- Email: [email protected]
The pitfalls and potential of multimodal composing
Journal of Second Language Writing xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Second Language Writing journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jslw
Disciplinary Dialogues
The pitfalls and potential of multimodal composing Mark Warschauer School of Education, University of California, Irvine, 3200 Education, Irvine, CA 92617-5500, USA
I enjoyed reading Diane Belcher’s paper, On Becoming Facilitators of Multimodal Composing and Digital Design. I am not as convinced as she is that L2 instructors are behind the curve on this, but I agree this is an important challenge for all language and literacy educators. I would like to share some examples, from my own research, on successful and unsuccessful approaches to make the transition from print to multimodality. Let us first look at some unsuccessful examples. Any attempt to integrate digital media into the classroom must be commensurate with not only administrative support, as Belcher notes, but also with the broader human, social, and economic capital available. My earlier study in Egypt showed the danger of a narrow focus on new technologies without the appropriate resources (Warschauer, 2003a, 2004). The United States Agency for International Development and Egyptian Ministry of Education poured huge resources into supporting technology-based language learning, with little to show for it. Teacher training via an expensive national videoconference network allowed less personal interaction than lower-cost in-person professional development. Multimedia rooms at K-12 schools were rarely used due to fears of the school leaders that equipment would be damaged. A state-of-the-art computer-assisted language-learning lab at Alexandria University also sat unused for almost a year due to insufficient funds to maintain it. In the meantime, these expenditures diverted funds from the emphasis on basic literacy that has been shown to improve educational outcomes in developing countries (see, e.g., Birdsall & O’Connel, 1999). It is also the case that multimodal composing, if introduced prematurely, can divert language learners, from the foundational kinds of target language interaction needed for successful second language acquisition. During research for my first edited book on the topic (Warschauer, 1995), I visited a first-semester university foreign language classroom in the United States, which involved students producing multimodal presentations in the target language. However, though there were some of the target foreign language words in their presentations, the students actually spent much of their class time discussing in English how to use the software, rather than having the kind of immersive foreign language experience beneficial for initial language learning. As Willingham (2009) points out, students remember what is most salient about a lesson – and, in this case, what was most salient was likely the shiny new software, rather than the target language. What then are successful approaches toward multimodal composing for second language learners? I believe that Cummins (2001) framework for academic language learning provides an excellent basis. As Cummins argues, academic language is best developed through a combination of maximum cognitive engagement, maximum identity investment, and intensive interactions within the learning community, all based on a combination of focus on language meaning and language use. In subsequent work, Cummins applies this framework to multimodal composing, and, in particular, to the composition of what he terms “identity texts” (Cummins et al., 2007, p. 241; Cummins, Hu, Markus, & Montero, 2015). Identity texts are multimodal works that connect to students’ lives and community, affirm their identity, scaffold meaning, and help extend their language. Such texts can be produced in print, but are greatly facilitated through use of new digital media. In our current research project, examining uses of digital storytelling by immigrant students in the Coachella Valley, we have encountered many exemplars of such identity texts fostering language and literacy development, as well as knowledge of the digital compositing process (Warschauer & Vu, 2017). Typically, these digital stories draw on community resources, such as interviews with family members conducted in Spanish or other heritage languages. They involve carefully composed and edited scripts, which afford students opportunities to flex their writing ability. And they are publicly shared in classrooms and communities, further strengthening both student engagement and involvement of family and community members. Sometimes such projects have the explicit goal
E-mail address: [email protected]. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2017.10.005
1060-3743/ © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article as: Warschauer, M., Journal of Second Language Writing (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2017.10.005
Journal of Second Language Writing xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
M. Warschauer
of creating resources for community use, thus further amplifying their potential for engaging students, as seen in the multimodal Hawaiian language materials that university students created for their native community (Warschauer, 1998; Warschauer, 1999) Second language educators can also combine multimodal work with more traditional writing assignments. An excellent example is seen in Project Fresa (Strawberry Project; Warschauer, 2003b), conducted among Hispanic elementary school students in Oxnard, California. The students interviewed their family members, in Spanish, about conditions in the local strawberry fields, and digitally published poems, drawing, and charts about the lives of strawberry workers. However, they then engaged in more traditional (nonmultimodal) writing, by composing letters to state legislators inquiring about working conditions and to partner schools in Puerto Rico discussing the comparative conditions of strawberry and coffee workers. One final critical component of success involves serious consideration of the genres of communication that are being taught. While many new media genres are quickly evolving, they still have features worthy of mastery. The digital storytelling project referenced above is an excellent example of this. Through partnership with DIGICOM—founded by the former President of Walt Disney Motion Picture Studies—teachers and students are developing mastery of new video essay genres. We also witnessed many simpler examples of this in our study of school laptop programs in the United States, with instructors expertly teaching learners the genres of online book reviews and movie trailers (Warschauer, 2006). If our goal is to empower students, as Belcher argues, then we must prepare them to communicate in sophisticated ways with new media. In summary, as Kranzberg (1985, p. 50) noted, “technology is neither good nor bad, nor is it neutral.” Multimodal composing is not always good, to be implemented uncritically in all circumstances, nor automatically a bad thing to be avoided. Rather, like all technologies, it is steeped in the contexts of its development and use, requiring, for example, a certain level of digital access and support. In many cases, multimodal adds great value for second language learning and teaching, particularly when taking into account its affordances as nicely summarized by Belcher. To get the greatest value out of multimodal writing, educators should emphasize mastery of new genres, drawing where possible on students’ own cultural resources, rather than use of technology for its own sake. References Birdsall, N., & O’Connel, L. (1999). Globalization, income distribution and education: Putting education to work in Egypt. Cairo, Egypt: Egyptian Center for Economic Studies. Cummins, J., Brown, K. R., & Sayers, D. (2007). Literacy, technology, and diversity: Teaching for success in changing times. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Cummins, J., Hu, S., Markus, P., & Montero, M. K. (2015). Identity texts and academic achievement: Connecting the dots in multilingual school contexts. TESOL Quarterly, 49(3), 555–581. Cummins, J. (2001). Negotiating identities: Education for empowerment in a diverse society. Los Angeles: California Association for Bilingual Education. Kranzberg, M. (1985). The information age: evolution or revolution? In B. R. Guile (Ed.). Information technologies and social transformation (pp. 35–54). Washington DC: National Academy of Engineering. Warschauer, M., & Vu, V. (2017). Mi Abuelo Fue Bracero: bridging languages, cultures, generations, and communities through digital stories. Paper presented at the Bilingual matters conference. University of California, Riverside. Warschauer, M. (Ed.). (1995). Virtual connections: Online activities and projects for networking language learners. Honolulu, HI: Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center. Warschauer, M. (1998). Technology and indigenous language revitalization: Analyzing the experience of Hawai’i. Canadian Modern Language Review, 55(1), 140–161. Warschauer, M. (1999). Electronic literacies: Language, culture, and power in online education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Warschauer, M. (2003a). The allures and illusions of modernity: Technology and educational reform in Egypt. Educ. Policy Analysis Archives, 11. Retrieved from http:// epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/266. Warschauer, M. (2003b). Technology and social inclusion: Rethinking the digital divide. Cambridge: MIT Press. Warschauer, M. (2004). The rhetoric and reality of aid: Promoting educational technology in Egypt. Globalisation, Societies, and Education, 2(3), 377–390. http://dx. doi.org/10.1080/1476772042000252498. Warschauer, M. (2006). Laptops and literacy: Learning in the wireless classroom. New York: Teachers College Press. Willingham, D. T. (2009). Why students don’t like school: A cognitive scientist answers questions about how the mind works and what it means for the classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Mark Warschauer is Professor of Education at the University of California, Irvine. His research focuses on the relationship of digital media use to language and literacy development among culturally and linguistically diverse learners.
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Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Second Language Writing journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jslw
Disciplinary Dialogues
The pitfalls and potential of multimodal composing Mark Warschauer School of Education, University of California, Irvine, 3200 Education, Irvine, CA 92617-5500, USA
I enjoyed reading Diane Belcher’s paper, On Becoming Facilitators of Multimodal Composing and Digital Design. I am not as convinced as she is that L2 instructors are behind the curve on this, but I agree this is an important challenge for all language and literacy educators. I would like to share some examples, from my own research, on successful and unsuccessful approaches to make the transition from print to multimodality. Let us first look at some unsuccessful examples. Any attempt to integrate digital media into the classroom must be commensurate with not only administrative support, as Belcher notes, but also with the broader human, social, and economic capital available. My earlier study in Egypt showed the danger of a narrow focus on new technologies without the appropriate resources (Warschauer, 2003a, 2004). The United States Agency for International Development and Egyptian Ministry of Education poured huge resources into supporting technology-based language learning, with little to show for it. Teacher training via an expensive national videoconference network allowed less personal interaction than lower-cost in-person professional development. Multimedia rooms at K-12 schools were rarely used due to fears of the school leaders that equipment would be damaged. A state-of-the-art computer-assisted language-learning lab at Alexandria University also sat unused for almost a year due to insufficient funds to maintain it. In the meantime, these expenditures diverted funds from the emphasis on basic literacy that has been shown to improve educational outcomes in developing countries (see, e.g., Birdsall & O’Connel, 1999). It is also the case that multimodal composing, if introduced prematurely, can divert language learners, from the foundational kinds of target language interaction needed for successful second language acquisition. During research for my first edited book on the topic (Warschauer, 1995), I visited a first-semester university foreign language classroom in the United States, which involved students producing multimodal presentations in the target language. However, though there were some of the target foreign language words in their presentations, the students actually spent much of their class time discussing in English how to use the software, rather than having the kind of immersive foreign language experience beneficial for initial language learning. As Willingham (2009) points out, students remember what is most salient about a lesson – and, in this case, what was most salient was likely the shiny new software, rather than the target language. What then are successful approaches toward multimodal composing for second language learners? I believe that Cummins (2001) framework for academic language learning provides an excellent basis. As Cummins argues, academic language is best developed through a combination of maximum cognitive engagement, maximum identity investment, and intensive interactions within the learning community, all based on a combination of focus on language meaning and language use. In subsequent work, Cummins applies this framework to multimodal composing, and, in particular, to the composition of what he terms “identity texts” (Cummins et al., 2007, p. 241; Cummins, Hu, Markus, & Montero, 2015). Identity texts are multimodal works that connect to students’ lives and community, affirm their identity, scaffold meaning, and help extend their language. Such texts can be produced in print, but are greatly facilitated through use of new digital media. In our current research project, examining uses of digital storytelling by immigrant students in the Coachella Valley, we have encountered many exemplars of such identity texts fostering language and literacy development, as well as knowledge of the digital compositing process (Warschauer & Vu, 2017). Typically, these digital stories draw on community resources, such as interviews with family members conducted in Spanish or other heritage languages. They involve carefully composed and edited scripts, which afford students opportunities to flex their writing ability. And they are publicly shared in classrooms and communities, further strengthening both student engagement and involvement of family and community members. Sometimes such projects have the explicit goal
E-mail address: [email protected]. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2017.10.005
1060-3743/ © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article as: Warschauer, M., Journal of Second Language Writing (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2017.10.005
Journal of Second Language Writing xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
M. Warschauer
of creating resources for community use, thus further amplifying their potential for engaging students, as seen in the multimodal Hawaiian language materials that university students created for their native community (Warschauer, 1998; Warschauer, 1999) Second language educators can also combine multimodal work with more traditional writing assignments. An excellent example is seen in Project Fresa (Strawberry Project; Warschauer, 2003b), conducted among Hispanic elementary school students in Oxnard, California. The students interviewed their family members, in Spanish, about conditions in the local strawberry fields, and digitally published poems, drawing, and charts about the lives of strawberry workers. However, they then engaged in more traditional (nonmultimodal) writing, by composing letters to state legislators inquiring about working conditions and to partner schools in Puerto Rico discussing the comparative conditions of strawberry and coffee workers. One final critical component of success involves serious consideration of the genres of communication that are being taught. While many new media genres are quickly evolving, they still have features worthy of mastery. The digital storytelling project referenced above is an excellent example of this. Through partnership with DIGICOM—founded by the former President of Walt Disney Motion Picture Studies—teachers and students are developing mastery of new video essay genres. We also witnessed many simpler examples of this in our study of school laptop programs in the United States, with instructors expertly teaching learners the genres of online book reviews and movie trailers (Warschauer, 2006). If our goal is to empower students, as Belcher argues, then we must prepare them to communicate in sophisticated ways with new media. In summary, as Kranzberg (1985, p. 50) noted, “technology is neither good nor bad, nor is it neutral.” Multimodal composing is not always good, to be implemented uncritically in all circumstances, nor automatically a bad thing to be avoided. Rather, like all technologies, it is steeped in the contexts of its development and use, requiring, for example, a certain level of digital access and support. In many cases, multimodal adds great value for second language learning and teaching, particularly when taking into account its affordances as nicely summarized by Belcher. To get the greatest value out of multimodal writing, educators should emphasize mastery of new genres, drawing where possible on students’ own cultural resources, rather than use of technology for its own sake. References Birdsall, N., & O’Connel, L. (1999). Globalization, income distribution and education: Putting education to work in Egypt. Cairo, Egypt: Egyptian Center for Economic Studies. Cummins, J., Brown, K. R., & Sayers, D. (2007). Literacy, technology, and diversity: Teaching for success in changing times. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Cummins, J., Hu, S., Markus, P., & Montero, M. K. (2015). Identity texts and academic achievement: Connecting the dots in multilingual school contexts. TESOL Quarterly, 49(3), 555–581. Cummins, J. (2001). Negotiating identities: Education for empowerment in a diverse society. Los Angeles: California Association for Bilingual Education. Kranzberg, M. (1985). The information age: evolution or revolution? In B. R. Guile (Ed.). Information technologies and social transformation (pp. 35–54). Washington DC: National Academy of Engineering. Warschauer, M., & Vu, V. (2017). Mi Abuelo Fue Bracero: bridging languages, cultures, generations, and communities through digital stories. Paper presented at the Bilingual matters conference. University of California, Riverside. Warschauer, M. (Ed.). (1995). Virtual connections: Online activities and projects for networking language learners. Honolulu, HI: Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center. Warschauer, M. (1998). Technology and indigenous language revitalization: Analyzing the experience of Hawai’i. Canadian Modern Language Review, 55(1), 140–161. Warschauer, M. (1999). Electronic literacies: Language, culture, and power in online education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Warschauer, M. (2003a). The allures and illusions of modernity: Technology and educational reform in Egypt. Educ. Policy Analysis Archives, 11. Retrieved from http:// epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/266. Warschauer, M. (2003b). Technology and social inclusion: Rethinking the digital divide. Cambridge: MIT Press. Warschauer, M. (2004). The rhetoric and reality of aid: Promoting educational technology in Egypt. Globalisation, Societies, and Education, 2(3), 377–390. http://dx. doi.org/10.1080/1476772042000252498. Warschauer, M. (2006). Laptops and literacy: Learning in the wireless classroom. New York: Teachers College Press. Willingham, D. T. (2009). Why students don’t like school: A cognitive scientist answers questions about how the mind works and what it means for the classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Mark Warschauer is Professor of Education at the University of California, Irvine. His research focuses on the relationship of digital media use to language and literacy development among culturally and linguistically diverse learners.
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