Multimodality in the writing classroom refers to the use of different modes, such as written, oral, non-verbal, and visual, to communicate and persuade. Lutkewitte (2014) refers to multimodal composition as composition using multiple modes that work purposely to create meaning.
What does a multimodal class look like?
Through remediation, our students transform material that is in one genre or mode to another. They enhance their rhetorical skills and reflect on the process of creating and conveying ideas by preserving the original material, while adapting it to the requirements of the new form. By exposing students to the different ways and forms in which information and ideas can be communicated, our classes build on the language, visual and oral skills, and multicultural backgrounds of our students.
The future of multimodal classes
- How can we integrate multimodal composition into an existing curriculum?
- How can we tailor it for specific student populations?
- How do we assess the new types of work produced in electronic contexts?
As instructors, we will continue to engage with and explore these and other questions as we use some of the materials on this site and incorporate multimodality into our classes. As many of our ideas and our communication shift online, multimodality gives us an opportunity to make our classes relevant and engaging both for ourselves and for our students. Selfe (2009) writes that giving our students the choice of composing modalities offers us a chance to make instruction increasingly effective for those students from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds; furthermore, it also provides an opportunity to make our work increasingly relevant to a changing set of communicative needs in a globalized world.
Resources for Teaching
- Advice to Students on Preparing for Oral Presentations
- Composing a Multimodal Reflection
- Creating an Oral Presentation Rubric
- Creating and Presenting Posters
- Debates
- Effective Visual Presentations
- Individual in Community (ELL)
- Oral Presentations
- Oral Presentations for Multilingual Students (ELL)
- Picture Prompts for Online Classes
- Video and Audio Post-Production with Adobe Products
- Video Presentation and Reflections
- Video Production on Kaltura/MyMedia
- Video Production Using Other Tools
- Visual Representation of Texts
Further Reading
- Lutkewitte, Claire. Multimodal Composition: A Critical Sourcebook. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013.
- Selfe, Cynthia L. “The Movement of Air, the Breath of Meaning: Aurality and Multimodal Composing.” College Composition and Communication, vol. 60, no. 4, 2009, pp. 616–663.