Adbusters: Raising Remix Literacy Skills
How do we engage students to learn English while using their ‘remix literacy’ skills? By ‘remix literacy’ we mean the ability to take existing content and make something totally new. Memes are an example of this as people write their own text over a famous picture. Try this lesson and students will:
- analyse some remixed images
- discuss the role of advertising in our lives
- practice ‘wh’ question forms
- create their own remixed image
Why the focus on remix literacy? This quote sums up the value clearly:
In opening up space for remix in our classrooms, we give students the opportunity to speak out about both major and minor issues that matter to them. The bigger issues might be social, political or environmental (with the last of these representing a relatively safe option in contexts where student social or political activism is risky or unwelcome). Because it entails a reconceptualisation and reworking of its constituent materials, remix presupposes a critical approach. But unlike the more traditional ‘media literacy’ on which it builds, remix goes beyond critique by shifting the emphasis from consumption to production, thereby giving students agency and allowing them to propose their own alternative, sometimes even multiple, viewpoints.
Dudeney, G., Hockly, N. and Pegrum, M. (2013) Digital Literacies. Routledge. pp 11-14
Click here for the lesson.
