Selfe’s entire argument is like our other readings, in that it is not an either/or argument. Rather, she persuades that written composition should be treated as equally as aurality and multimodal composition. She gives her readers a history of the Western world’s bias. Speech and recitation were once valued above all else . . . until they weren’t, and the written word was worshiped and treated as the only true mark of knowledge and education. This shift marginalized minorities and excluded other valid forms of communication.
As Selfe explains in her article, aurality has an undeniable impact on society. New technologies are expanding the uses of multimodal composition (agreeing with our past authors’ observations). Unfortunately, academia equates the written word with intelligence. And with its resistance of technology’s digital wave, aurality is not valued the same as writing is.
Selfe’s call to action asks her readers to push for change in the field of education. Like Cope and Kalantzis, she recognizes the current multiliteracies and how they must be incorporated into education in order to better shape students that are fully equipped for today’s world. Her recount of minorities’ methods of survival, how they managed to compose throughout history in spite of oppression, provides evidence of how different groups of people communicate in various modes of meaning. This further stresses on how important it is that multimodal communication is considered when constructing curriculum.
ENG 333 Blog 