Abstract
The research on which the discussion in this chapter is based brings together French and Quebec researchers who, based on their field of disciplinary expertise (languages, arts and history), reflect on literacy as an essential condition for access to critical knowledge. The primary school classroom, which is traditionally based on the teaching/learning of a variety of subject content and skills, has been chosen as the focus for reflection. The latter takes into account the current media and multimodal dimension of communication (Lacelle, Boutin and Lebrun, 2017; Lacelle, Lebrun, Boutin, Richard and Martel, 2015; Lebrun, Lacelle and Boutin, 2012) and the use in the classroom of the novel device of cultural surveys (Sala, Villagordo and Halimi, 2015). Based on multimodal ensembles (Boutin, 2015; Boutin and Martel, 2018; Domingo, Jewitt and Kress, 2015; Sérafini, 2014) such as comics, illustrated albums, plastic and visual works, films, video games, websites, etc., with a historical background, we examine the relationship between art, historical culture and literacy that is forged as a result of "multimodal reading" experiences, With history as a backdrop, we look at the relationship between students and art, historical culture and literacy that develops as a result of 'multimodal reading' experiences in the context of cultural investigations. The aim of the discussion in this chapter is to lay the foundations for interdisciplinary language/arts/history cultural education. To this end, this chapter is structured around four parts: 1) contextualisation of the reflection undertaken; 2) account of the theoretical and practical experiments carried out around the device of cultural enquiry and the integration of multimodality; 3) presentation of the findings emerging from the reflective approach undertaken; 4) proposal of a five-stage pathway for carrying out multimodal cultural enquiries aimed at interdisciplinary and cultural education.