The omnipresence of digital and multimodal communication practices in our lives leads to a call for new perspectives on the primacy of language and on what should be taught in language and literacy education. Despite the growing interest in multimodal composing, the investigation of L2 students’ multimodal composing is still under-explored. This study investigated the multimodal composing activities of Thai university students in one EFL classroom. Based on a social semiotic approach to multimodality (Bezemer & Kress, 2016; Kress, 2010) and multiliteracies (the New London Group, 1996), it examined the students’ multimodal texts and their composing processes to gain insights into how the students composed multimodally and into their transformative engagement processes when making and remaking signs across the texts. The primary data is different types of texts that the students produced as part of their final project, i.e. a short summary, a poster, and an oral presentation of their designed innovative product. The complementary data, including a background information questionnaire, audio and screen recordings of the composing processes, and interview responses, were collected to understand the context and potential reasons underlying the students’ semiotic choices. The analysis of two focal groups reveals that multimodal composing is not a simple addition of modes. Despite the range of modes available, it was found that the students were not always aware of the meaning potentials of different modes and the complex interplay between the modes and the meaning represented in the signs they made. Moreover, it shows that multimodal composing opened opportunities for students to connect their out-of-class experiences and resources to classroom assignments. The findings highlight the need for teachers in the 21st century to not only expand a range of modes in the learning environment but also develop students’ understanding and recognition of how different modes offer specific ways to configure the world and the interrelation as a complex whole.

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Abstract Summary
The omnipresence of digital and multimodal communication practices leads to a call for new perspectives on the primacy of language and what should be taught in language and literacy education. This study investigated the multimodal composing activities of Thai university students in one EFL classroom. Based on social semiotics (Bezemer & Kress, 2016) and multiliteracies (the New London Group, 1996), it examined the students’ multimodal texts and their composing processes to gain insights into how the students composed multimodally and their transformative engagement processes when making and remaking signs. The analysis of two focal groups reveals that multimodal composing is not a simple addition of modes. The findings highlight the need for teachers to not only expand a range of modes in the learning environment but also develop students’ understanding and recognition of how different modes offer specific ways to configure the world and the interrelation as a complex whole.

Authors:
Pattaramas Jantasin, Newcastle University, United Kingdom

About the Presenter(s)
Ms Pattaramas Jantasin is a University Doctoral Student at Newcastle University in United Kingdom

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