This paper presents and discusses four arguments to expand the definition of literacy as follows: (1) the multimedia language of the screen has become the current vernacular; (2) the multimedia language of the screen is capable of constructing complex meanings independent of text; (3) the multimedia language of the screen enables modes of thought, ways of communicating and conducting research, and methods of publication and teaching that are essentially different from those of text; (4) those who are fully literate in the twenty-first century will be those who learn to both read and write the multimedia language of the screen.
multimedia; language of screen; literacy