Although multimodality long predates the digital era of human communication, with the expansion of new technologies, it increasingly dominates textual landscapes and composition processes (e.g., The Douglas Fir Group, 2016). Audio, visual, gestural, and spatial designs are not only integrated within, but often supplant traditional linguistic designs as modes of meaning making in texts (e.g., Jewitt, 2006; Jewitt & Kress, 2003). Yet, the teaching of writing in L2 classrooms often continues to be largely linguo-centric thus neglecting other modes and their interconnectedness and leaving learners un(der)equipped for a fast-changing semiotic landscape and un(der)prepared for full and wide participation in new communication practices so critical for their present and near futures (e.g., NLG, 1996; Bezemer & Kress, 2008). Despite a growing body of classroom-based research on multimodality, no studies have examined the design process and authorial agency of collegiate learners of languages other than English.
Grounded in social semiotic theory, this study investigates how collegiate French learners remediated the articles they read on food sustainability into a digital infographic addressed to an audience of their choice. Specifically, this study investigated the design process of reusing, revising, remixing, and redistributing semiotic resources across contexts that naturally shape design choices and authorial stances in crafting an infographic. Drawing on the concepts of design, resemiotization, and recontextualization, this study asked: What semiotic choices and changes did learners make when they remediated the articles into a digital infographic? What contextual factors shaped their semiotic choices and changes? How did those choices and changes shape the design of their infographic and their authorial stance? What essential understandings on food sustainability did they develop as they designed their infographic?
Fifteen learners participated in this study. Collected over eight weeks, data included: consulted articles, infographics, planning documents, questionnaires, interview transcripts, and teacher observation notes. A micro-textual analysis of the articles coupled with a multimodal analysis of the infographics was conducted, while the remaining data sets were analyzed discursively, looking for recurring themes related to the contextual factors and discourses that shaped their design process.
Findings revealed that learners' choice and arrangement of multimodal resources were shaped by interests, genre norms, audiences, intended message, and previous experience with infographic applications. While remediation with infographic software afforded greater authorial agency to students through the range of semiotic resources offered, recontextualization for a specific audience and with a digital tool, also constrained it, which underscores the need to provide L2 learners with very explicit scaffolding.
References
Bezemer, J., & Kress, G. (2008). Writing in multimodal texts: A social semiotic account of designs for learning. Written Communication, 25(2), 166–195.
Jewitt, C. (2006). Technology, literacy and learning: A multimodal approach. New York, NY: Routledge.
Jewitt, C., & Kress, G. (2003). Introduction. In C. Jewitt & G. Kress (Eds.), Multimodal literacy (pp. 1–18). New York, NY: Peter Lang.
New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60–92.
The Douglas Fir Group. (2016). A transdisciplinary framework for SLA in a multilingual world. The Modern Language Journal, 100, 19-47.
