Legitimate Differences, Expanding Literacies: Eight People Making Digital Videos

173 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007.The purpose of this study was to aid in the evaluation of the shift to include multiliteracies in secondary classrooms. Using a participant-observer, qualitative study design, I described what six students said and did while creating digital videos for their high-school newspaper classroom. I discovered that some participants underwent all aspects of literate composing, that each engaged in many aspects of orthographic rhetorical thinking, and that each additionally engaged in visual, audio, and transactional rhetorical thinking. I also found that while digital video represented a legitimate form of literacy, it required a level of attention to concrete problem solving that I had not encountered in traditional orthographic assignments. Using study data and published studies, I argued that the level of concrete problem solving found in digital video production diffuses attention to abstract argumentation and that writing tends to locate and communicate abstract ideas more precisely. I concluded by arguing that while digital video represents a legitimate form of literacy, it differs enough from writing that the two should not be viewed as fungible, but rather as modes that bring certain strengths and weaknesses to educational experiences. Moreover, I argued that English and language arts educators and students would benefit from thinking of themselves as compositionists who are able to apply elements of composition to a variety of communication modes.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD