Abstract
Bill Green and Catherine Beavis (eds.), Literacy in 3D: An integrated perspective in theory and practice. ACER Press: Victoria, 2012; 248 pp.
It is not very often when a framework written over 30 years ago is as relevant today as when it was first conceived. In the edited collection, Literacy in 3D: An integrated perspective in theory and practice, Bill Green and Catherine Beavis return to the Literacy 3D Model and contemporize it practically and theoretically. Bill Green’s 3D framework for literacy has stood the test of time and their edited collection extends his work, pushing the limits of its application. Catherine Beavis is an ideal co-editor for the collection given her significant research and writings on videogames and digital literacies.
Bill Green’s 3D model has three components to it – the cultural, the critical, and the operational. Approaching literacy as discovering and expressing meaning within a cultural context stands as Green’s cultural model. Stepping back, questioning, doing meta-analyses work with students on texts facilitate the second model, the critical. And, finally, focusing more on the skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening the operational model as the final of the three components works on technical communicative competence. The framework still works. So much so that the first chapter in the book is Green’s original article from 1988 reprinted with few substantive revisions and it can certainly be applied to contemporary issues in literacy teaching and learning.
The book is separated into three parts: past, present, and future applications of the 3D Model. The triadic structure also functions in three ways, looking at theory, practice, and research. Showing how the framework has been leveraged and taken up by researchers and teachers, the first part details the historical evolution of the 3D model. In the third chapter of the section, Beavis extrapolates on how influential Green’s model was at the time and how it continues to undergird so many influential policy initiatives such as the Digital Rhetorics project (Lankshear et al., 1997). Indeed, Green’s 3D Model has been featured throughout publications and policy documents over the years and Beavis aptly notes its power and reach over the years.
In the second part of the book, a variety of scholars present how they have operationalized the 3D Model in their own thinking and theorizing. With examples across age groups and curricular areas, the three dimensions of the model – the cultural, the critical, and the operational – underpin their theory and research. Of particular note is the beautifully written chapter by Nixon and Kerin providing detailed analysis of students applying the 3D model to their work in digital environments. O’Mara stretches the application of the 3D model into her work in drama and education and thereby demonstrates the 3D model’s flexible structure. Durrant moves the 3D model into media studies and secondary education. Faulkner, Ocean, and Jordan apply the 3D model within teacher education by using the 3D model to illustrate interdisciplinary teaching methods that intersect literacy, numeracy, and technology.
The book then moves gently into the 21 st century with Beavis showing how relevant the 3D model is for research on digital literacies and digital cultures. Sometimes English language learners are neglected within literacy education collections, which is why I particularly admire the inclusion of Tour’s study coupling the 3D model with the construct of “technoliteracy” and how misleading these kinds of constructs can be for language learners. One of the strongest chapters in the book is Snyder's and Beale’s interrogation of models in general – invoking other models such as Brian Street’s autonomous and ideological models – to show how generative models as conceptual frameworks can be for envisioning literacy.
It is tough to muster criticism for such a stellar collection as this one. I suppose the only critique might be that the book has a predominately Australian optic on the now-famous 3D model, but that is not such a bad thing given the air time that other contexts in the world get in terms of literacy research and scholarship. Besides, Australia has always been ahead of the curve in literacy research and theory. With Literacy in 3D, Green and Beavis offer the literacy community a tour de force that make it a key reading for anyone wishing to drill down deeper into ways of thinking about and, as Snyder and Beale say, envisioning literacy.