamic process in which learners combine and creatively apply both linguistic and other semiotic resources (e.g., visual, gesture, sound, etc.) with an awareness of “the sets of conventions connected with semiotic activity [...] in a given social space” (NLG, 1996, p. 74).

Grounded within the view that learning develops in social, cultural, and material contexts as a result of collaborative interactions, NLG argued that instantiating literacy-based teaching in classrooms calls on the complex integration and interaction of four pedagogical components that are neither hierarchical nor linear and can at times overlap: situated practice, overt instruction, critical framing, and transformed practice. […]

Although the NLG’s pedagogy of multiliteracies was conceived as a “statement of general principle” (1996, p. 89) for schools, the group’s call for educators to recognize the diversity and social situatedness of literacy has had a lasting impact on foreign language (FL) teaching and learning. The reception of the group’s work along with that of other scholars from critical pedagogy appeared at a time when the field was becoming less solidly anchored in theories of L2 acquisition and more interested in the social practice of FL education itself. In the section that follows, we describe the current state of FL literacy studies as it has developed in recent years, before finally turning to some very recent emerging trends that we are likely to see develop going forward.

(Adapted from: https://www.colorado.edu/center/altec/sites/default/files/ attachedfiles/moving_toward_multiliteracies_in_foreign_language_teaching.pdf)

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Text II

June 15, 2023 - Debates over Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts are currently thriving, including debates over the degree to which corporate diversity efforts are valuable, whether chief diversity officers can succeed, and whether corporate diversity commitments can produce lasting change.

Over the past year, at least a dozen U.S. state legislatures have proposed or passed laws targeting DEI efforts, including laws aimed at limiting DEI roles and efforts in businesses and higher education and laws eliminating DEI spending, trainings, and statements at public institutions. Moreover, with the U.S. Supreme Court poised to address affirmative action in two cases involving the consideration of race in higher education admissions this summer, debates in the U.S. regarding DEI initiatives are likely far from over.

At the same time, DEI-related legal requirements continue to grow in other jurisdictions, and with global financial institutions facing expanding environmental, social, and governance (ESG)- related trends and regulations in the EU and other jurisdictions, as well as global expectations regarding their role in ESG, including DEI-related corporate developments and initiatives, these matters are likely to continue to work their way into capital allocations and the costs of doing business, as well as into the expectations of certain stakeholders.

This widening gap between global expectations and regulation regarding DEI-related matters and the concerns of some constituents in the U.S. over the role of DEI in corporate decision-making is likely to continue growing for the foreseeable future, putting companies between the proverbial rock and hard place.

What these developments make clear is that corporate DEI efforts are, and likely have been for some time, riskier than many companies may initially appreciate. And the risks associated with DEI initiatives are only positioned to grow and expand as companies look to thread the DEI needle and make a broader and potentially more divergent set of stakeholders happy, or at least less annoyed, with their DEI-related commitments and initiatives. In this article, we discuss the top four legal risks that companies often fail to address in their DEI efforts.

[…]

(From https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/diversity-matters-four-scarylegal-risks-hiding-your-dei-program-2023-06-15/

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Text I

‘It’s dangerous work’: new generation of Indigenous activists battle to save the Amazon

The medicine man flashed a mischievous grin as he dabbed his warriors’ eyeballs with a feather soaked in malagueta pepper and watched them grimace in pain. “They’re going into battle and this will protect them,” José Delfonso Pereira said as he advanced on his next target with a jam jar of his chilli potion.

“It hurts and it burns,” the Macuxi shaman admitted. “But it will help them see more clearly and stop them falling ill.”

It was a crisp August morning and a dozen members of an Indigenous self-defence team had assembled in the hillside village of Tabatinga to receive Pereira’s blessing before launching their latest mission into one of the Amazon’s most secluded corners, near Brazil’s border with Guyana and Venezuela.

Some of the men clutched bloodwood truncheons as they prepared to journey down the Maú River in search of illegal miners; others held bows and arrows adorned with the black feathers of curassow birds. Marco Antônio Silva Batista carried a drone.

“If I die, it will be for a good cause – ensuring our territory is preserved for future generations,” said the 20-year-old activistjournalist, whose ability to spy on environmental criminals from above has made him a key member of GPVTI, an Indigenous patrol group in the Brazilian state of Roraima.

Batista, who belongs to South America’s Macuxi people, is part of a new generation of Indigenous journalists helping chronicle an age-old battle against outside aggression. For centuries, non-Indigenous writers and reporters have flocked to the rainforest region to tell their version of that ancestral fight for survival. Now, a growing cohort of Indigenous communicators are telling their own stories, providing first-hand dispatches from some of the Amazon’s most inaccessible and under-reported corners.

“It’s dangerous work and we suffer a lot when we’re out in the field,” said Batista, one of about 26,000 inhabitants of Raposa Serra do Sol, Brazil’s second most populous Indigenous territory. “But it really gives me strength because I’m showing the reality of our lives to the world.” (…)

(Adapted from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/03/itsdangerous-work-new-generation-of-indigenous-activists-battle-to-save-the-amazon)

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Text I

Correspondence

Human genome editing: potential seeds of conflict

Recently, The Lancet published an important declaration regarding the necessity of regulating and legislating for human genome editing. We agree with their opinions that the human genome editing technology and resulting research can have both positive and negative effects on human society. The use of genome editing for research and commercial purposes has sparked debates in both biological and political realms. However, most of them have mainly focused on the effects of human genome editing on the patients themselves, and little attention has been paid to their offspring.

Several films, such as Gattaca and Gundam SEED, have addressed the conflicts that arise from human genome editing. Such conflicts not only exist within the generation who have experienced editing but are also transmitted to their offspring. For example, in these films, the offspring of people without genome editing felt a sense of unfairness regarding the inferiority of their physical (or other non-edited domains) status, whereas the offspring of people with genome editing grew up in a biased, discriminated against, and ostracized environment. They could have lived in peace with a strong and well regulated government; however, when the tenuous grip of government weakens, jealousy and resentment can lead to ruins. Although these scenes still exist in films, they might become increasingly plausible in decades to come. Using the concept of preparedness, access, countermeasures, tools, and trust, we should prepare legitimate human genome editing, establish access to deal with imminent or potential discrimination, develop countermeasures and tools for prevention and resolution of conflict, and entrust future generations with the responsibility to use them wisely.

Bing-Yan Zeng, Ping-Tao Tseng, *Chih-Sung Liang

Adapted from: www.thelancet.com, vol. 401, June 24, 2023 athttps://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2823%2901084-X