Media Literacy in a Digital Age

Abstract

New possibilities of representation through the use of multiple modes has challenged language's power as a dominant means to express meanings. Multimodal communication is now becoming the norm in the modern era of communication and Internet. Diverse forms of media exist and are combined in different ways to create new meanings though what constitutes media (media language or visual grammar), and the motivations behind design often remain transparent to users. The increase and diversity in different forms of representation other than written or spoken language also bring along changes in the field of literacy. In this chapter, the main focus is on Multimodal Social Semiotics —the theory of communication formed by Kress and his colleagues. The new language of multimodality and design builds on what it means to be media literate and has significant implications for media literacy education. This chapter's focus is on the basics of reading multimodal texts and the connection between new literacy and media literacy studies based on Multimodal Social Semiotics Theory.