Multimodality in medicine: How university medical students approach informative leaflets

Abstract

This study aims to analyse multimodality in medical leaflets to see how images and other semiotic modes combine with text-flow, adding meaning to the message and broadening the communicative spectrum. Traditionally, in the educational sphere, more importance has been given to text rather than to other semiotic modes but, in fact, writing is also a multimodal practice. In medicine, the visual becomes vital, whether accompanied by meaningful written text or not. The present study analyses 50 medical leaflets designed by first year medical students enrolled in their English for Health Sciences module. The leaflets are a very useful activity integrated as part of their spoken project presentations and include a variety of medical topics, i.e. diabetes, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Alzheimer"s or Huntington"s disease, among others. Images were considered in terms of type, structural organization, and size. How images combine with text-flow was also observed. The study is an example of how we can apply multimodality to the teaching and learning of languages in the higher education curriculum, proving that multimodality is not only a theory, but also a field of application.

Advanced Multimodal Communication Curriculum for Pediatric Residents

“…16 Residents also emphasized the importance of multimodal educational opportunities which have been recently employed in many facets of medical education. 11,13 Importantly, this experience did not require a large expenditure of faculty time and resources. In addition, residents valued an opportunity to observe peers and receive instant, formative, and individualized feedback on a challenging skill.…”

“…9 We chose to include multiple modalities of learning, as recent studies have shown that the integration of different modalities is both effective and preferred by learners. 10,11 We strove to create an evidence-based, adaptable, and application-oriented training program, and compared this to the existing communication curriculum at our institution using several different outcome measures. We initially explored how this curriculum impacted the patient experience.…”

Digital Multimodal Composing Using Visme: EFL Students’ Perspectives

“…Franceschi ( 2018 ) supported a multimodal approach to teaching medical English because communication does not only involve linguistic and cognitive capacity but also the ability to use a range of non-verbal elements. Belles-Fortuno ( 2018 ) explored the importance of multimodality in medical students’ learning products regarding the English for Health Sciences module. It was found that multimodality added further meaning and broadened the communicative spectrum of leaflets completed by the students.…”