Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-gs9qr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-30T05:51:50.728Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Multimodal composing and second language acquisition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2023

Jungmin Lim Open the ORCID record for Jungmin Lim [Opens in a new window]  and
Matt Kessler Open the ORCID record for Matt Kessler [Opens in a new window]
Jungmin Lim*
Affiliation:
Dankook University, Republic of Korea
Matt Kessler
Affiliation:
University of South Florida, USA
*
Corresponding author. Email: jungminlim@dankook.ac.kr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Multimodal composing, which has sometimes been referred to synonymously as multimodal composition or multimodal writing, is the use of different semiotic resources (e.g., audio, visual, gestural, and/or spatial resources) in addition to linguistic text for making meaning. Notably, multimodal composing is neither a new type of writing nor a new area of research, with studies dating back to the early 2000s. In the domain of second language (L2) research, Tardy's (2005*) study on multimodal composition in academia was one of the earliest to bring attention to the nonlinguistic features of L2 written output. Even after this pioneering study, in the few years that followed, only a handful of studies further explored aspects of L2 learners’ multimodal compositions. However, over the past decade, the fields of applied linguistics and second language acquisition (SLA) have witnessed an explosion of interest in both its study and classroom applications, with teachers’ adoption of multiple modes becoming an indispensable part of their pedagogical toolkits (e.g., Kessler, 2022; Li, 2021; Zhang et al., 2021).

Information

Type
Research Timeline
Information
Language Teaching , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , April 2024 , pp. 183 - 202
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Belcher, D. (2017). On becoming facilitators of multimodal composing and digital design. Journal of Second Language Writing, 38, 80–85. doi:10.1016/j.jslw.2017.10.004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grapin, S. E., & Llosa, L. (2020). Toward an integrative framework for understanding multimodal L2 writing in the content areas. Journal of Second Language Writing, 47, Article 100711. doi:10.1016/j.jslw.2020.100711CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jewitt, C. (2008). Multimodality and literacy in school classrooms. Review of Research in Education, 32(1), 241–267. doi:10.3102/0091732X07310586CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiang, L. (2018). Digital multimodal composing and investment change in learners’ writing in English as a foreign language. Journal of Second Language Writing, 40, 60–72. doi:10.1016/j.jslw.2018.03.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiang, L., Yu, S., & Zhao, Y. (2022). Incorporating digital multimodal composing through collaborative action research: Challenges and coping strategies. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 31(1), 45–61. doi:10.1080/1475939X.2021.1978534CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kessler, M. (2020). Technology-mediated writing: Exploring incoming graduate students’ L2 writing strategies with activity theory. Computers and Composition, 55, Article 102542. doi:10.1016/j.compcom.2020.102542CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kessler, M. (2022). Multimodality. ELT Journal, 76(4), 551–554. doi:10.1093/elt/ccac028CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kessler, M., & Marino, F. (2022). Digital multimodal composing in English language teaching. ELT Journal. Advance online publication. doi:10.1093/elt/ccac047Google Scholar
Kress, G. (2000). Multimodality: Challenges to thinking about language. TESOL Quarterly, 34(2), 337–340. doi:10.2307/3587959CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, M. (2021). Researching and teaching second language writing in the digital age. Palgrave Macmillan.10.1007/978-3-030-87710-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lim, J., & Kessler, M. (2022). Directions for future research on SLA, L2 writing, and multimodality. In Manchón, R., & Polio, C. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition and writing (pp. 325–338). Routledge.Google Scholar
Manchón, R. M. (2017). The potential impact of multimodal composition on language learning. Journal of Second Language Writing, 38, 94–95. doi:10.1016/j.jslw.2017.10.008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60–93. doi:10.17763/haer.66.1.17370n67v22j160uCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polio, C., & Friedman, D. A. (2017). Understanding, evaluating, and conducting second language writing research. Routledge.Google Scholar
Polio, C., & Montgomery, P. (2022). Applying a communicative competence framework to the study and teaching of second language writing. In Kanwit, M., & Solon, M. (Eds.), Communicative competence in a second language: Theory, method, and applications (pp. 152–170). Routledge.10.4324/9781003160779-12CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qu, W. (2017). For L2 writers, it is always the problem of the language. Journal of Second Language Writing, 38, 92–93. doi:10.1016/j.jslw.2017.10.007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reinhardt, J. (2019). Social media in second and foreign language teaching and learning: Blogs, wikis, and social networking. Language Teaching, 52(1), 1–39. doi:10.1017/S0261444818000356CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, B., & González-Lloret, M. (2020). Technology-mediated task-based language teaching: A research agenda. Language Teaching, 54(4), 518–534. doi:10.1017/S0261444820000233CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, Y. (2021). Investigating the effects of digital multimodal composing on Chinese EFL learners’ writing performance: A quasi-experimental study. Computer Assisted Language Learning. Advance online publication, doi:10.1080/09588221.2021.1945635Google Scholar
Zhang, M., Akoto, M., & Li, M. (2021). Digital multimodal composing in post-secondary L2 settings: A review of the empirical landscape. Computer Assisted Language Learning. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/09588221.2021.1942068Google Scholar