Multimodality
Studies of multimodal work in this field include van Leeuwenvan;[9] Bateman and Schmidt;[10] and Burn and Parker's theory of the Kineikonic Mode.
Expressionist ways of thinking encouraged writers to find their voice outside of language by placing it in a visual, oral, spatial, or temporal medium.
[16] Donald Murray, who is often linked to expressionist methods of teaching writing once said, "As writers it is important that we move out from that which is within us to what we see, feel, hear, smell, and taste of the world around us.
Other researchers such as Linda Flower and John R. Hayes theorized that alphabetic writing, though it is a principal modality, sometimes could not convey the non-alphabetic ideas a writer wished to express.
Bezemer and Kress, two scholars on multimodality and semiotics, argue that students understand information differently when text is delivered in conjunction with a secondary medium, such as image or sound, than when it is presented in alphanumeric format only.
Jim Ridolfo coined the term rhetorical velocity to explain a conscious concern for the distance, speed, time, and travel it will take for a third party to rewrite an original composition.
This new method of editing and remediation is attributed to the evolution of digital text and publication, giving technology an important role in writing and composition.
[30] Within our modern digital discourse content has become accessible to many, remixable, and easily spreadable, allowing ideas and information to be consumed, edited, and improved by the general public.
[30] An example being Wikipedia, the platform allows free consumption and authorship of its work which in turn facilitates the spread of knowledge through the efforts of a large community.
[31] While text and image may exist separately, digitally, or in print, their combination gives birth to new forms of literacy and thus, a new idea of what it means to be literate.
This indicates that applying multimodality to instruction is found to yield overall better results in developing multiliteracy than conventional forms of learning when tested in real-life scenarios.
For example, in digital components of lessons, there are often pictures, videos, and sound bites as well as the text to help students grasp a better understanding of the subject.
[31][34][35] The application of visual literacy in English classroom can be traced back to 1946 when the instructor's edition of the popular Dick and Jane elementary reader series suggested teaching students to "read pictures as well as words" (p. 15).
[35] Multimodality in the college setting can be seen in an article by Teresa Morell, where she discusses how teaching and learning elicit meaning through modes such as language, speaking, writing, gesturing, and space.
Lombardi made grading criteria based on creativity, context, substance, process, and collaboration which was presented to the students prior to beginning the essay.
According to Fleitz, "This interaction is undeniably multimodal, as this network "makes do" with alternative forms of communication outside dominant discursive methods, in order to further and promote women's social and political goals."
Multimodality does not just encompasses tangible components, such as text, images, sound etc., but it also draws from experiences, prior knowledge, and cultural understanding.
As Pauwels notes, "the audience may be ignored, warned and offered apologies for the trivial content, directly addressed relating to personal stories, or greeted as highly appreciated publics that need to be entertained and invited to provide feedback.
Therefore, the idea is not about "embellishing" academic discourse with illustrative visual resources, but rather about enabling other ways of thinking, new associations; ultimately, new knowledge, arising from the interweaving of various verbal and nonverbal modes.
This is linked to the possibilities of enriching the forms of academic writing by appealing to non-linear textual development in addition to linear, and by tensioning image and text in their infinite possibilities of creating meaning (Mussetta, Siragusa & Vottero, 2020;[44] Lamela Adó & Mussetta, 2020;[45] Mussetta, Lamela Adó & Peixoto, 2021[46]) There is now an increasing number of fictional narratives that explore and graphically exploit the text and the materiality of the book in its traditional format for the construction of meaning: these are what some critics call multimodal novels (Hallet 2009, p. 129; Gibbons 2012b, p. 421, among others), but which also receive the name of visual or hybrid (Luke 2013, p. 21; Reynolds 1998, p. 169; Sadokierski 2010, p. 7).
[43] According to Luc Pauwels, a professor of communication studies at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, "the multimedia context of the Web provides private image makers and storytellers with an increasingly flexible medium for the construction and dissemination of fact and fiction about their lives.
"[43] This immaterial side of the family is better demonstrated through the use of multimodality on the Web because certain events and photographs can take precedence over others based on how they are organized on the site,[43] and other visual or audio components can aid in evoking a message.
[2] Murray shows a new way of thinking about composition, allowing images to be "sensuous and emotional" symbols of what they do represent, not focusing so much on the "conceptual and abstract."
Murray writes in his article, through the use of Richard Lanham's The Electronic World: Democracy, Technology, and the Arts, is an example of multimodality how "discursive text is in the center of everything we do," going on to say how students coexist in a world that "includes blogs, podcasts, modular community web spaces, cell phone messaging…", urging for students to be taught how to compose through rhetorical minds in these new, and not-so-new texts.
Often likened to Microsoft PowerPoint, Prezi is a cloud-based presentation application that allows users to create text, embed video, and make visually aesthetic projects.
The literacy of the emerging generation changed, becoming accustomed to text circulated in pieces, informally, and across multiple mediums of image, color, and sound.
Educators had to change their teaching practices to include multimodal lessons in order to help students achieve success in writing for the new millennium.
Corporate advertising concerns itself with the idea that "Companies are likely to appeal to a broader audience and increase sales through search engine optimization, extensive keyword research, and strategic linking.
[69] One of the current digital application of multimodality in the field of education has been developed by James Gee through his approach of effective learning through video games.
It is also used in the media mainstream, considering the increasing number of projects that motivate members of the online community to create and share their digital stories.
