Diverse Texts in Online Spaces
Online Multimodal Reading Strategies and Civic Engagement with Social Issues
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22044231 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hyoju Ahn (0000-0001-7257-8715, Northern Illinois University), Seunghoon Han (0000-0002-2239-662X, University of Northern Iowa) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 835 |
| Publication date | 2026-05-27 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Education Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2227-7102 • E-ISSN: 2227-7102 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/educsci16060835 |
| OpenAlex | W7162564317 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 26 |
This article reconceptualizes the notion of diverse texts in literacy education by extending it beyond traditional print-based materials to include online multimodal texts that integrate images, videos, and written language to engage students with social issues. Drawing on a case study of four sixth-grade students in South Korea, this study examines how elementary readers make meaning from multimodal online texts about child labor that contain visuals, videos, and written words. Multiple data sources including verbal protocols, screen-recorded reader–computer interactions, retrospective interviews, and written pre- and post-knowledge reports were analyzed to capture students’ strategic and civic engagement processes. Findings indicate that students employed a range of online multimodal reading strategies to comprehend texts while also demonstrating shifts in civic orientations, moving from personally responsible perspectives toward more participatory and justice-oriented stances. Although their reading paths differed, students grappled with issues of justice and inequality, suggesting that online multimodal reading can serve as a space for developing civic literacy practices. These findings position multimodal texts, which consist of more than one mode of representation, as a form of diverse texts that not only support comprehension but also foster civic learning, engagement, and children’s emerging civic agency in navigating complex social issues in digital environments
Citizen journalism · Civic engagement · Literacy · Multimodality · Reading comprehension · Child Development and Digital Technology · Literacy, Media, and Education · Multilingual Education and Policy
Citizenship Education and Global Migration
Multimedia Learning
Literacy in the New Media Age
Assessing children's reading comprehension on paper and screen
Learning to evaluate
Using Internet videos to learn about controversies
Examining the structure of credibility evaluation when sixth graders read online texts
Reading on the Internet
Critical Civic Education for Young Children
Child-focused civics
Redesigning Civic Education for the Digital Age
Exploring the online reading comprehension strategies used by sixth‐grade skilled readers to search for and locate information on the Internet
Toward a Multifaceted Heuristic of Digital Reading to Inform Assessment, Research, Practice, and Policy
Comprehending and Learning From Internet Sources
The New Literacies of Online Research and Comprehension
What Kind of Citizen? The Politics of Educating for Democracy
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |