Revision as Method for Reshaping Multimodal Pedagogy in First-Year Composition
Revision as Method for Reshaping Multimodal Pedagogy in First-Year Composition
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Date
2023
Authors
Alexander, Biven
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Middle Tennessee State University
Abstract
From online classrooms to Instagram posts, podcasts, and portfolios, students
regularly interact with multiple modes of expression and communication. While students
habitually consume all manners of multimodal texts, they are increasingly expected to
produce them as well. Writing presciently from the 1990s, the New London Group
coined the term “multimodal,” which they define as any combination of audio, linguistic,
spatial, visual, and/or gestural modes (80). This group of scholars views combining
modes in “remarkably dynamic relationships” (80) as significant and note that “[i]n a
profound sense, all meaning-making is multimodal” (81).
Multimodal strategies are used in myriad ways in the composition classroom; yet,
these methods often reinforce print writing strategies rather than treating multimodal
composition as an independent form of expression. As a result, multimodal composing
becomes a throughway for students instead of their final destination, a step to take on the
way to writing the “real” paper or a creative outlet permitted only after a print paper is
finished. In exploring this topic, my goal is to examine how multimodal composing is
currently positioned in First-Year Composition classrooms through two data points: a
discourse analysis of the course descriptions of 14 Tennessee universities and the results
of a survey conducted at Middle Tennessee State University. Based on this data, I then
explore how multimodal forms of composing are often mapped onto traditional
composing processes, even when the two do not always align. I end by addressing
systemic barriers that continue to disrupt multimodal pedagogy.
Description
Keywords
Multimodality,
Pedagogy,
Rhetoric and Composition