AbstractNumerous scholars have called for a paradigm shift in lower-level postsecondary
language programs from a focus on communicative language teaching and oral
language development to curriculum and instruction grounded in text-based
teaching and learning through multiliteracies pedagogy. Empirical research provides
insights into the feasibility, linguistic outcomes, and perceptions of multiliteracies
approaches, yet few studies have investigated how teachers learn about and
implement multiliteracies pedagogy. This year-long case study examines the discourse
of three nontenure-track Spanish faculty to understand the nature of their
discourse around multiliteracies pedagogy and whether that discourse reflects
prevailing ideologies (i.e., conventionalized ways of enacting beliefs and practices)
about communicative language teaching. Through multi-cycle, descriptive coding
of six course-level meetings and two sets of interviews with each participant, the
concepts from communicative language teaching and multiliteracies pedagogy
manifested in the data were identified and analyzed in relation to each participant’s
personal history. Results reveal that prevailing ideologies from communicative
language teaching were present in all three participants’ discourse around
multiliteracies pedagogy, although in different ways that reflected their personal
and formal learning experiences with both approaches. Findings are discussed in
light of previous research on teacher development, and implications for language
program direction are identified.