Mid Sweden University

Modern society is characterised by change. Humans’ ways of communicating have changed in many ways due to society’s social, linguistic, cultural and textual plurality. The digitalisation of society has contributed considerably to the changed conditions for communication and representation that have emerged. Given these new conditions, it is crucial to increase the body of knowledge about how digital resources shape possibilities for students’ participation in text activities in school. The purpose of this thesis was to increase the understanding about the role of digital resources for middle school students' meaning-making as they create text in school. The theoretical point of departures includes multimodal social semiotics and multiliteracies. The participants included 111 Swedish middle school students. A multiple methods design was used in this thesis and included multimodal text analysis, interviews, a survey and multimodal analysis of video observations. Four studies were conducted. Overall, the results of the thesis indicated that the use of digital resources enabled students to create texts on more equal terms an dactively participate in writing activities. When designing texts with access to multiple modes, students used digital resources and various modes in diverse ways. Some students chose to use only writing, whereas others utilised the whole range of available resources. Students appeared to choose modes based on previous experiences and modal preferences. The availability of multiple modes during the digital text design process could mean that some students’ text design experiences in the home environment were recognised in the school context. For a few students, the allowances offered by digital and modal resources enabled them to actually create stories, which was rather difficult when using the mode of writing alone. An analysis of the content of students’ texts indicated that many students were influenced by the popular culture texts that they engaged with in informal settings. The pedagogical implications for literacy practices include and recognising students’ experiences from engaging with texts in informal settings, whether popular or not, in the classroom environment to connect students’ life and classroom experiences. This form of education is built on plurality and students’ resources.