Written Communication Apr 2013

Composing “Kid-Friendly” Multimodal Text

Lynn E. Shanahan University at Buffalo, State University of New York

Abstract

This interpretive case study investigated how a fifth-grade teacher’s social practices with visual and linguistic signs positioned her students (10- and 11-year-olds) to take up particular modes as they constructed digital compositions. The context of the study was a suburban public school in the northeastern United States. Analysis was threefold. The discourse surrounding multimodal composition was analyzed via inductive analysis. Students’ use of semiotic resources in the HyperStudio composition was analyzed with Unsworth’s image-language intermodal framework. Then, teacher-student conversations related to visual and linguistic signs were triangulated with students’ compositions. Findings show that a classroom teacher’s limited content knowledge as related to metafunctions and metalanguage of visual and linguistic sign systems affected the information taught to the students and, ultimately, their use of visual and linguistic signs. Students demonstrated tacit knowledge of image-language relations beyond what was taught but lacked the explicit knowledge to more strategically use visual and linguistic signs. Implications include the importance of creating opportunities for teachers to develop more substantive content knowledge of the metalanguages and metafunctions of various sign systems.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2013-04-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088313480328
Open Access
Closed
Topics
qualitative research multimodality affect and writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (5)

  1. Stewart (2023)
    Using digital media in the classroom as writing platforms for multimodal author…
    Computers and Composition
  2. Tan et al. (2020)
    Teacher Beliefs and Pedagogical Practices of Integrating Multimodality into Fir…
    Computers and Composition
  3. Smith (2019)
    Mediational Modalities: Adolescents Collaboratively Interpreting Literature thr…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  4. Smith (2018)
    Composing for Affect, Audience, and Identity: Toward a Multidimensional Underst…
    Written Communication
  5. Anderson et al. (2017)
    Seeing Academically Marginalized Students’ Multimodal Designs From a Position o…
    Written Communication

Cites in this index (7)

  1. Vasudevan et al. (2010)
    Rethinking Composing in a Digital Age: Authoring Literate Identities Through Mu…
    Written Communication
  2. McVee et al. (2008)
    Using Digital Media to Interpret Poetry: Spiderman Meets Walt Whitman
    Research in the Teaching of English
  3. Nelson et al. (2008)
    Challenges of Multimedia Self-Presentation
    Written Communication
  4. Smagorinsky (2008)
    The Method Section as Conceptual Epicenter in Constructing Social Science Resea…
    Written Communication
  5. Bezemer et al. (2008)
    Writing in Multimodal Texts
    Written Communication
Show all 7 →
  1. Hull et al. (2005)
    Locating the Semiotic Power of Multimodality
    Written Communication
  2. WITTE (1992)
    Context, Text, Intertext
    Written Communication
Also cites 15 works outside this index ↓
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CrossRef global citation count: 43 View in citation network →

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