Description: In recent years, the concept of literacy has emerged as a common goal for collegiate foreign language curricula. Whereas traditional definitions of literacy focus on students’ ability to read and write, modern definitions entail the ability to interpret and create meaning in a range of sociocultural contexts through interaction with authentic target language texts of various genres. This broader definition suggests that literacy development encompasses all language modalities—reading, writing, listening, viewing, and speaking—and that these modalities overlap as learners interact with literary-cultural content to communicate meaningfully. In this presentation, I expand this definition and argue that interpersonal speaking is a viable pathway to foreign language literacy development at all levels of the undergraduate curriculum. Examples of instructional activities, grounded in multiliteracies pedagogy, illustrate how interpersonal speaking based in textual interaction contributes to students’ foreign language literacy and their engagement with literary-cultural content.

Kate Paesani (Ph.D., Indiana University) is Director of the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) and Affiliate Associate Professor in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on literacy-based curriculum and instruction and foreign language teacher development, couched within the frameworks of multiliteracies pedagogy and sociocultural theory. She has published on applications of multiliteracies pedagogy in collegiate foreign language programs, integrated language-literature instruction, foreign language program articulation, teacher conceptual development, and high-leverage teaching practices. She has also served as President of the American Association of University Supervisors and Coordinators (AAUSC), and is a 2016 recipient of Wayne State University’s Board of Governors Faculty Recognition Award for her co-authored book, A Multiliteracies Framework for Collegiate Foreign Language Teaching.