Reading Beyond Words
Abstract
The introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the concept of literacy education by broadening meaning-making to encompass other practices of meaning-making except through texts. In this chapter, the author focuses on AI-mediated multimodal literacy, which focuses on how students comprehend and create meaning through text, image, sound, data, and interaction in digitally-enriched classrooms. Special focus is made on how Generative Artificial Intelligence (GEAI) can assist in multimodal composition, iterative design as well as creative exploration, but also provoke critical concerns about agency, authorship and fair use. Basing on the theoretical insights and the current educational trends, the chapter advocates the significance of teacher mediation towards the maintenance of critical interpretation and learner autonomy. It focuses on AI as a socio-technical actor in the changing ecologies of literacy and the necessity of human-centered, ethical, and reflective practices of literacy education in AI-enhanced ecologies.