Integrating Digital Multimodal Composition into EFL Writing Instruction

Abstract

Research background: Digital multimodal composition has recently received paramount attention in the instruction of second language writing. Gap in knowledge: Although the merits of digital multimodal composition have widely been acknowledged by many scholars, the instruction of English writing has still remained monomodal in Iran.Purpose of the study: The present quasi-experimental study aimed to investigate the differential impacts of the two types of writing (multimodal/monomodal) on English as a Foreign language (EFL) learners’ writing ability in terms of content, communicative achievement, organization, and language across five times.Methods: To this end, two intact groups, including 59 EFL learners at a university in southeastern Iran participated in the study. The participants were assigned into two comparison groups of multimodal (n = 30) and monomodal (n = 29) compositions. The students in the multimodal group composed five digital essays, while the monomodal group used only the textual mode to produce their essays throughout the semester. Following a repeated measures design, the researchers assessed the participants’ writing ability across five times. A mixed between-within ANOVA was conducted to address the research questions.Findings: The results revealed that both groups showed significant improvement in their writing ability across time. Furthermore, the multimodal group outperformed the monomodal group in their writing ability.Value added: The findings suggest that writing instructional practices in Iran should be redefined and updated to accommodate the needs and expectations of the twenty-first century learners.

Review of the Empirical Research on Digital Multimodal Composing in L2 Learning Contexts

“…As a cross-disciplinary field, DMC research has drawn upon diverse theoretical perspectives (e.g., linguistics, applied linguistics, education, and multimedia communication), with 72% of studies having clearly stated their theoretical underpinnings. Of all the theoretical frameworks, the social semiotic theory of multimodality (e.g., Hafner, 2020; Jocius, 2018; Lim & Nguyen, 2022) [16][17][18] and multiliteracies (e.g., Dahlström, 2021;Maghsoudi et al, 2022) [19][20] [24][25][26] and concepts or approaches in second language acquisition like investment and engagement (e.g., Jiang & Luk, 2016;Jiang et al, 2020aJiang et al, , 2020b [27][28][29] and task-based language teaching (e.g., Kim et al, 2022) [30]. Translanguaging, i.e.…”

“…Still, no significant improvement was found in the control group. Maghsoudi et al (2022) [20] designed a quasi-experiment which investigated the differential impacts of monomodal and multimodal writing practices on 59 Iranian EFL learners' writing ability in content, communicative achievement, organization, and language across five times. Once again, the multimodal group outperformed the monomodal group in the writing ability.…”