"Representational Practices and Multimodal Communication" - Linda Harklau

Harklau, Linda. “Representational Practices and Multi-modal Communication in U.S. High Schools: Implications for Adolescent Immigrants.” Language Socialization in Bilingual and Multilingual Societies. Eds. Robert Bayley & Sandra Schecter. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2003. 83-97.

Harklau writes that "representations are to some extent an inevitable artifact of human meaning-making processes, and are generated in the context of institutional and societal discourses" (95-96).  While impossible to eliminate, representations have real impacts on students' identities and socialization and should therefore be recognized and interrogated for these effects to highlight individual agency for students in situations that position them at a disadvantage.

In her study of students in US high schools, representations from broader discourses included the following:

• colorblind representation- apolitical, students can develop unmarked identities
• "Ellis Island" mythological represenation- noble other
• linguistic deficit representation - off targeted standard, cognitive deficit

She also showed how multimodal communication practices lead to multiple & conflicting forms of socialization.  For example, during students and teachers' interaction, colorblind representations tended to be more common in face-to-face interaction, while "Ellis Island" representations tended to be encouraged and provided during written interaction.  Different types of socialization took place in advanced (parallel and coordinated modes) vs. remedial classes (redundant modes). 

This article brings more focus on the multi-modal resources of Harklau's study that was previously included in Second Language Writing.  It once again creates a strong connection between societal/institutional discourse, and student identities/representations.