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In:Digital Social Reading and Second Language Learning and Teaching:
Edited by Joshua J. Thoms and Kristen Michelson
[AILA Applied Linguistics Series 21] 2024
► pp. 74–101

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Chapter 4
Incorporating mindfulness into multiliteracies pedagogy

Contemplative digital social reading and writing

 | The University of Texas at Austin
Published online: 17 October 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.21.04bly
Abstract
This chapter describes the distinctive state of mind of Mindfulness (also referred to as Contemplation) and argues for its inclusion in Multiliteracies pedagogy (Cope & Kalantzis, 2015). Contemplative literacy practices encourage instructors and learners to focus on the present moment, thereby deepening our understanding of reading and writing as processes. More specifically, the chapter reports on a Multiliteracies-inspired college-level course entitled “Narrating the Multilingual Self” during which L2 learners of French were guided to tell their “multilingual life story” (Edwards, 2019). Based on the premise that learners become the autobiographical narratives they construct about themselves, the course explored the diverse, intersectional experiences of French-speaking multilinguals. Following Barbezat and Bush (2014), contemplative reading and writing activities were employed to heighten the learners’ awareness of their own multilingual subjectivities and identities. In contrast to traditional digital social reading (DSR) assignments, contemplative forms of literacy oblige learners to “slow things down” by annotating, reading aloud and reflecting on the meanings and feelings engendered by texts. Similarly, contemplative digital writing (DSW) activities include freewriting, journaling, and annotating to promote greater self-awareness of meaning-making as a personal, creative act.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • L2 mindfulness studies
  • A French course on multilingual life writing
  • A contemplative approach to digital social reading (DSR)
  • Framing the classroom as a contemplative space
  • #AnnotatedSyllabus
  • Contemplative reading activities
  • A contemplative approach to digital social writing (DSW)
  • Freewriting, translanguaging, and perezhivanie
  • Writers annotating their own texts
  • Lessons learned
  • Contemplative reading vs. close reading
  • The efficacy of digital annotation tools (DATS)
  • Designing slow literacy
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • Appendix
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Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Thoms, Joshua J. & Mimoun Akhiat
2025. Using digital annotation tools to facilitate second language digital social reading. In Technology and Instructed Second Language Acquisition [Language Learning & Language Teaching, 63], ► pp. 185 ff. DOI logo

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