Literacy and Social Media: Does Social Media Change the Way Literacy Works?
“Did you see what Kelly tweeted last night?!” This sort of statement is a common thing to hear in a classroom. Social media is a center point in a lot of people’s lives, not just students. But does the 140 character limit on Twitter or quick caption on Instagram change the way literacy works?
Literacy events as a definition is anything with written text (Lewis, 2005, P. 273). Therefore, these tweets and captions on pictures throughout different social medias are all part of literacy. Literary practices are the inferring from literary events as well as other social and cultural happenings (Lewis, 2005, P. 273). This being said, the photos and actions of social media users all play a part in this broader term of “literacy”. Looking at these definitions, it seems apparent that social media is in a way a modern literacy. If this is the new literacy, it seems silly that some educators and other community members are so against it.
Instead of fighting it, let’s make it work for us
The social and cultural aspect of literacy practices ties right in with the ever changing world of social media. This is what we all do on a daily basis. Having the teacher and students interacting on different sites help to create a more engaging learning environment (Rinaldo, 2011, p 193). In Rinaldo, Tapp, and Laverie’s article, they talk about how much engaging with each other on twitter has created a better face-to-face learning environment while in class (2011, p 193). This is because students become more comfortable and are more willing to participate in class. It is heard time and time again that it tends to be easier to say things on Social Media, phrases that one may be scared to share face-to-face. This interaction helps students to get to know each other as people rather than just classmates and teacher/professor (Rinaldo, 2011, p. 194). It only makes sense to incorporate Twitter.
Other ways to incorporate Twitter:
>Share links to supporting reading materials
>Keep in touch with parents throughout the day
> Remind students of upcoming assignments
These ways that Twitter helps to support the classroom are fantastic tools, but how do they coincide with literacy? In a TED talk done by Andrew Fitzgerald, he talks about how Twitter is a wonderful tool for short story writing. It can help with experimentation of writing (Fitzgerald, 2014). Not only can social media help with brainstorming/storyboarding, it also is a tool for actually writing. There are constantly news articles, lists, pictures, short paraphrases with lots of emotion written or linked on these sites. This is literacy; Reading and making sense of all this information.
Although from those definitions, it seems as though social literacy is different from reading a book. These types of literacy should not be separated (Davies, 2012, p 22). They should be interlinked, they are after all, both literacy. Although social media, such as Facebook, does create a new definition of literacy (Davies, 2012, p19), literacy is still literacy. Since the definition is changing, so should the way it is taught. We no longer live in a world of just paper books. There is a whole new world- an entire universe- because of technology and social media now plays a huge part in this. This technology gives us the opportunity to tell stories in a different way (Fitzgerald, 2014). Not only does society now have the opportunity to change story-telling, there is now this responsibility of having to determine what is relevant and what is not. Along with determining importance, it is still crucial to know how to and be able to use different comprehension strategies with both Social Media and a textbook.
Mix It Up!
In order to make sure that the two different ways of literacy are not separated, using both mediums is important. Interviews can be done on twitter with authors while a student is reading a book by that author ( Fox, 2013, p 1). The possibilities are endless! Literacy is no longer just about text, it is now about content (Davies, 2012, p 20). Whether that context is about Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc., there is room for interpretation. It is so easy to combine any of these technologies with what could be considered “traditional literacy”.
Social media has changed the way that literacy works. Whether students are skimming through their Twitter or reading a text book, there are different ways to comprehend this information. As educators, it is important to give students the resources and knowledge to be able to differentiate the types of reading. Practicing and teaching students how to skim, how to ask question, how to determine relevance, etc., is very important to help everyone continue flowing through the technology changes smoothly rather than fighting it. These inventions can only help us grow as long as we try and make Social Media a part of this ongoing, continuous growth.
Resources:
Davies, J. (2012). Facework on Facebook as a new literacy practice. Computers & Education, (59), 19–29.
Fitzgerald, A (2013). Adventures in Twitter Fiction. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6ZzmqDMhi0
Fox, K (2013). Twitter in the Classroom. New Chalk Talk (13).ؘ
Lewis, C., Fabos, B. (2005). Instant Messaging, literacies, and social identities. Reading Research Quarterly, 40 (4), 470–501.
Rinaldo, S. B., S. Tapp, and D. A. Laverie. (2011). Learning by tweeting: Using Twitter as a pedagogical tool. Journal of Marketing Education, 33(2), 193–203.
