Reimagining practice through broadening notions of literacy: implications for the preparation of TESOL teachers

In this paper we explore the relevance of a "futures-orientated" view of literacy as proposed in Literate Futures: Report of the Literacy Review for Queensland State Schools (Education Queensland, 2000a). This report has much to offer Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). With its emphasis on "New Times and New Literacies" it promotes a broad view of literacy that goes beyond the traditional use of print and spoken text to include multi-mediated modes. In addition, we investigate the application of the "Four Resources" model (Freebody and Luke, 1990) as a framework to guide the preparation of teachers of TESOL. This model encourages a comprehensive view of literacy practices for TESOL teachers particularly in terms of its inclusion of the text analyst role, which in adopting a critical literacy focus, prepares TESOL teachers to detect and counteract some of the potentially destructive effects of the global spread of English.