Studying the impact of implementing multimodal literacy

Ho, C. M. L., Nelson, M. E., & Müeller-Wittig, W. (2011). Design and implementation of a student-generated virtual museum in a language curriculum to enhance collaborative multimodal meaning-making. Computers & Education, 57(1), 1083-1097.

Background

The researchers reported a growing trend of integrating technology into classrooms to support teaching strategies.

Aims

The aim of the paper was to examine the implementation process of multimodal literacy and study the impact of the intervention within a specific school context.

Sample

The participants were 12-13 year old students (78 students in 2009 and 8 students in 2010).

Method

The intervention comprised half hour weekly English language sessions that spanned across ten to twelve weeks at Nan Hua High School. Participants’ and teachers’ interaction and use of multimodal resources were observed. Participants were required to design and construct a virtual museum using various multimodal resources. Participants also answered questionnaires related to perceived multimodal appreciation and on writing skills enhancement and creativity. The responses on the questionnaire reinforced the observational findings of the study.

Findings

Participants showed preference for still images with accompanying texts (42%) and still images alone (28%). Students explained that pictures allowed more creativity as it was easier to portray the general theme of their projects. For example, the colour red was used in the background of one project as it symbolically represents ‘Happiness’ and ‘Joy’ in the Chinese culture.

Additionally, students highlighted that there was no one way for everyone to view a piece of work and emphasized the integration of written, visual and audio modalities to relay the information better. The participants also reflected on the benefits of collaborating and working together as a team. For instance, students reported that the building of the museum required them to provide ideas, explain, discuss and challenge each other so as to find solutions to new problems. Similarly, teachers also reported an increase in awareness of the value of using multimodal resources in English.

Implications

Future studies could work on a wider range of contexts at various levels as in pre-school and post-secondary and in other disciplines such as Humanities and Science in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of the impact of student-generated virtual museum tools and resources on learning in different instructional settings.

Original article retrieved through Google Scholar.