six themes are outlined below and then each theme is discussed more fully. The first
three themes focus on the representational and Communicational modes of new
technology. The second three themes focus on student engagement and practices with
such applications.
The first theme is the multimodal character of new technology. I focus on the range
of modes used in different applications, and the compositional arrangement of these
modes on screen to explore how these shape learning. In particular I show that modes
are central to the shaping of curriculum entities, to what it means to be a learner, and
to classroom practices. The second theme that I develop in the thesis is the role of
language (speech and writing) in many new technology applications. I examine the
role of writing and the role of speech as these appear on the computer screen to show
that writing is increasingly drawn on as a visual resource and that the role of language
is less central to the screen than it has been on the page. The third theme that runs
through the thesis is the design of modal relations on screen. I explore how the
arrangement of different modes in the applications analysed in this thesis attends to
different aspects of the construction of curriculum entities.
The fourth theme I discuss is the need to understand the engagement of students with
new technology as multimodal. In order to explore the effect on learning of a range of
modes made available via new technologies (as they appear on screen) I analyse the
activity of students with new technologies from a multimodal perspective. The fifth
theme is the multimodal character of learning. Through the multimodal analysis of
instances of technology-mediated learning I explore learning as a complex
multimodal activity in which the modes of speech or writing are involved among a
number of modes, and show how the multimodal practices of students via
technology-mediated learning re-shape practices. This approach questions the notion
of literacy as a purely linguistic accomplishment, and highlights the need to re-think
what literacy means in a multimodal (and digital) environment. Literacy, what it
means to be literate, is the sixth and final theme that weaves its way through the
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