Framing Equitable Classroom Practices: Potentials of Critical Multimodal Literacy Research

This article presents an illustrative case study to explore the classroom potentials of critical multimodal literacy. We feature Marcela’s multimodal response to demonstrate how she engaged with visual and textual tools for learning. Illustrative cases are especially useful to explore a particular issue and often involve in-depth analysis of qualitative data that represents theoretical constructs or significant findings. Critical multimodal literacy is a framework that we developed from a synthesis of the research literature to describe the ways that children use tools (e.g., sketches, videos) for personal meaning-making, critique, and agentive learning in classrooms. Findings from the critical analysis of a young Latina fourth-grader’s multimodal production illuminate our framework, which consists of the following four components: communicate and learn with multimodal tools; restory, represent, and redesign; acknowledge and shift power relationships; and leverage multimodal resources to critique and transform sociopolitical realities all seen through an equity lens. We conclude with implications for how this critical multimodal literacy framework can promote equitable classroom practices that expand the literacy learning of all students.