William Cope
Nithin Kalorth
Jako Olivier
Ida Brandão
Mitchell PetersMultimodal Literacies MOOC’s Updates
Beyond Words: Exploring the Works of Multimodal Literacy in Academic Realm
As we face technological advancement, it allows us to unfold new knowledge to create more sense of the things around us. This also means that we find other ways to create meaning in something in order for us to know more about a specific matter. With that said, I am implying that meaning is not just limited to written and oral anymore. Rather, it can be through (1) written, (2) oral, (3) audio (4) visual, (5) spatial, (6) tactile, and (7) gestural. That is where multimodal literacy enters where we are able to discover more ways for “meaning-making.” Through multimodal literacy, we are able to progress from the traditional way of understanding a context as we can incorporate different ways to understand the meaning of something.
The strategy of using multimodal literacy can be a way to encourage the learners to become more engaged with literary exercises (Simanjuntak et. al, 2022), The study just proves that by the use of multimodal literacy, it can produce independent learners and will eventually lead them to become motivated in engaging with reading. Moreover, it was investigated that by the use of multimodal literacy it has improved the students' skills in writing and vocabulary (Hendrawaty et.al, 2024). The study of Hendrawaty and their colleagues manifests as to how multimodal literacy drastically helps for the students to reach academic success. Through these studies, it has provided an overview as to how multimodal literacy works in an academic realm.
In addition, multimodal literacy can play a significant role as to how students’ comprehend what they have read. Instead of just basing on the text alone, they can use other sensories to better understand the text. This strategy is not only beneficial for the students, it also allows teachers to enhance their way of teaching. Teachers can innovate a new way to help the students develop their literacy skills where they can use various media to incorporate to their lesson. As a result, this can lead the students to build knowledge on their own rather than just expecting their teachers to “spoonfeed” them in order to build understanding.
References:
Hendrawaty, N., Sakhiyya, Z., Wahyuni, S., & Yuliati, Y. (2024, August 8).
The multimodal approach in English language teaching: A systematic
review. Proceedings of Fine Arts, Literature, Language, and Education.
https://proceeding.unnes.ac.id/icoella/article/download/3712/3547/8651
Simanjuntak, M. M., Saputra, N., Afrianti, D., Mulyadi, J., & Herman. (2022).
Implementing multimodal literacy to improve students’ ability in literacy for
classroom practice. Sarcouncil Journal of Education and Sociology, 1(4)
1–5. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6791087
https://images.app.goo.gl/8naxa2bTyzVqHVs7A
Beyond Traditional Text: Multimodal Literacy Strategies for Diverse Learning Dimensions
Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn. – Benjamin Franklin
Learnings restricted to written and oral communications seem to leave students out of the equation who otherwise learn through visual, spatial, tactile, and gestural means. Studies prove that by engaging several sense modalities at the same time, multimodal literacy practices can produce independent learners which in turn creates a fertile ground for academic success. As prospective teachers, we must therefore be mindful of the right kind of literacy practice to address these mean variations of learning.
Visual and spatial literacy strategies are basic for the multiliteracy approach. For instance, infographics, mind mapping, and digital storytelling can be effectively used to help students create meaning through visual representation. The classrooms can extend beyond text through the use of interactive whiteboards and graphic organizers, which also provide an avenue for students to show their understanding through visual representation.
Through audio recording projects, oral storytelling, and movement-based activities, students can express their learning through an array of sensory channels. This is valuable for students who cannot express themselves with words in writing and offers some alternatives through voice and bodily gestures. Audio and gesture techniques already incorporate experiential learning in those oriented towards kinesthetic and auditory learning.
Tactual and computer-mediated, interactive techniques enable complete immersion for most, if not all, learners. Tactile manipulatives, interactive digital platforms, and online collaborative forums touch most of the sensory modalities of the brain. Thus, they would assist anyone, from below average to the most high-achieving students, in acquiring valuable digital literacy skills.
The research states that multimodal literacy tactics engage the students and yield much higher academic results than text approaches. With visual-aural-spatial-tactile-gestural interplay, we promote inclusive classrooms so that all students may gain access to and show their knowledge in the way that they wish to communicate, resulting, in turn, in marked academic success.