New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Social Learning

“Like a compass guiding you to what’s important and why in this rapidly evolving field, this new edition is utterly stimulating but also thoughtful and measured.”
Daniel Cassany, Literacy Researcher and Teacher, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

"Essential reading for those interested in new and emerging literacy practices, New Literacies maps the contours of on- and off-line participation and how it is transforming learning and communication. This book provides the necessary theoretical background and illustration of practice for a radical re-appraisal of how we think about literacy and literacy education."
Guy Merchant, Professor of Literacy in Education, Faculty of Development and Society, Sheffield Hallam University

The new edition of this popular book takes a fresh look at what it means to think of literacies as social practices. The book explores what is distinctively 'new' within a range of currently popular everyday ways of generating, communicating and negotiating meanings. Revised, updated and significantly reconceptualised throughout, the book includes:

• Closer analysis of new literacies in terms of active collaboration
• A timely discussion of using wikis and other collaborative online writing resources
• Updated and expanded accounts of digital remix and blogging practices
• An explanation of social learning and collaborative platforms for social learning
• A fresh focus on online social networking
• A new batch of discussion questions and stimulus activities

The importance of social learning for becoming proficient in many new literacy practices, and the significance of new media for expanding the reach and potential of social learning are discussed in the final part of the book. New Literacies 3/e concludes by describing empirical cases of social learning approaches mediated by collaborative learning platforms.

This book is essential reading for students and academics within literacy studies, cultural or communication studies and education.

Colin Lankshear is a freelance researcher and writer based in Mexico. He is currently an adjunct professor at James Cook University, Australia, and McGill and Mount St Vincent Universities, Canada.

Michele Knobel is Professor of Education at Montclair State University, USA.