Beyond Words: Developing children’s response to multimodal texts

Arising from the BFI ‘Reframing Literacy’ research project, the booklet Beyond Words and the associated material pack Reading Film are designed to provide guidance for primary teachers in identifying progression in pupils’ analysis of multimodal texts and in planning teaching sequences to promote children’s increasing ability to read and respond to multimodal texts. An evaluation of the research project identified that progression in moving image work tends to be poorly conceptualised. Similar issues arise with regard to other types of multimodal texts and since this is an emerging area of research and practice, the booklet offers a starting point for describing development in children’s understanding of multimodal texts.

The dedicated material pack Reading Film, edited by Cary Bazalgette includes an introduction to film terminology, accounts of classroom talk, and examples of children’s own film making. Ideal for schools wanting to develop approaches to reading film, these materials might be used as a basis for discussion and planning in professional development sessions or for an extended project designed to develop the use of film in the school.

Beyond Words, edited by Eve Bearne looks at multimodal texts more generally, describing progress in children’s reading, analysis and response to multimodal texts.  The suggested Progression Focuses add to understanding of the variety of reading opportunities offered by multimodal texts and how children’s experience and achievements with these texts might be described and included in regular assessment. The Case Studies and Teaching Sequences give examples of work using multimodal texts throughout the primary phase, supporting schools and teachers who want to develop multimodal approaches in literacy teaching.

Free copy of the professional development materials Making an impact 2: Embedding new literacies if you buy ten copies.