From Proficiency to Multiliteracy with Dr. Agustín Reyes-Torres

We unpack what “multiliteracies” really means today: literacy as more than reading and writing, and instead a collection of social practices that help learners interpret and create meaning across modes like print, visuals, sound, gesture, space, and digital media. We talk about how teachers can lower barriers for learners by using multimodal texts like picture books, graphic novels, and storytelling practices that combine images, tone, expression, and guided questioning to support comprehension, confidence, and engagement. Dr. Reyes-Torres shares how he prepares preservice teachers to design learning sequences around picture books during teaching internships in diverse contexts, including multilingual urban classrooms and rural classrooms where multiple ages may learn together. We emphasize valuing students’ full linguistic repertoires, including heritage languages and dialect variation, as assets for meaning making. We also discuss AI as a tool that is already reshaping literacy education. Rather than pretending AI is not present, we explore using it ethically as a thinking partner to co-design learning pathways, personalize stories that reflect student identities, and deepen reflection through transparent prompting and documentation. We close with a powerful takeaway: literacy enables thinking, and thinking enables learning. If we want learners to transform knowledge rather than repeat it, multiliteracies must be at the center of language education.   Lit(T)erart, the research group: http://www.literart-researchgroup.com/ University of Valencia – https://www.uv.es/ Harvard Educational Review – https://hepg.org/her-home/ Middlebury Language Schools – https://www.middlebury.edu/language-schools/ University of Iowa – https://uiowa.edu/ Find Dr. Reyes-Torres on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/agustín-reyes-torres Dr. Reyes-Torres Book 📖  https://www.routledge.com/Multiliteracies-Multimodality-and-Learning-by-Design-in-Second-Language-Learning-and-Teacher-Education/Reyes-Torres-Brisk-Lacorte/p/book/9781032617008 00:00 Welcome + guest intro 01:31 Teaching journey and why it matters 04:24 Reader-text interaction and meaning making 07:22 Literacy as the foundation 10:48 Making literature accessible in L2 classrooms 12:44 Picture books, visual literacy, and teacher training 15:51 Multimodality beyond text and images 18:31 Multilingual classrooms and honoring repertoires 21:08 AI, ethics, and reflection-based learning 26:12 What multiliteracies means today 30:40 Digital literacy and student realities 41:48 Representation before communication 43:29 Final message for educators Be sure to follow and tag Avant, The Language Proficiency Company on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube!