girl I'll call Lisa is on the telephone and is facing the computer, her back to the door, as I enter the room. The television is on; it's a game show of some sort. She turns slightly, smiles, and waves as I toss the bag filled with video cameras, tapes, tripod, and notebooks onto the couch that dominates the small former bedroom that now serves as the television/computer room for Lisa's family. She then turns back to the computer, snugs the telephone receiver beneath her left ear, and begins typing. She appears to ignore me as I fumble about the room setting up my two cameras, although she does glance at me and giggle as I trip over a cord and nearly send a camera crashing to the floor. I finally end up placing one camera in front of the couch and focus it on Lisa. I perch the other camera on a bookshelf to the right of Lisa and focus it on the computer screen. I then settle into a nearby chair to take field notes. It is my intent to capture the moment-to-moment composition of instant messages as well as Lisa's interaction with the physical world that surrounds her.Although research into the instant messaging and other digital literacy practices of adolescents has been conducted before (see Lam, 2000;Lewis & Fabos, 2000), it is my desire to further develop the understandings of digital literacies that have been developed from interviews, observation, and logs through a study of the interactional nature of instant messaging. My research agenda is inspired by linguist anthropologists', conversation analysts', and critical discourse analysts' study of talk-in-interaction as well as by those in the New Literacy Studies who are exploring the situated nature of literacy both in school and out of school. Furthermore, my research is guided by Leander's (2002) argument that digital A 394 395 THIS COMMENTARY discusses the methodological challenges of researching the intersection of online and offline activities of an adolescent girl engaged in instant messaging. If the New Literacy Studies stance that literacy practices are locally situated is accepted, a methodology for interrogating the multiple online and offline contexts that overlap in an activity, such as instant messaging, needs to be developed. Specifically, this commentary discusses the challenges of collecting data from overlapping physical and virtual worlds and transcribing those data in ways that show how multiple contexts inform each other. Although the methodological issues remain open, the author suggests that addressing these issues can provide insight into how young people negotiate multiple, simultaneous contexts and activities. Commentary:Complicating contexts: Issues of methodology in researching the language and literacies of instant messaging ESTE COMENTARIO discute los desafíos metodológicos de investigar la intersección de las actividades en línea y fuera de línea de una adolescente involucrada en la situación comunicativa de mensajes instantáneos. Si se acepta la postura de los Nuevos Estudios sobre Alfabetización (New Literacy Studies) acerca de ...

The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of adolescent use of instant messaging. Grounded in the New Literacy Studies stance that literacy is a social practice embedded in local contexts and informed by global ideologies (Street, 1995), I argue that participation in digital literacies such as instant messaging has implications for how wired youth are being prepared for participation in today's society. By using cultural historical activity theory and the activity system (Engeström, 1987a;Engeström & Middleton, 1996; University of Helsinki Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research, n.d.) as the unit of analysis, I posit that instant messaging provides a space for participation in the roles of text producer, consumer, and distributor. Drawing on Gee's (2000aGee's ( , 2000cGee's ( , 2000d descriptions of fast capitalism and shape-shifting portfolio people, I suggest that the 3 text roles contribute to the participant's portfolio or collection of attributes, achievements, and skills that can be rearranged to meet the demands of changing contexts.

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In this column, the author considers critiques of multiliteracies in light of the impact of the seminal article, A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures. The author argues that the concept of multiliteracies has been reified and the original meaning of multi has been lost over the years. Particular attention is paid to Leander and Boldt's 2013 article that critiques the multiliteracies framework as being text‐centric and overly rational. Consideration of Leander and Boldt's argument indicates that the multiliteracies framework should be used judiciously when analyzing youth's interactions with texts. Additionally, the author suggest that it is time to reimagine multiliteracies if we are to move forward in supporting youth as they develop the skills to thrive in an information based, multiliterate world.

A case study of an adolescent girl provides a framework to understand what factors contribute to the development of a strong writer within an instant messaging world. The study shows instant messaging is one of a larger repertoire of practices. Facility in school‐based writing was developed through a school culture that supported writing in the content areas, authentic purposes for writing, modeling by teachers who are members of the writing and arts community, and metacognitive awareness of authorial choices in lexicon, diction, voice, conventions, and mechanics when writing. The author uses the participant's educational experience to develop recommendations to help teachers address the concern of nonstandard conventions appearing in student writing. توفّر حالة دراسية لمراهقة إطاراً لفهم العوامل التي تساهم في تنمية كاتبة قوية في عالم يتمثل فيه المراسلة الفورية. ويبيّن هذه الدراسة أن المراسلة الفورية هي ممارسة من ذخيرة الممارسات الكبيرة. إن المهارة في الكتابة المفعولة في المدرسة كانت تتطور من خلال ثقافة المدرسة التي دعمت الكتابة في مجالات المحتوى والأغراض الحقيقية للكتابة والتمثيل على يد الأساتذة الذين يمثلون أعضاء مجتمع الكتابة والفنون والوعي بما وراء المعرفة بشأن خيارات المؤلف حيال المفردات والكلمات المناسبة والصوت والمعايير والأوجهة الوظيفية عند الكتابة. لذا يستخدم المؤلف تجربة الطالبة التعليمية لتطوير اقتراحات تساعد المدرّسين في توجيه الاهتمام بالمعايير غير المعتادة التي تظهر في كتابة الطالب. 这个案研究是以一位青少年女学生为研究对象，提供一个理论框架，以帮助理解在即时收发通讯的世界里，什么是有助发展卓越写作者的因素。这研究显示，即时收发通讯，只是许许多多文化实践的其中一种。透过学校文化，以学校为本的写作设施得以发展起来。这学校文化支持和鼓励在学科范畴的写作和为真实目的而写作；有身为写作及文学社区成员的教师示范如何写作；并着重写作者對选用词汇、措辞、语态、常规和写作技术细节等方面的元认知意识。本文作者根據参与研究者学习经验的分析結果作出建议，帮助教师解决学生在写作中所出现不符合传统标准规格的问题。 L'étude de cas d'une adolescente fournit un cadre pour comprendre quels facteurs aident à devenir un bon scripteur dans un monde de SMS. L'étude montre que les SMS ne sont qu'un élément d'un répertoire plus vaste de pratiques. L'aisance dans l'écriture scolaire résulte d'une culture scolaire qui fait appel à l'écriture dans différentes matières, procure des buts d'écriture authentiques, est modelée par des enseignants qui font partie de la communauté des gens de lettres et d'arts, et par une conscience métacognitive des choix que l'auteur opère dans le lexique, la diction, la voix, les conventions, et le tracé en situation d'écriture. L'auteur utilise l'expérience éducative du participant pour faire des recommandations afin d'aider les enseignants à faire face à la question des conventions non standard qui apparaissent dans l'écriture des élèves. Кейс‐исследование развития девочки‐подростка помогает понять, какие факторы являются значимыми в ее становлении как автора письменного текста в современном “мире sms”. Исследование показывает, что эсэмэски – лишь один из множества способов выражения себя посредством письменной речи. Становление умений и навыков письма, необходимых для прохождения школьной программы, происходит на предметных занятиях; при постановке перед учениками аутентичных целей, благодаря моделированию самого процесса письма учителем, который является член...