Responding to Change in the Teaching of Literacies: Creating a 'Design for the Future'

In our multimodal world, the definition of text has undergone radical change as technology has challenged the place of the book. Inevitably, the digital culture impacts on authors and illustrators and influences how they might develop verbal and visual narrative. Such change gives rise to new reader expectations dictated by this screen-age culture. This article raises the question whether the skills of interpretation and construction currently taught in schools, using a plethora of literacy, offers appropriate strategies to deal with a world that is no longer predominantly language-based. By 'reading' a picturebook it invites questions about what might inform the future focus of tertiary programs for pre-service and practising teachers.