Literacy and Multimodality | Twenty-first Century literacy practices require the ability to “read” and “write” complex texts comprised of multiple modes including linguistic, visual, audial, and gestural. Pedagogical designs must now take into consideration how a range of modalities might contribute to meaning-making alongside and interrelated with, rather than subordinate to, language. In this view, multimodal meaning-making practices in the diverse backgrounds of students must be considered for their educational potential rather than as incidental background to linguistic practices. This interest is broad-based, extends across international borders and linguistic communities. It is driven by more than three decades of research in education, in linguistics and semiotics, and in fields as diverse as internet and communication studies and has led those within the field of language and literacy education to rethink how meaning is made in contemporary classrooms and the world beyond. Topics for this seminar include: literacy and multimodality as social practices; perspectives from New Literacy Studies, multiliteracies, and new literacies; multimodal storytelling; gaming and multimodal learning; rethinking “the basics” in literacy education; multimodality and “funds of knowledge”; multimodality, multilingualism, identity texts, and pedagogical practices; multimodality and ethnography; and visual interpretation and analysis.