Crafting L2 Multimodal Composing Identities
A Study with Secondary EFL Learners
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.24237Keywords:
writer identity, digital multimodal composition, digital storytelling, genre-based instruction, systemic functional linguistics, attitudeAbstract
Identity currently features as a prominent theme in digital multimodal composition (DMC), given the significant impact of DMC on identity expression. However, L2 learners’ writer identity development and fluctuation in this type of textual composition needs further exploration in light of the absence of clearly established DMC-specific identity categories and a detailed account of writer identity expansion and restriction processes therein. This study attempts to fill this void by scrutinizing how three 11th graders learning English as a foreign language in Spain crafted their writer identities in English in a 16-week genre-based digital storytelling (DST) intervention that followed the genre-based systemic functional linguistics tradition of L2 writing, and included instruction on attitude (Martin & White, 2005). Qualitative data analysis of multi-source data followed Ivanic’s (1998) writer identity framework, attitude categories, and key notions in multimodality, as well as the DST and identity literature. Results indicate students’ awareness raising of such categories throughout digital story writing, and general preference for appreciation and judgment in writer identity construction, which was contingent upon certain factors. Students’ writer identities and their fluctuation revealed types of specific DMC identity categories, and expansion and restriction processes, which illustrated their multimodal composing identity formation and transformation in digital story creation.
References
Askehave, I., & Nielsen, A. E. (2005). Digital genres: A challenge to traditional genre theory. Information Technology & People, 18(2), 120–141. https://doi.org/10.1108/09593840510601504
Belz, J. A. (2003). Linguistic perspectives on the development of intercultural competence in telecollaboration. Language Learning & Technology, 7(2), 68–99.
Castañeda, M. (2013). “I am proud that I did it and it’s a piece of me”: Digital storytelling in the foreign language classroom. CALICO Journal, 30(1), 44–62. https://doi.org/10.11139/cj.30.1.44-62
Cimasko, T., & Shin, D. (2017). Multimodal resemiotization and authorial agency in an L2 writing classroom. Written Communication, 34(4), 387–413. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088317727246
Darvin, R. (2023). Moving across a genre continuum: Pedagogical strategies for integrating online genres in the language classroom. English for Specific Purposes, 70, 101–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2022.11.004
Elola, I., & Oskoz, A. (2017). Writing with 21st century social tools in the L2 classroom: New literacies, genres, and writing practices. Journal of Second Language Writing, 36, 52–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2017.04.002
García-Pastor, M. D. (2017). Learners’ identities at stake: Digital identity texts in the EFL classroom. Language Value, 9(1), 36–61. https://doi.org/10.6035/LanguageV.2017.9.3
García-Pastor, M. D. (2018a). Textos de identidad digitales: Una valiosa herramienta para el estudio de la construcción de la identidad y el aprendizaje lingüístico en ILE. Revista Signos, 51(96), 24–44. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-09342018000100024
García-Pastor, M. D. (2018b). Learner identity in EFL: An analysis of digital texts of identity in higher education. Digital Education Review, 33, 55–76. https://doi.org/10.1344/der.2018.33.55-76
García-Pastor, M. D. (2020). Researching identity and L2 pragmatics in digital stories: A relational account. CALICO Journal, 37(1), 46–65. https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.38777
García-Pastor, M. D. (2021). Engagement in emergency remote education: The use of digital storytelling with student-teachers of English. In H. Ucar & A. Tolga Kumtepe (Eds.), Motivation, volition, and engagement in online distance learning (pp. 126–146). Hershey: IGI Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-7681-6.ch006
Gregori-Signes, C. (2008). Integrating the old and the new: Digital storytelling in the EFL language classroom. GRETA, 16, 43–49. https://shorturl.at/fiA57
Hafner, C. A. (2015). Remix culture and English language teaching: The expression of learner voice in digital multimodal compositions. TESOL Quarterly, 49(3), 486–509. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.238
Hernández-Zamora, G., & Zotzmann, K. (2014). Digital literacy as a tool for self-authoring: Teaching reluctant student writers through “redesign.” Journal of Global Literacies, Technologies, and Emerging Pedagogies, 2(2), 77–99.
Hung, S. A. (2019). Creating digital stories: EFL learners’ engagement, cognitive and metacognitive skills. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 22(2), 26–37.
Hyland, K. (2004). Genre and second language writing. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan press. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.23927
Ivanic, R. (1998). Writing and identity: The discoursal construction of identity in academic writing. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/swll.5
Jiang, L. (2018). Digital multimodal composing and investment change in learners’ writing in English as a foreign language. Journal of Second Language Writing, 40, 60–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2018.03.002
Jiang L., & Ren, W. (2021). Digital multimodal composing in L2 learning: Ideologies and impact. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 20(3), 167–182. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2020.1753192
Johns, A. (2002). Genre in the classroom: Multiple perspectives. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410604262
Kim, H., & Lee, J. H. (2018). The value of digital storytelling as an L2 narrative practice.Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 27(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-017-0360-3
Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading images: The grammar of visual design (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
Krippendorff, K., & Bock, A. M. (2009) The content analysis reader. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Lam, W. S. E. (2000). L2 literacy and the design of the self: A case study of a teenager writing on the internet. TESOL Quarterly, 34(3), 457–482. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587739
Lambert, J. (2010). Digital storytelling cookbook. Berkeley: Center for Digital Storytelling. Li, M., & Storch, N. (2017). Second language writing in the age of CMC: Affordances, multimodality, and collaboration. Journal of Second Language Writing, 36, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2017.05.012
Martin, J. R. (2000). Beyond exchange: Appraisal systems in English. In S. Hunston & G. Thompson (Eds.), Evaluation in text: Authorial stance and the construction of discourse (pp. 142–175). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Martin, J. R., & White, P. R. R. (2005). The language of evaluation: Appraisal in English. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Nelson, M. E. (2008) Multimodal synthesis and the voice of the multimedia author in a Japanese EFL context. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 2(1), 65–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501220802158826
Oskoz, A., & Elola, I. (2016a). Digital stories: Overview. CALICO Journal, 33(2), 157–173. https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.v33i2.29295
Oskoz, A., & Elola, I. (2016b). Digital stories: Bringing multimodal texts to the Spanish writing classroom. ReCALL, 28(3), 326–342. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0958344016000094
Oskoz, A., & Gimeno-Sanz, A. (2019). Engagement and attitude in telecollaboration: Topic and cultural background effects. Language Learning & Technology, 23(3), 136–160.
Oskoz, A., & Gimeno-Sanz, A. (2020). Exploring L2 learners’ engagement and attitude in an intercultural encounter. Language Learning & Technology, 24(1), 187–208.
Oskoz, A., & Pérez-Broncano, O. (2016). What did you say? How did you say it? Linguistic choices in online discussions. Foreign Language Annals, 49(4), 772–788. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12240
Pacheco-Costa, A., & Guzmán-Simón, F. (2020). Developing multimodal narrative genres in childhood: An analysis of pupils’ written texts based on systemic functional linguistics theory. Education Sciences, 10(11), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10110342
Shin, D. S. (2018). Multimodal mediation and argumentative writing: A case study of a multilingual learner’s metalanguage awareness development. In R. Harman (Ed.), Bilingual learners and social equity (pp. 225–242). Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60953-9_11
Unsworth, L. (2006). Towards a metalanguage for multiliteracies education: Describing the meaning-making resources of language-image interaction. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 5(1), 55–76.
Unsworth, L., & Mills, K. A. (2020). English language teaching of attitude and emotion in digital multimodal composition. Journal of Second Language Writing, 47, 100712. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2020.100712
Vinagre, M., & Corral, A. (2018). Evaluative language for rapport building in virtual collaboration: An analysis of appraisal in computer-mediated interaction. Journal of Language and Intercultural Communication, 18(3), 335–350. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2017.1378227
Vinagre, M., & Oskoz, A. (2020). Exploring attitude in bilingual virtual exchanges: A linguistic perspective. In A. Oskoz & M. Vinagre (Eds.), Understanding attitude in intercultural virtual communication (pp. 64–91). Sheffield: Equinox.
Van Leeuwen, T. (2016). A social semiotic theory of synesthesia? A discussion paper. Hermes-Journal of Language and Communication in Business, 55, 105–119. https://doi.org/10.7146/hjlcb.v0i55.24292
Wang, H. (2022). International English learners’ perspectives on multimodal composing and identity representation via multimodal texts. SAGE Open, 12(2), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221103526
White, P. (2023). An introductory tour through appraisal theory. The language of attitude, arguability and interpersonal positioning. The appraisal website.
Widodo, H. P. (2016). Engaging young learners of English in a genre-based digital storytelling project. Final report. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Teacher Research Programme.
Yang, Y. D. (2012). Multimodal composing in digital storytelling. Computers and Composition, 29(3), 221–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2012.07.001
Yi, Y. (2007). Engaging literacy: A biliterate students’ composing practices beyond school. Journal of Second Language Writing, 16, 23–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2007.03.001
Zhang, M., Akoto, M., & Li, M. (2021). Digital multimodal composing in post-secondary L2 settings: A review of the empirical landscape. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 34, 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2021.1942068
