Based on Stein's and Tan's readings, the following is my take on the gist of what I have read and understood:
"The purpose of language and literacy education is to provide a platform for pupils to fully participate in classrooms through the process of meaning-making or representing meaning regardless of their cultural or linguistic background. The equal opportunity provided by the education system will also empower every individual to communicate their identity by granting them a voice in any mode possible instead of marginalising them."
I have used the phrases "fully participate" and "equal opportunity" to describe what I understood of the reading because both Stein and Tan suggest the notion of 'inequality' when it comes to the way classroom lessons are delivered because most of the time, the information perpetuated in class would marginalise or exclude those who do not share the same cultural or linguistic background that the school values.
For example, in a discussion of Places of Interest, be it located in Singapore or more so, overseas. Given the scenario that Pupil A comes from a family who is well-travelled and had the opportunity to visit maybe Paris, Japan, and all the places of interest in Singapore and Pupil B who had just been to the Zoo with the school. Chances are that Pupil A would be in a better position to participate fully in the discussion as compared to Pupil B because the former would have more to share. This would lead to the silence of the latter's voice. Thus, I believe that here, with the introduction of multiliteracy pedagogy, if properly embraced and carefully delivered by the teacher, Pupil B will have a higher chance of being included in the discussion since the pedagogy underscores how "language meets with cultural and linguistic diversity" (Cope and Kalantzis In Tan, 2008).
Conclusively, both readings also propose how literacy and language education would "...empower every individual to communicate their identity by granting them a voice in any mode possible..."
because, in my opinion, when diversity in the classroom is seen as a valued quality, every pupil will be able to voice out their opinion in their preferred mode – verbally, linguistically, visually or best still, integrating the different modes into a digital story.
