“Heroes Like Me”—Envisioning Possibilities for Enacting Culturally Inclusive Digital Multimodal Literacies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21400403 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Akinkunmi Oseni (0009-0000-6193-8893, Department of Teacher Education Michigan State University East Lansing Michigan USA, corresponding author), Vaughn W M Watson (0000-0003-2865-7736, Department of Teacher Education Michigan State University East Lansing Michigan USA) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-07 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | TESOL Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0039-8322 • E-ISSN: 1545-7249 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/tesq.70183 |
| OpenAlex | W7167596547 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 49 |
In fostering asset‐based literacy and language teaching in classroom and digital spaces, this study draws on OmoBerry, an educational YouTube channel, to demonstrate how educators can enact culturally inclusive digital multimodal language and literacy instructions with African immigrant youth. This inquiry illustrates how such a lens offers possibilities for integrating African systems of knowing and being with digital multimodal resources toward envisioning asset‐based education for African and African immigrant children. In conceptualizing a framework for culturally inclusive digital multimodal literacies, the study used grounded theory to analyze how OmoBerry videos provide pedagogical affordances for using African cultural semiotics and digital multimodal compositions including African digital storytelling and cultural artifacts as pedagogical resources for teaching African immigrant and Black children. Our findings show that asset‐based digital multimodal instructions centering African onto‐epistemic knowledge systems have the potential to foster culturally inclusive teaching through Sankofa; disrupt singular notions of language and literacy learning; and affirm sustainable literacy practices among African immigrant and Black children within the USA and globally. We recommend that educators and researchers invest in inclusive digital multimodal literacy instructions such as those demonstrated in OmoBerry YouTube videos, toward fostering asset‐based language and literacy teaching, cultural and linguistic justice, and participatory learning experiences for African immigrant youth
Affordance · Citizen journalism · Digital Literacy · Digital Storytelling · Immigration · Languages of Africa · Literacy · Participatory action research · Social semiotics · Digital Storytelling and Education · Literacy, Media, and Education · Multilingual Education and Policy
Linguistic Justice
Fundamentals of Qualitative Research
Understanding youths’ civic participation online
I’m Still Nigerian
“Africans Do Not Fail”
Navigating Black Racial Identities
White Ignorance in Global Education
Challenging “Dem European Teachings in My African School”
Understanding computational thinking in the gameplay of the African Songo board game
Reframing Blackness and Black Solidarities through Anti-colonial and Decolonial Prisms
Representations of Africans in Popular Video Games in the U.S
Cultural and linguistic experiences of immigrant youth
Social media identities of African immigrant youth
The Emergence of Sankofa Practice in the United States
Translating Blackness through youth language learning in the Dominican Republic
Unlocking the Cage
Writing globally
More than My Race
Textbooks, Literacy, and Citizenship
Towards decolonial praxis
Locating a pedagogy of love
Teaching Black Immigrant Students in Urban Schools
Digital Storytelling With Youth From Refugee Backgrounds
Multilingual Interactions and Learning in High School ESL Classrooms
Decolonizing Academic Writing Pedagogies for Multilingual Students
Addressing Anti‐Black Racism in English Language Teaching
Pluriversal Literacies
Black Educators’ Racial Identity Attitudes and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Toward Participatory Communal Citizenship
Afrocentricity
I Just Don’t Know What to Do!” Teacher Preparedness for Multilingual Students of Immigrant and Refugee Background
The Power of Constructivist Grounded Theory for Critical Inquiry
Qualitative Quality
Puras Groserías
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |