An Empirical Study Of Multimodal Literacy In The English Classroom

This dissertation echoes an urgent need in the field of research of the application of multimodality and multimodal literacy in the EFL classroom settings. Over the last few decades, we are witnessing major changes in both the ways of communication and the approaches to teaching and learning in distinctive ways. The emergence of a variety of modes in making meanings results in a necessity to adopt new approaches to learning in relation to preparing learners to engage meaningfully in the world with new ways that forces the university "to change and reconceptualise what learning is" (Kalantzis & Cope,2005:3). The rapid acceleration in the development of information and communication technologies during the last few years has resulted in many countries trying to launch projects in developing students learning styles and promoting the education reforms (New London Group,1996) which includes China. Therefore, teaching English language literacy skills in contemporary EFL classrooms is changing dynamically to meet the demands of these changes. In addressing the challenges in teaching and learning of EFL, students require new approaches to understand literacies used in making meanings from multimodal elements and teachers are confronted with the need to be exposed to various pedagogical approaches to cater for students’relevant needs.With this in mind, the multifaceted issues related to the educational context in China that is influenced by the expansion and increased use of Information and Communication Technology has prompted language teachers and researchers to use the Multimodal Approach to promote the teaching and learning of EFL.This study is situated in the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) in education and within a professional context of multimodal literacies. The purpose of this study is to provide theoretical and empirical evidence for the construction of multimodal and multisemiotic meanings within the context of ESL, to provide an account of multimodal and multisemiotic meanings as presented by non-English major postgraduate students in the classroom and to consider the implications of this to multimodal literacy education in China, where English is taught as a foreign language. In exploring students’use of information, the dissertation aims to develop a framework for teaching multimodal literacy in the context of ICTs and to make contributions to the theory of foreign language instruction and learning from a functional perspective. The materials to be investigated in this dissertation are computer-based multimodal products (PPT presentations) completed by the students, which is typically used in the English classroom today.The approach adopted in this research is both qualitative and quantitative. In the quantitative research, the researcher employed statistical or computational techniques to investigate the students’perceptions of and reflections on multimodal teaching process (students’meaning potential:Available Design). In contrast with quantitative research, qualitative research examines, analyses and interprets students’multimodal products and other data for the purpose of discovering patterns of intersemiotic relationships as exhibited in students’products and the underlying meanings to further justify the findings by quantitative research.The study resulted in the following findings:(1) It is evident that students’use of signs other than language to communicate their information was constrained by the focus on print as the most important information medium and other systems as signs of meaning making. (2) The teacher and students drew on Resources of Available Design to create their multimodal composition. (3) Defining reading as reading only print-based signs and not recognizing visual and auditory signs as information media to read constrained how the different modes of communication were used. (4) ICT’s afforded new opportunities for communication with different sign systems and limitations within the software and hardware also constrained which signs were used. (5) Different intersemiotic relations are demonstrated by the students in the production of their multimodal compositions.Given the limited amount of research addressing the multimodal literacy skills and strategies students use when reading and writing multimodal text with ICT’s, this research makes contributions to both theory and teaching practice. Theoretically, this dissertation will make a typology of computer-based and print-based learning resources in the classroom at higher institutions and provide a framework for the analysis of multimodality and multisemiosis, which could, practically, inform the teaching of multimodal literacies. This research also provides a framework for teaching multimodal literacy in the classroom and a set of principles (design elements) which can be used to inform the educational design of teaching and learning resources for university students. It provides a guideline for a better understanding of what kinds of literacies are needed for students learning English as a foreign language. And thence to help students to get better informed of the general information about (related) knowledge of multimodal literacies and to get better prepared for their future career and life.