Multimodality

Multimodality is the incorporation of various modes— linguistic, aural, visual, gestural or spatial— in a written piece.

Tip for new teachers: Give students the chance to write and compose with different modes and to think about how to combine modes for greatest effect.

Why is this beneficial?

• Teaching composition needs to be relevant to students’ professional and personal needs. Most people will not be sitting down at their jobs or homes and writing papers with a pen and pencil; the activities of the writing classroom should adapt to and incorporate more forms of communication than traditional essay writing.

• “In an increasingly technological world, students need to be experienced and skilled not only in reading (consuming) texts employing multiple modes, but also in composing in multiple modes, if they hope to communicate successfully within the digital communication networks that characterize workplaces, schools, civic life, and span traditional cultural, national, and geopolitical borders.” -Self & Takayoshi

• In the words of Ray Gwyn Smith: “Who is to say that robbing a people of its language is less violent than war?” (Ray Gwyn Smith)

What does Multimodality look like in the ENC 1101 classroom?

• Using different media to explain and teach to students.

  • After doing a reading, perhaps watching a film adaptation can help students better comprehend the story

  • Listen to a podcast or watch a video on the author explaining the story or why they wrote it and did certain things in the story

• Have students explore a variety of modes through projects such as:

  • Zines

  • Podcasts

  • Infographics

  • Flyers/Posters

  • Comic Strips

  • Performance/Presentation

  • Movies

• Open-ended final, where students can either make a mini-movie based on a reading, make a podcast talking about the reading or having the characters discuss what happened (like breaking the 4th wall kind of thing), do a traditional essay, or anything else that can demonstrate comprehension of the readings. Can work in groups or individually.

Examples of multimodality:

Infographics:

Graphic medicine:

Podcasts:

Translation Moments: