Research in the Teaching of English May 2021

Multimodal Voicing and Scale-Making in a Youth-Produced Video Documentary on Immigration

Wan Shun Eva Lam ; Natalia Smirnov Philadelphia University ; Amy A. Chang ; Matthew W. Easterday ; Enid M. Rosario-Ramos ; Jack C. Doppelt

Abstract

This study builds on research of multimodal storytelling in educational settings by presenting a study of a youth-produced documentary on immigration. Drawing from a video documentary project in a high school class, we examine students’ representational processes of scaling in documentary storytelling, and the kinds of resources they use to construct multiple spatiotemporal contexts for understanding their experience of immigration and immigration policy. Our theoretical framework relates the concept of scale to the Bakhtinian concept of voice to consider the semiotic resources that are used to index and connect multiple social and spatiotemporal contexts in storytelling. Focusing on a documentary produced by some students in the class, we analyze how the young filmmakers used particular speaker voices (characters) and their social positioning to invoke and construct relevant scales for understanding the problem of deportation. Our analysis extends the study of scaling to multimodal texts, and the strategies that people use to represent and configure relationships among different socially stratified spaces. By conceptualizing the relations between voice and scale, this work aims to contribute to literacy learning and teaching that support young people in bringing their knowledge, experiences, and narrative resources to engage with societal structures.

Journal
Research in the Teaching of English
Published
2021-05-15
DOI
10.58680/rte202131256
Open Access
Closed
Topics
multimodality multilingual writers voice and style

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Jocson et al. (2022)
    Pedagogical Openings and the Gift(s) of Teaching: Announcing the 2020–2021 Alan…
    Research in the Teaching of English

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CrossRef global citation count: 10 View in citation network →

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