In this episode of The Multiliterate Mind, we sit down with Dr. Agustín Reyes-Torres, professor at the University of Valencia and a leading voice in literacy education, multiliteracies, multimodality, and second language teacher education. We explore how his journey teaching English and Spanish across Spain and the United States shaped his view that language is not only for communication, but also a pathway for learners to grow intellectually, emotionally, and academically. We dig into the idea that meaning is not “in” a text, but is created through the interaction between the reader and the text, drawing on Louise Rosenblatt’s transactional theory and the role of lived experience in interpretation.
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 📖
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