New Literacies and language learning

62 thoughts on “A fun way? Learning through Digital Multimodal Composing (DMC)”

1. To be honest, yes. I, as an adult, will also be distracted by DMC, such as exciting news, interesting videos, let alone young students.
   I think it will be appropriate for secondary students to learn through DMC. First, it can make their study more interesting and if it is used properly, it can motivate students to learn. For university students, it may be a little late. And for primary students, I think they are too young to control themselves. They may be distracted by other information frequently. Besides, basically speaking, many secondary students are very creative, smart and good at digital media. By introducing DMC to them, they will surprise us by handing in excellent homework.
   I will try to use different activities as many as possible. As DMC is digital multimodal composing, I will also use multimodal ways to arouse student’s interest for learning English.

   • Hi, Betty. Thanks for your response. You’ve made thoughtful considerations of the implementation of DMC in different stages. I agree with you that learning will be less suffering with the appropriate use of DMC, and in terms of learning motivation, we believe it is crucial for learners of different ages. For university students, why would you think it would be a bit late? Would you like to share your thoughts with us?

2. I think the students will be distracted by it, because DMC actually will require the students to use computers, mobile phones and other electronic devices to complete their task. First, the lack of monitoring for this task will let students who cannot control themselves will use it as an excuse to chat or play games online. Second, sometimes it is hard to find the information they want directly, so they may feel at a loss which will also cause problems on their actual outcomes of the language learning. It may be too time-consuming.

   It’s hard to say, I think it depends more on the students. But I think it is more appropriate to start to use DMC from the stage of secondary school. At this stage they have already acquired some knowledge about English, they are able to do some complex works in groups and explore something that is related to their interests. With the guidance of the teachers, they will be inspired to learn the language with fun and how to work in a team. And I think the learning environment in secondary school is more pure that they will not be like college students who sometimes will only see study as an impediment for entertainment.

   Maybe I will ask the students to do a video composing according to the textbooks. I will introduce them some apps like Vue for quick video editing. When it comes to study a story, for example, the chapters in Anne’s Diary, I can ask them to work in group after we learned the articles in the textbook to make an adaptation about the story according to their understanding by using multimodal functions in the app.

   • Yes it is true that students are easy to get distracted by DMC. When they using technical tools you mentioned, there are lots of things would attract them like messages from friends or news. And I agree with you that the lack of monitoring would be a difficult problem to solve. It seems hard for teachers to supervise students when they learning through DMC. Could you or other classmates find out some ways to supervise students? Or maybe it would be better for parents to shoulder the responsibility for supervision?

3. I think it is natural for students to get distracted by DMC from the real task of language learning. As long as they can get back to their task after the harmless distraction, that’s fine.

   As for the most appropriate stage for students to learn through DMC, I think it is secondary school stage. Because the students of this stage can control themselves better than pupils and have a basic knowledge of the DMC related tools. After all, they are a generation that was raised on digital literacies. They have the ability to accomplish easy or intermediate level of DMC tasks.

   I think I will encourage the students to make a video with graphic adaptation and their own paraphrased dubbing of the in-class text. In this way, they can involve more and comprehend what we’ve learnt better.

   • Hi, Queenie, thanks for sharing your thoughts. Indeed, students in secondary schools have better self-discipline and self-learning ablility compared to primary school students, but teachers’ guidance are also necessary in this stage, after all, they are still teenagers. With regard to the in-class activities, what you mention about graphic adaptation and dubbing are really intersting. I believe these activities are helpful in motivating students.

4. I think it depends. If the target students are primary pupils, they are more prone to be addicted to the color, pictures, anime, sound of the DMC rather then the language content. Because their metal development is not mature, they are easily to be distracted. If the target students are in high school, what they face are abstract grammatical rules and endless test, teachers can sometimes use DMC to add pleasure to their monotonous life.
   If I have to run a DMC activity, I think I will ask my students to do a digital book review, as one post-reading activity in extensive reading programme. If what they read is a narrative, they can adapt it into a comic. Apart from that, they are required to summarize what they have read in their books, write down their opinions, read several paragraphs which they like best and then record it. All these should be done in Prezi, and later they can use the classroom laptop to present their works to the whole class.

   • Hi, thanks for your reply Flora. Yes, I also agree with you that young children may pay much attention to the DMC content itself and ignore their main target is to develop their English. So more guidance and supervision from parents and teachers are necessary.
     You also mentioned a quite interesting DMC activity here. I believe it will not only develop students fluent reading ability, but also improve their awareness of different modes of composing.

5. 1. Do you think students would be distracted by DMC from the real task of language learning?

   I tend to think that students are more likely to be distracted by DMC from the real task of language learning because there can be much irrelevant information in DMC when students are reading, wiring and searching for sources of information in DMC. The temptation of some irrelevant stuff can be somehow difficult to resist for young learners learning in the “digital wilds”.

   2. What is the most appropriate stage for students to learn through DMC? (e.g. primary school/secondary school/university)

   I’d say the most appropriate stage for students to learn through DMC would be as early as primary school. Although many people may argue that learners in primary school are too young to resist the temptation of distracting information in DMC when practicing literacy activities, I tend to believe that it’s necessary for them to form a good habit of making the best use of DMC for literacy practices from a younger age as this good habit can last into their adulthood and best facilitate their literacy competences.

   3. If you want to carry out a DMC programme, what kinds of activities would you design in your English classroom? (e.g. video composing/audio podcasting…)

   If I want to carry out a DMC program, I’d design a video composing project, asking students to creative their own multimodal works collaboratively with their pees. For example, a group of 6 people can work together to interview people around them to know how they feel about their everyday lives and then compose a writing by making use of the interview videos, pictures and even soundtracks with words to vividly illustrate what to have found.

   • Thank you for your comment, Daniel! I fully understand your concern and young learners may be distracted easily because of much irrelevant information in DMC. But it is very interesting to think about students should learn through DMC as early as possible. As you mentioned above, they should form a good habit at an early age so that they can perform well in the future, so I also believe that technical tools can promote education. And your project sounds great! I think your students may like it ; )

6. Thank you for sharing.
   Actually, almost no one can resist the attraction of the digital worlds. I think students definitely would be distracted by DMC from the real task of language learning except for highly self-discipline ones. They may surf online to search resources for their task in the first few minutes, but fail to concentrate when caught by intriguing music, videos or games not related to the real task.
   Therefore, this practice is not for every student. I think secondary school students can benefit from DMC since most of them are able to control themselves and avoid deviating too far from the main task. If that is the case, it is a good way to motivate students’ interests in English through DMC practices.
   I would like to attempt various kinds of activities in my class, depending on the lesson plans and curriculum objectives. Although some of those DMC activities are not appropriate to conduct in classroom contexts due to the time limit or some technical reasons, I would also consider them as after-class assignments or workshops and then encourage students to introduce their products into the classroom, acting as “bridging activities”.

   • Yes you are right hhhh almost no one can resist the attraction from the digital worlds. But I don’t think that secondary school students can control themselves well. Maybe we should figure out some ways to help students not to lose in the virtual world or ask parents’ help for supervising them when they learning through DMC.

7. Yes, I think students would be distracted by DMC from the real task of language learning because the information provided by DMC can be innumerous and wide-ranged, there always be something match students’ interests, but I don’t think it is so important to catch students’ attention all the time during the process of real task. If the task is finished or under control, there is no harm for students to read more.
   I think it is approriate for both low-level and high-level students. Because for low-level students, DMC can motivate them to learn English on themselves and attract them to focus on the teaching content during the class. And for high-level students, they can be assigned to do some complex tasks which required their comprehensive capacity.
   If I want to carry out a DMC programme, I would like to ask students to compose a video that based on a particular topic. Students could write a short play, then act and film it. They can share the product with the class and present their ideas.

   • Thanks for your sharing, Charlotte! I can’t agree with you more. I think students can still learn a lot through DMC even they sometimes get distracted. During this process, they also learn something new, don’t they? It is a good way to design DMC programs according to different levels of students, which meets their requirements and improves their abilities. And your idea can help students have a deeper understanding on a specific topic, and cultivate their teamwork spirit at the same time!

8. Yes, I think it is quite easy for students to be distracted when they learn through DMC. Since tasks involved in DMC are multimodal, students have to search the Internet for a lot of information needed to complete the tasks. During that process, they may be easily attracted by some interesting things on the Internet which are irrelevant to their tasks. Hence, teachers’ and parents’ guidance for students to do this kind of task is of great significance.

   From my perspective, the most appropriate stage for students to learn through DMC is secondary school. For primary school students, they lack necessary technological skills and language proficiency to finish the task. But when students arrive at the secondary stage, their language proficiency will improve a lot and they will also acquire some basic Internet knowledge like how to search online for information etc. By then it will be possible for them to work with their classmates to finish a task that involves digital multimodal elements.

   If I want to carry out a DMC programme, I will design a video composing task for my students. For example, I may ask them to recommend one movie through making a video. In the video, apart from including reasons for their recommendation, they can also show some pictures and episodes of the movie, which can make the activity more interesting.

   • Thanks for your interesting sharing Sophia.
     I also agree with you that some guidance and supervision are important, for students may get distracted during the process of collecting information. But so far, it is difficult to find an effective way to achieve this goal, so more efforts are needed.
     Video composing task is a quite interesting activity. If students are required to dub for their videos, it may also encourage students to learn and use English in different contexts.

9. Yes, I agree that students are likely to be distracted by DMC when conducting language learning tasks. When they are searching for information useful for their projects, game advertisements or other interfering pop-up windows can easily distract them. What’s worse, when students lack awareness of language learning, they may start playing the games and browsing irrelevant information without even noticing.
   I think it should be more appropriate for university students to learn through DMC since they don’t have heavy learning tasks as secondary school students. Therefore, they have more time to delve into these innovative technologies besides grammar and lexis. As for primary school students, I won’t recommend this approach since most of them lack self-discipline and are easy to get addicted to some games popping out randomly when completing projects.
   I think I will encourage my students to make some video projects. Nowadays, there are plenty of useful apps designed for video making so there won’t be many technical issues. Furthermore, I think video making can be really motivated since students are entitled to have more composition spaces by designing different shots and choosing varied components like music and filters.

   • Yes, you’re right. Many advertisements and pop-up windows are really annoying! If students are lack of self-control, they may immersed in surfing the Internet instead of finishing their project. So I agree that it would be better for university students to learn through DMC because they are more mature and self-discipline. And video making is very helpful for them to share their ideas and master some skills of video editing. Thanks for your comment, Coco!

10. I think students are very likely to be distracted because “mind-reading” social media notify users of content updates that users probably like.
    I think the multimodal composing is suitable for university-level students. first of all, the test-driven school system does not allow students below university level to spend so much time on such creative compositions. Secondly, students blew university-level are considered to be less disciplined because they may not deal with learning and entertainment on the digital devices well.
    I will use the video composing. Because videos can display the interesting content visually and catch other students’ attention while one group of students are presenting their work. Additionally, I will procedure my class accordingly, which means that I will adjust my teaching strategies as students’ English level improves. At the beginning, I will provide much scaffolding for students but give students more autonomy once students hit a certain English level.

    • Thanks for your sharing Alex! I agree with you that the text driven education system makes it hard for students to do more creative project and only university students have enough time and energy to learn through DMC. But some of our classmates thinks that it would be better for students to learn digital literacies in a younger age. It seems that it is difficult to balance students’ need to develop digital literacies and their needs to get higher grades in exams.

11. Thanks for your sharing. I think students may be distracted by the DMC since the task kind of legitimizes their use of computers and surfing on the Internet.
    I think the university level is the most appropriate stage for the implementation of DMC. Since such kind of learning activity is quite time-consuming–students have to spend time familiarizing themselves with the use of software and solving the technical issues, which is unrelated to language learning itself. If secondary school students are asked to do these tricky tasks, they and their parents may think the learning time is wasted. Besides, I think it would be better for students to address some more real-life topics and gain in-depth views in the process of completing DMC, so it requires students to reach certain language competency and cognitive level, which is hard for secondary school to achieve. Of course, DMC can indeed be adopted to add fun to the secondary school students’ language learning. If this is the case, I would prefer to let students do audio podcasting, recording their dialogue, interview or narration about the topics appearing in the textbook, like what they did last weekend, their most impressive experiences, etc. Thereby the DMC will be more related to the learning targets.
    Actually I only know a limited range of student activities in terms of DMC, like video-composing, documentary film and podcasting. So I may choose video-composing, which is challenging but affords more learning opportunities.

    • Hi, Chang, thank you very much for your comment! You actually mention both pros and cons of DMC in secondary school, and you’ve listed some of the key factors here. Indeed, It is very important to keep student focusing on the learning target itself. Regarding to your suggestions for the implementation of DMC in the scondary school, I agree that it can serves as supplementary in-class activities in teaching, and hopefully you can apply those good ideas in your teaching.

12. Thank you for sharing!
    1. I think it depends on students’ variables, such as students’ age and language level. Young children tend to be distracted by DMC from the real task of language learning because of their cognitive level and low self-control. And for those learners at the beginner level, it is hard for them to notice some language attributes. Therefore they would easily be distracted by other multimodal elements as well.
    2. From my perspective, the most appropriate stage for students to learn through DMC is when they are undergraduates. Undergraduate students have much more free time after class comparing. Besides, students at this stage are better at cooperating with others and also much more proficient with using electronic devices compared with the students in secondary school and primary schools.
    3. I would let three to four students form a group and create a video. For instance, ask them to compose a video to share their favorite book or city. I think students would learn a lot by producing the videos as they have to select information about the issues and design how to present it as well.

    • Thanks for your sharing, Manty!
      I agree with you that most appropriate stage for students to learn through DMC is undergraduate period. Since learning through DMC is a little bit time-consuming, undergraduates are likely to have more free time compared with those primary or secondary school students.
      Creating a video to share their favorite books or cities is also a good activity. I believe it cannot only improve their English level through collaboration, but also develop their digital literacy.

13. I believe the students will not be distracted by DMC as long as the DMC focus is closely related to the linguistic task the teacher is interested in. Indeed when students are engaged in DMC, they focus on meaning and consider composing in a holistic way. It doesn’t mean they are not thinking about the language use they are learning. If the linguistic tasks can really be applied in the DMC, they will put it into use.

    University, I suppose. Engagement in DMC requires a relatively high level of language proficiency, which provide the composers various linguistic resources available to use. It also needs their critical thinking capacity, while searching for information on the Internet and designing. University students are more possible to be capable of doing all these.

    I’m most interested in audio podcasting. Chinese students, in particular, do not give sufficient attention to speaking because it is not involved in University Entrance Examination of most provinces. Audio podcasting of DMC program can well motivate the students to be engaged in speaking practices.

    • Hi, Olivia, your idea is different from others but I think it really make sense! DMC can engage students with authentic audiences, providing real-world motivation, so it actually increases learner autonomy and encourages independent language practice. And personally I also agree with you that DMC is more suitable for university students and audio podcasting is really a good way to improve their speaking skills. Thank you for your sharing!

14. Yes, I tend to agree that learners are easily distracted by DMC, especially for those young beginners in language learning. Most of them are not mature enough and lack of self control so that they will spend too much time on those appealing pictures and videos rather than learning the target language. Certainly, we can’t rule out the possibility that there are students with high degree of self-discipline can stay focused on DMC project and learn the language more efficiently than the traditional print-based task.

    As for the most appropriate stage for students to learn through DMC, I woud say learners in Universities. Since comprehension abilities and higher-order literacy skills are required in the DMC project in order to manipulate different semiotic resources for re-creation, younger learners may hardly complete the given tasks. On the other hand, university students have more time and energy to tackle with the technical issues relating to the DMC task, which is a time-consuming process for secondary students under heavy academic pressure.

    If I want to carry out a DMC programme, I will design a video composing task for my students. With the popularity of vlogs among young people, participating in a video composing task would be a motivating way to learn the language. The video can be either an adaptation of the article in the textbook or personal experience related to the topics in each units. During composing, students can deepen their understanding of the texts and practice productive language skills.

    • Thanks for your sharing, Yvaine! I agree with you that university is an appropriate stage for students to learn through DMC since it requires a lot of time and energy. And the task you mentioned is interesting! I believe that students would be motivated by making a vlog by themselves. This is really popular among young people today. Apart from what you have mentioned, maybe we can ask students to introduce a topic in English in their vlog to their audiences too.

15. I think whether students will be distracted depends on both students themselves and the teachers’ design of tasks. Firstly, I think the university students will be less distracted than secondary and primary students, I mean the older students can control themselves more. Also the language task should be appropriate so that students should concentrate on their tasks and have less chance to be distracted.
    I think creating a video or a short film may be interesting and it should be a group project so that the cooperation can be included, and group mates can share their ideas. I have done this and the production is amazing and very good.

    • Thanks, Daisy, for sharing your opinions with us. What you mention about the “teachers’ design of tasks” and “appropriate langauge task” are also my concern as well, I mean it is essential for students to understand the learning target under teachers’ guidance while learning through DMC. In terms of the activities, I am glad to see that you have similar learning experience through DMC and recieve a satisfying result. Hopefully you can discover other possibilities with it and have fun in your future learning and teaching.

16. It might be a distraction for yong students because they tend to focus more on the music, pictures, animations instead of the content. So, If I am going to design a DMC programme, it’s a good way to have a video covering the background imfomation as a lead-in part to let SS have a basic understanding of the topic before a reading task. And it will attract students’ interests instead of distracting them, even for students of young age.

    • Thanks for your sharing Cathy.
      Yes, I also agree that learning through DMC may distract students’ focus on language learning, especially for those young learners. Yes, I believe the way you mentioned is an effective way to avoid distraction. But I feel a little bit confused about the programs you mentioned here. I think probably it is more like a lead-in activity in reading lessons instead of DMC activity.

17. Yes, I think students would be distracted as various multimodal resources can be both interesting and disturbing to them. The most appropriate stage for students to learn through DMC would be university level. Because university students have better self-disciplinary and they know how to organize multimodal resources better. If I want to carry out a DMC program, audio podcasting will be a useful activity to be carried out. I will let students to form into groups and do role play, such as to be international reporters in different situations and let them produce an audio. The whole class can even create a channel together. In this way, I think students can get the practice of collecting and organizing multimodal resources, which can enhance their new literacies competence. Also, their practices of speaking can be facilitated as well.

    • Thanks for your comment, Shanice! As you mentioned above, university students know how to organize multimodal resources better, maybe they will not get distracted easily when they focus more on their task. I think your activity is very interesting because students can act as international reporters, so they can collect and share the latest news with classmates, which facilitate their writing and speaking practices. Hope you could try it in your future teaching!

18. As far as I’m concerned, students may get distracted in producing DMC. A lot of time and energy may be spent on how to the video clips more attractive rather than language itself.
    As for the most appropriate stage for students to learn via DMC. I tend to believe the university students may be the ideal learners. It ‘s assumed that they are equipped with more knowledge about the technology and know how to apply it to the task.
    if I’d like to design a DMC task, video clips are preferable.
    As we all know, Tik Tok enjoys a great deal of popularity among people in mainland China. Because of this, video assignments may not be too challenging for students. They are not only familiar with the form but also make all kinds of videos in their spare time. This assignment is a perfect combination of language learning and their own interests.

    • Thanks for your comments Catherine! I agree with you that university is an appropriate stage for students to learn through DMC since it requires a lot of time and energy. But about what you have mentioned, “how to the video clips more attractive” may distract students attention, I think that maybe they can learn through this process too. For example, in order to make their video interesting, they may pay attention to their language choice at the same time, which can facilitates their language learning too.

19. Do you think students would be distracted by DMC from the real task of language learning?
    I think it depends on students’ personality. For those who are self-displined, they will not be distracted by DMC. However, if some students are addicted to the Internet, they might forget the real take of language learning. It also depends on the age of students. Young age students may be easier be distracted by DMC than other students.

    What is the most appropriate stage for students to learn through DMC? (e.g. primary school/secondary school/university)
    I think it would be in university. I believed that almost all the college students can have assess to computer and they also learn some techniques for using computer from the computer or information technology courses. In addition, they also have more disposable time to fininsh their own project.

    • Hi, Eva.Thanks for sharing your thoughts. In terms of the distraction problems with DMC, many of our classmates share similar views as you. For younger learners, they do need to have adequate guidance from teachers, and therefore I agree with yout that the most appropriate stage for doing DMC project would be in university.

      Yes, I also agree with what you mention about the disposable time in university. As long as the test-driven school system doesn’t change in primary or secondary school, I think students may have inadequate time or effort for DMC projects.

20. To a certain extent, Students would be distracted by DMC from the real task of language learning. In the era of information explosion, it is very likely that every adult, are easily sidetracked for what it seemed to be interesting. It is the same for younger learners as well, with more variables that can lead them out of the tasks.

    Hence, to minimize the variables which could impede students’ real task learning while we are embedding DMC, it would be preferable to have them to try out in university, especially undergraduate students. It would also be most suitable if we nominate freshman to do the tasks and they are new to the university, and it is likely they have more output on the job, and therefore achieving better in the actual language learning exercise.

    As a local teacher, my DMC project would be a radio drama contest in which students have to compose their script with sound effects embedded in their production. It can work hand in hand with the class reader assigned, e.g. writing a sequel or changing the ending of the story so as the bridge the f2f learning with virtual learning experience together.

    • Thanks for your sharing, Warren.
      I agree with you that students would be distracted by DMC. In the era of Information, even adults are easily sidetracked to some interesting information, let alone young students. Undergraduate period indeed is an appropriate stage for students to learn through DMC. But I think in HK context, maybe it can be carried out in secondary school as long as DMC is closely related with linguistic tasks. Students may try to use language they have learned in class in DMC tasks. This practice provides them with opportunities to use language in different context, which may facilitate their language learning. The activity you mentioned here is really impressive! Hopefully, it will improve students’ digital literacy as well as their language proficiency.

21. 1 Yes, I do think that students might be distracted. DMC program is a great form to attract the attention of students and increase their motivation, especially at the beginning stage of the class. Also, we can combine various kinds of digital literacies with language learning. However, in order to successfully produce an audio or a video, students should pay more attention to digital literacies rather than language itself.

    2 From my perspective, there is no restriction to the use of DMC because of different stages. There are various language learning purposes in each stage, so DMC can be used in totally different ways according to the needs. So I think we cannot say which stage is the most appropriate.

    3 For high school students, I might ask them to do DMC in a group of around 4 people. And a theme might be about what they have done in a summer holiday. They can compose a video of some interesting and meaningful events and share with classmates at the beginning of a new semester.

    • Hi, Lyla, I think your concerns are right. Students may spend more time on digital literacies if they are not familiar with, so DMC should be designed properly according different levels of students and different language learning purposes. Your project can remind students of their summer holiday and record something interesting and meaningful. I believe this activity could be a wonderful start for a new semester!

22. I do believe students will be distracted by DMC from language learning.
    I think it’ll be appropriate for most students to start learning through DMC in middle school, since they have received at least 6 years of formal schooling, hence hopefully they are able to differentiate “playing computer (games)” from “accomplishing an assignment using computers”, and they have some necessary self-discipline as well. Primary kids tend to have insufficient skills at operating on a computers, they are still learning how to cooperate with their peers, and will be easily distracted by anything they’ve never seen before. University students will be embarrassed if they find themselves know nothing about DMC.
    For beginners, I’ll probably just make good use of the hiteborad in class, for instance, ask students to come to the front and match a picture with its correspondent English vocabulary on the screen. Kids often find these kinds of activities interesting. For intermediate and advanced learners, I may assigne them a group task which requires them to think about their own advantages( writing/ correcting others’ mistakes/visuals) and create a blog post together with their teammates.

    • Thanks for your sharing Tina! I agree with you that middle school students have built self-discipline so they may not be distracted by DMC from language learning. It also good for them to form a good habit of making use of digital tools in young age. Some of our students worry that the test-driven education system may not allow them to spend too much time on DMC. But the activity you mentioned, asking students to come to the front and match a picture with its correspondent English vocabulary on the screen, seems do not require a lot of time and energy, so I believe that as long as we can design suitable activities, students will benefit a lot from it.

23. Thanks for your sharing Tina! I agree with you that middle school students have built self-discipline so they may not be distracted by DMC from language learning. It also good for them to form a good habit of making use of digital tools in young age. Some of our students worry that the test-driven education system may not allow them to spend too much time on DMC. But the activity you mentioned, asking students to come to the front and match a picture with its correspondent English vocabulary on the screen, seems do not require a lot of time and energy, so I believe that as long as we can design suitable activities, students will benefit a lot from it.

24. It is possible that students are distracted by DMC from the real task of language learning, especially for young learners. While students are searching for materials to produce the text, they might have access to tons of information, not only written texts but also sounds, pictures, and they are distracting to some extent.

    It’s beneficial for students to start learning through DMC as soon as possible in terms of developing digital literacies and learner autonomy. However, it is also challenging because young learners like primary school students need supervision and guidance from the teacher. DMC can be applied to all stages, but as for the most appropriate stage, it depends on whether the instruction is effective.

    I think it will be comprehensive. Some activities can be thought about such as a digital album showing their learning outcome, a comic strip describing their trip.

    • Thanks for your sharing, Vanessa!
      Yes, I also agree with you that students may get distracted! They need to search the Internet for a lot of information to complete the tasks, and during that process, they may be easily attracted by some interesting but irrelevant things on the Internet. Thus, if they start learning through DMC at an early age, supervision and guidance from parents and teachers are necessary.

25. I think l would be easily distracted by DMC when doing the real task of language learning, thus not to mention students.
    Probably university is the most appropriate stage for students to learn through DMC. During this stage, students have more authority to choose the learning mode they like. Also, they no longer face severe stress and they can try different things.
    I am more clined to design vedio composing activities as it is the combination of four basic skills: speaking to record the vedio, listening for other students, writing for ideas, and reading for materials needed.

    • Hi, Brenda, Thanks for telling us your reasons in designing the video composing activities. It is ture that they provide students good opportunites to practise the basic four skills, which is beneficial for them to develop all-round abilities.
      Hope that you can apply what you mention about the activities in your future teaching ！

26. I think students may be distracted by DMC and it can be related to personal differences and curriculum design. Students’ self-control and concentration differ from ages and personalities. At the same time, their learning efficiency and performance also show differences. And how teachers use DMC to teach is also important. Some tasks and activities may be more distracting to students.

    For me, senior high school and college students may be better at learning through DMC. They may have the skills to record audio or produce video to benefit more effectively from this learning environment. And they may be more mature and have better communication skills, which can allow them to focus more on learning and know how to collaborate with others well.

    If I had a DMC programme in my teaching, I would choose some activities that involve relatively simple video production. I would first consider their interests and choose topics where they would be more actively involved. And I would remind them to spend more time on the discussion and analysis of the topic itself, instead of making very long and complicated videos.

    • Thank you for your comment, Julie! I agree that high school and university students are more appropriate to learn through DMC because it requires some technical skills. Your activity shows that students can cultivate their critical thinking and analytical skills on some specific topics, even they just make a simple video production. So I think DMC can also motivate them to finish this task, right?

27. Whether it leads to distraction or not depends on students’ maturity and the needs in language learning. For example, if the target students are very young or the students’ primary focus is on digital design, which will definitely deviate them from the leading way to learn and practice the language. Also, under the exam-driven learning context, a large majority of students are learning to pass the exams, which may distract students from learning the main language points.
    As the reason said above, I think university students are the most appropriate level to match the intended outcome of both language learning and digital design. Besides, students have easier access to computers, phones and thus more exposure to multimodal composing in the university. So, they won’t meet technical difficulties and eager to learn to fill the gap between formal literacy and digital literacies in real life.
    I would suggest a group video composing project with the collaboration with a technical teacher and a language teacher. I won’t assign a specific topic for students, so they are free to choose whatever they want to share through the English voice-over. The class activity is mainly task-based, and teachers are considered as a consultant. This project will develop students’ collaborative, critical thinking and problem-solving competence. In order to meet their satisfaction with the final work, they will search for the keywords and check pronunciation and practice a lot. In this case, their language level will improve simultaneously.

    • Hi Krystal, thanks for your sharing! Your thoughts remind me of a critical issue that “what is the main language point”, which seems be ignored in the discussion. According to what you mentioned, actually not only DMC would distract students, but also the test-driven model and other factors, so the key point for teachers is to think about how to guide students in an appropriate way. I also agree with you that it would be better for university students to learn through DMC since it requires a lot of time and energy. And the activity you mentioned is well-organized and interesting, hope it can facilitate your teaching and students’ language learning in the future!

28. In my opinion, the majority of students will be distracted by DMC if they are not assigned with specific language learning tasks. Surfing on the Internet, we can easily find that many people are doubting whether they can actually learn English by watching American or British TV series. The problem those people are facing is quite similar to the students who try to learn English by DMC. Those who watch the TV series without learning pressure just indulge themselves in fascinating plots. But those who have determined to take full advantage of the TV series will watch the same episode again and again to learn and imitate how the characters speak. So I think if the students have clear learning goals, they will eventually not be distracted by DMC.
    I think it is more appropriate for students in colleges to learn through DMC than those in primary or secondary schools because at that time, students can have more time to learn the relevant skills in order to do DMC. And they have already laid a solid foundation of English learning, so the students can complete the tasks more easily.
    I will ask my students to do video composing based on the reading materials we learn in the classroom and they are encouraged to adapt the texts with critical thinking.

    • Thanks, Christine, for your interesting and unique opinions on the first question. I have the same feeling as you. So what you’ve have discussed actually goes back to the question-whether digital tools can really be facilitators in our learning? I think you have already pointed out two key factors here, and I agree with you that both learning objectives and learners’ motivations have great influence in affecting the effectiveness of learning.

29. Thanks, Christine, for your interesting and unique opinions on the first question. I have the same feeling as you. So what you’ve have discussed actually goes back to the question-whether digital tools can really be facilitators in our learning? I think you have already pointed out two key factors here, and I agree with you that both learning objectives and learners’ motivations have great influence in affecting the effectiveness of learning.

30. Do you think students would be distracted by DMC from the real task of language learning?
    It is possible, so teachers’ proper guidance and instruction are important.

    What is the most appropriate stage for students to learn through DMC? (e.g. primary school/secondary school/university)
    For me, this method might be applicable to students in secondary school or above. Because some rather complex digital tools might be used in producing a DMC project, which requires a certain level of problem-solving ability as well as self-learning ability.

    If you want to carry out a DMC programme, what kinds of activities would you design in your English classroom? (e.g. video composing/audio podcasting…)
    I will probably assign my students to do storytelling since I have done it before, so I know what to offer to help them complete this task.

    • Thanks for your sharing, Aria!
      I agree with you that guidance and supervision are important, especially for those young learners. Secondary schools or above may be an appropriate stage, for at least at this stage, the ability of problem-solving or self-learning have achieved certain levels. But I do not quite understand the activity you mentioned here, could you elaborate on it?

31. I would say it depends on the content of DMC. In most cases, if the animation and picture are closely related to the language learning content, they will help students to understand the language and facilitate their learning. On the contrary, if they are appropriately used then it definitely will distract students from learning languages.

    I think all stages are suitable to learn through DMC but I would like to implement DMC in my teaching for secondary school and university students. It is because there are more DMC materials that I can choose from and by learning through DMC, they are able to produce more DMC content as well they will further develop their language competence.

    I would like to ask students to produce their own vlog or tiktok videos since these two kinds of videos are popular not only in China but around the world. By sharing their lives and interests with others, they could be more motivated to learn.

    • Hi Ariel! I think we all change our ideas about whether DMC would distract students from the real task of learning after tonight’s lesson hhh! And I found that the video task is quite hard tonight since it do require a lot of digital skills so maybe it would be better for students to learn through DMC in a young age.

32. Do you think students would be distracted by DMC from the real task of language learning?
    Yes, although I have to admit that DMC is really an attractive and creative approach, but the multimodal resources are distracting in the meantime.

    What is the most appropriate stage for students to learn through DMC? (e.g. primary school/secondary school/university)
    I think university is the best stage to learn through DMC, since primary and secondary education are still exam-oriented, this DMC approach need students to spend certain time in collaborating and self-learning, so they may feel a little bit overloaded. As for those in university, they are more familiar with the multimedia tools, and they may have more opportunities to practice DMC.
    If you want to carry out a DMC programme, what kinds of activities would you design in your English classroom? (e.g. video composing/audio podcasting…)
    I think may be I will ask my students to do the audio podcasting based on the passages and texts we learnt in class.

    • Thank you Mira for your sharing! I believe it is an interesting way for university students to make an audio podcasting and learning English at the same time. Although many multimodal resources can be attractions to some extent, students can use multimedia tools properly if they have self-control.

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