Edited by Alex, Connie, Ellen, Vickie
Do you ever watch videos on YouTube, Tik Tok, Bilibili or other media platforms? Have you ever gained any language knowledge benefiting from watching these videos? Have you ever thought of producing a video yourself as part of your language learning process? Actually, this kind of approach, which integrates digital multimodal tools into the language learning process, is called digital multimodal composing (DMC).
Introduction
Jiang (2017) defined digital multimodal composing (DMC) as “a textual practice that involves the use of digital tools to produce texts by combining multiple semiotic modes that include, but are not limited to, image, word, and soundtrack” (p. 413). The video below from YouTube illustrates what DMC is in detail and introduces some of its applications in K-12 instruction.
Jiang (2017) conducted a study which implemented a DMC programme at a university in China in order to explore the affordances of DMC for EFL learning and the impact of these affordances on students’ EFL learning. Within the DMC programme, the students were invited to present their learning outcomes in the form of videos after some digital tools and multimodal resources had been introduced to them by their teachers. Based on the reflection of five teachers and twenty-two students on their English teaching/learning experience within the DMC programme, the affordances of DMC were summarised as follows.
Technological Affordances
The first advantage of transforming EFL performance into digital records is obvious, that is, students are able to conduct real-time replay and constant revision so as to make their work as good as it can be. In this process, students have full control over their performance, and this helps them to build the identity of competent users of English language. Moreover, the option of sharing the digital videos online allows students to exhibit their works to a bigger and authentic audience. The transmediation of DMC, that is translating meanings from one sign system to another, also offers an opportunity for customised meaning-making with words, images, voice and music, etc., as well as combining students’ media interests with English learning.
Educational Affordances
Incorporating DMC into the conventional EFL curriculum can provide students with new learning experiences that were not usually available before. With the assistance of images, specific scenes and captions, students may find it easier to understand the presentations, which further encourages them to actively participate in class. Another benefit of DMC is that students not only practise their English, but also develop multiple literacies skills such as searching information on the internet, writing a script, and editing video. Meanwhile, they may have chances to use English for real-life purposes in an imagined or authentic setting beyond the classroom. What’s more, DMC is conducive to nurturing students’ creativity in idea expression, which is rare in our exam-oriented education system.
Social Affordances
The convergence of multiple modes affords opportunities for students to exert their strengths and learn from each other so that they can foster a sense of belonging through enhanced engagement and peer interaction. In addition, student-centred learning helps develop students’ interests and allows them to independently regulate the learning process. Another affordance is that DMC bridges the gap between language learning and civic participation, providing an authentic context in which students can produce videos about social issues to raise public awareness and help disadvantaged groups in society.
Evaluation
Some upsides and downsides are worth discussing when DMC is applied to the contexts of university and secondary school in mainland China.
University context
- University students are equipped with stronger self-learning ability, which helps them use the digital devices skillfully and arrange their time for DMC projects properly.
- Advanced cooperation and negotiation skills allow university students to work better in DMC group projects.
- Teaching atmosphere in university is more relaxing compared to secondary school learning. The assessment system does not focus on the score of the examination, so that the teachers have more space to arrange DMC activities for students without adjusting the curriculum.
Image from pixabay.com
Secondary school context
- Because of examination-oriented study schedules, students do not have much time to spend on time-consuming English projects that are not directly related to exams.
- Most of the students in boarding schools have no access to the devices for conducting DMC projects.
- Parents may hold negative attitudes towards DMC, for example, they may worry that their children would be addicted to digital devices and distracted from study.
Given the challenges of conducting DMC in the secondary school context, some possible ways to integrate the DMC approach into English teaching could be a) providing elective courses; b) adopting teacher-centred activities. In this way, students can benefit from DMC without undertaking too much burden to carry out a compulsory DMC project.
Discussion
- Have you ever experienced the DMC approach in your English learning before?
- As a second/foreign language teacher or learner, would you like to adopt the DMC approach to teach/learn English? Why?
- To what extent do you agree that DMC can make contributions to exam-oriented English learning? Why?
1. Not really did it before until this time we are asked to post a weblog. It is the first time I utilize the DMC approach in my English learning.
2. As a language learner, I am willing to adopt the DMC approach because, unlike like traditional English learning, using the DMC can expose us to a wider range of resources from which we can learn more kinds of information about the second language and use the language to express ourselves more efficiently due to the multimodality of DMC.
3. It might be challenging to include DMC into exam-oriented learning because for students, it can take great effort and time to integrate and extract useful information from numerous digital resources in an exam which is always with a time limit. And for teachers, it can be difficult for them to provide unanimous and effective assessing criteria to evaluate students’ learning performance since there can be varied forms of information in students’ output, and these resources themselves may have different assessing criteria.
I agree that one of the affordances of DMC is that it provides learners with a platform to combine digital literacies and language learning. Consequently, learners are able to gain exposure to a wider range of resources and convey meanings in different formats. In addition, learners can foster social awareness, creativity, and cooperation skills in DMC projects. It can be considered as an ideal approach to teach college students.
Indeed, there are some challenges as mentioned, while we can consider them in different ways. DMC can actually give teachers some chances to make various assessment instead of just having examination as the format. However, I do agree that it is difficult to apply this in exam-oriented classrooms. Therefore, maybe more research need to be done to explore the application of DMC in exam-oriented context.
Personally I’ve barely had any multimodal writing experience, except in doing a creative writing project with my groupmates from a literature course, which I didn’t find particularly engaging because of my lack of multimedia literacy. As for the application of multimodal writing for educational purpose, I reckon this kind of activity could be quite useful for college EFL/ESL students because studies at that level would be more focused on promoting students’ creative and critical language skills and require a higher level of collaboration. In this way students can learn to make use of the abundant digital media resources in the real world, so they could develop an essential literacy in this increasingly digitalized world that could be helpful for their future work and life. In that case, it is perhaps one of the teacher’s responsibilities to make clear to the students the link between what they are learning to do and what they are going to do in the future, a “writing to learn” process.
I agree with you that besides language learning, DMC also serves the need for students’ future work in the digital age. It’s also important for teachers to make clear the possible application of DMC in real life in order to trigger students’ motivation. And from your unsatisfying experience of DMC in the literature course, I think it’s also important to introduce some multimedia tools to students before teachers ask them to do the project, which I hope can help students engage more in the project.
Actually, I didn’t have much DMC experiences before posting blogs in this course because most of my compositions are linguistic such as in academic writing. And the combination with visual or audio is not usually required. As for the application of DMC approach in teaching, I think it is useful especially in universities. DMC approach can promote students to coordinate with their classmates to complete high-level writing tasks. And at the university level, students are able to use digital tools to obtain useful resources and promote writing. However, I don’t think DMC approach can contribute to exam-oriented English learning. The criteria of exam-oriented learning usually are usually united and have the singal answer. DMC approach have different modalites such as visual, audio and linguistic. It is difficult to be assessed.
Yeah, the DMC approach help foster learners’ cooperation awareness, sociolinguistic competence, creativity, etc. As mentioned, this approach is much applicable to university context. Although it is not quite easy to conduct DMC approach in exam-oriented school context, we can still think about some possibilities of applying it and benefits it could bring to the context. Some of the elements in the DMC approach can be applied to the classroom as a part of the class. Besides, the approach promotes various assessment, learner-centred teaching in language teaching. However, time is needed to balance the application of DMC approach and exam-oriented English learning.
Actually, I haven’t got some experience in using DMC approach for language learning, but I would like to apply it in language teaching. It can stimulate students’ interests in language learning and promote interaction and collaboration between students. I also agree that this approach is suitable for advanced learners or university students, who are able to conduct the approach with rich experience in real life and using the language. I’m really not sure whether DMC approach will contribute to exam-oriented tests. As we know, in order to get high scores, some language classes are teaching to the test but do not care about the real use of language. DMC approach doesn’t contribute a lot to the high scores, so I don’t really think it will be a good choice for exam-oriented courses.
I totally understand your concern about the efficacy of DMC in exam-oriented contexts. I myself find it costs much time to produce a video on TikTok, let alone high school students who are busy with endless exams. It’s a dilemma for teachers to make a choice between high scores and new literacy skills. But let’s be positive to see the potential to integrate DMC in the classroom if the policy of easing the burden of excessive homework and off-campus tutoring can be thoroughly implemented.
Hi, xiaohan. I am happy that you are willing to try the DMC approach in your teaching. DMC may not contribute directly to students’ test scores, but students can hopefully improve their language skills during the process. I think language competence serves as the foundation of good performance in exams. Will you agree with me?
1. In my university, I had a class called creative reading and writing. The professor asked students to publish their writing tasks to Douban, an open network for creating context. Sadly, we haven’t had any responses from people except our classmates.
2. As a language teacher, I like to depot the DMC approach to teaching English. Firstly, students can get access to authentic language. Besides, they can choose a field they are interested in to have more motivation.
3. The exam tests students’ comprehensive ability, especially listening and writing. These skills can be obtained from DMC approaches. For example, if a student publishes a video, he first needs to register the website and understand where and how to launch the video. After posting, he must read comments and respond to other people. During this process, his writing and reading skills are practiced. Therefore, it is helpful for passing the exams.
I had a similar experience with you that I didn’t receive any comment after sharing a post online. It is a problem that may reduce students’ motivation to participate in the DMC project. To tackle this problem, I think educators like us should enhance digital knowledge and master the distribution patterns of content platforms first. Then we could teach students how to increase visibility through an attractive name, a hot hashtag or publishing at the right time when most users are active on the platform.
I did have some experiences in DMC approach on my language until my university study, During my learning in my university, we were often required to write different reflective blogs and essays on the intranet and other classmates needed to reply them. There were many new insights when readings other posts and replies too.
As a language teacher, I would like to adopt the DMC approach, especially having lessons through zoom. Through different collaborative tasks and instant discussions, students’ interests would be aroused and teachers can also review their learning progress through immediate response.
As I have said previously, DMC approach would let students respond and review through digital multi-modal composing. Teachers can make use of different literacy tools to access students’ performance on their learning after teaching a section or a chapter. Thus, students’ performances would be improved and thus, their grades in exam would also be enhanced.
Hi, Florence, Thanks for the comment. It is great to see some insights about the application of DMC in improving students’ performance and language knowledge. Therefore I believe that the DMC approach has potentials in language education for discovering. While it may take a long time to truly integrate the assessment system with the DMC approach.
1 & 2: I never experienced the DMC in the past English learning. But I want to try this approach in my future English teaching. I believe students have more interest in DMC writing than traditional writing. And it is also an innovation in English teaching in China.
3: I partially agree. DMC can inspire students to write actively in a multimodal way, but the writing style might be inconsistent with the exam writing. And nowadays, students are restricted from using digital devices in school, which impedes the application of the DMC approach.
Hi Liz! Given the common restriction of using digital devices in secondary school, I think the way to embed the DMC project into the computer course, which it’s also a compulsory course in secondary school, is a possible solution. By doing so, students can have the tools to conduct the projects, and also the DMC project is one form of computer application. What do you think of this way?
Yes, I have used these media to learn English and also watched some videos that are about how some talented foreign students improve their learning ability. Those are really helpful and I felt motivated accompanied with them.
As a teacher, I think I may ask students to form a group and produce some English video related to the topic of the textbook. During these period, students design dialogues and practice their speaking skills and help them review the content of that unit. Considering the exam-oriented situation, I assume these activities should be conducted once a month, so that it won’t take up too much time, since making these products can be quite time-consuming.
Actually, I believe DMC can act as a facilitator of exam-oriented instruction. It can intrigue students’ interest in English and provide them with more opportunities to access to a bigger world since the conventional teaching materials are limited.
1&2. I don’t have much experience in learning English with the DMC approach. As a language teacher, I tend to apply some elements of the DMC approach in the lead-in section（5 minutes）. Students can be attracted and stimulated by authentic language, which facilitates the coming procedure.
3. Exam-oriented English learning aims to select students, while the DMC is totally the opposite. I acknowledge that DMC contributes to nurturing students’ creativity in idea expression, but it is challenging to help students get high scores in exams.
Honestly, I didn’t realize I was using DMC for language learning till I signed up for this course. Before studying in Hong Kong, the exposure to DMC in the classes is quite limited. Most of the cases are that students are provided with a link or clip for further references to textbooks. However, this kind of DMC may not bring out the results as teachers expect, because most students are reluctant to do so. Another problem is that those DMC tools are not familiar to learners. Sometimes those digital platforms are used with only a limited number of people. You may find it hard to get useful resources on Bilibili or Tik Tok. What`s worse is that sometimes accounts may “correct” other accounts in terms of their content, which creates a quite negative environment for learners. Luckily, YouTube, as the most visited video website, provides huge number of experts and resources. I would watch some when I don’t understand some certain terms or concept I meet in class.
Hi, Sean. The DMC method is more than learning by watching digital videos, but creating them. I agree that choosing appropriate video platforms to post DMC work is important. YouTube is certainly better than those domestic media, not only considering it’s English medium, but also because it is the biggest video platform in the world, attracting audiences from various backgrounds.
1. l have ever experienced the DMC approach in English learning as an English major student. When I was a sophomore in my university, I was asked to do a presentation in the form of video to show my arguments, which needs not only a simple display of arguments, but images, soundtrack, and visual materials.
2. It depends on the level of students I will teach in the future. As we all know, it is not that practical to use this approach in the majority of regions and schools in mainland China for many complicated issues (as you have demonstrated above).
3. I completely agree with the statement, because the DMC approach is innovative and motivated, and it is obviously superior to the traditional way. The question is that it is hard to integrate it into our educational structure in mainland China perfectly to meet the requirements of exam-oriented learning.
1.To be honest, there was little experience for me to use DMC approach for English learning before. Teachers did play various videos for us in the classroom, only they find video online instead of making it by themselves.
2.As a teacher, I think DMC can be an effective way to be incorporated in lectures, especially for college students. It provides opportunities for them to communicate and corporate with peers, practicing language in the authentic context. In order to make the satisfied digital composing, they need to exchange their thoughts and express their meaning in an explicit way, which requires not only the knowledge of language but also knowing the usage of language.
3. I don’t think this approach is suitable for exam-oriented learning. Since learners may focus more on the products of DMC, they need to communicate in a more high-efficiency way. They may ignore the small mistakes in their dialogue and don’t prioritize the accuracy of their language, which does not meet the requirements of exams.
1. As a learner, I have not used an DMC approach in my secondary and primary school.
2. I believe DMC is useful for language acquisition. One benefit is that it allows learners to learn at their own pace by allowing them to rewind the video and watch it again. It can be a useful tool in a reading lesson, especially in the pre-reading stage as it can serve as a decent introduction for the student.
3. This approach can be suitable for exam-oriented learning as current HK public examination focuses solely on meaning, rather than form. DMC can offer an authentic learning experience for students to promote application and deep learning. However, if the exam of the exam-oriented syllabus focuses on form rather than meaning, DMC’s benefits will be limited.
Back to my university, I was assigned with group project working on the feminist topic in a business communication course. In this project, we should submit a whole original video sharing our views and thoughts on the feminist equality issue which is a quite controversial topic. Not only should we brainstorm how we write the script and shoot the video, but also we should be able to edit the video and add some special effects. Obviously, the whole video project involved fruitful cooperation and negotiation teamwork. And I did not have much experience in making a video which is challenging for me to self-learning on all these technical tasks. However, everything starts from a first step. I benefited a lot from the group project which provided me an excellent opportunity to present my critical views on a feminine issue visually and improve my computer and interpersonal skills. As a teacher in the future, I would incorporate DMC design into my pedagogical perspective resulting from various significant accordances of DMC listed on the blog above. For exam-oriented students, DMC can contribute to language skills by deepening understanding in a more interactive way.
1.Yes, I experienced it yesterday, in our course. Our teacher divided us into groups which consist of four people and asked us to make a video. We needed to choose the pictures for the script and record audio version of it. After that, we needed to use all of them together to make the video. It really tested our language skills, technical skills and cooperation skills.
2.Yes, I am willing to adopt DMC in my English course when I become an English teacher since it is quite motivating for students to learn English. In this way, they can apply their knowledge to do something practical, but not just purely learn from their textbooks. In addition, using DMC can help students to develop various skills at the same time to make them more well-rounded. For example, they can learn English, video-making skills and so on.
3.However, I think DMC is not suitable for exam-oriented English learning class. Leaning English with DMC approach can help students just learn a small part of the knowledge required by the exams, while intensive English learning class is more suitable for exam-oriented class.
During my university years, some teachers encouraged us to share opinions in the discussion platform. I could reflect my learning, ask questions and learn from other comments. It helped me to review the key concepts from the exam.
1. Yes, I have experienced the DMC approach before when I attended a professional development workshop about using a video tool called Flipgrid with English learners in and outside the classroom. By using a Microsoft or Google account and the smarphone, tablet or desktop computer’s camera, the teacher can easily post a “topic” (video) and add on emojis, text, stickers and drawings to personalize it. Students can then interact with and respond to the topic by recording their videos and personalizing them as they like. This tool is user-friendly and can be integrated into Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams, making it very versatile for primary school students in particular.
2. I believe that using the DMC approach to teaching and learning English is very beneficial for all parties involved in the English acquisition process. First, it “flips” the traditional mode of learning in the classroom and provides passive and timid students a platform through which they can turn themselves into “student-teachers” and respond to and share thoughts and views with their peers and teachers in a less apprehensive way. Second, through the use of videos, voice and text, teachers can prepare students to become knowledgeable DMC users as well as vocal expressionists and presenters in both the real and virtual worlds. Owing to the recent serious pandemic situation in Hong Kong and social distancing measures, there has been a rising trend for primary and secondary schools to interview student candidates using online platforms such as Zoom. Some institutions even require candidates to record a video presentation of themselves, outlining their learning trajectory and achievements. So being immersed in the DMC mode is the way to go in the 21st century.
3. As far as exam-oriented English goes, I am sure that Flipgrid, for instance, can be a great oral practice tool to prepare students for their English oral exams. As the tool allows numerous recordings, editing and effortless posting (minus the screening procedures experienced when uploading a video on YouTube), students can practice recording themselves until they are satisfied with the final outcome. Thus, they can fine tune their videos and make adjustments after replays.
1. I did a creative writing task last semester to write travel narratives and supplemented the text with some images. Also, I wrote a blog post with my group mates, involving both text and images.
2. As a language learner, I would like to compose multi-model texts because I will have the opportunities to learn some literacy skills and try new things, such as editing a video. As a language teacher, I am also willing to adopt the DMC approach since it can diversify my teaching activities and help motivate the students to engage in the class. Moreover, providing students with broader audience and authentic contexts help develop their communicative competence.
3. The teacher can elaborate some exam-related concepts and knowledge with some images and videos, which can attract the students’ attention and also help them to understand the text easily. Therefore, I think the use of multi-model texts can improve students’ learning efficiency.
1. Yes, I have used DMC approach to finish a group project at university. We made a video introducing cultural differences and culture shocks. Group members were assigned different works, for example, finding relevant information, writing scripts, filming, and editing the video. Our skills were improved, and our cooperation ability was enhanced through this process.
2. I’d like to adopt the DMC approach to learn English because we see it and use it more often than traditional writing in digital time. Most works are made online now and we need to get familiar with the working system.
3. I think teachers should clarify their requirements and rubrics of DMC projects. DMC could help students understand the knowledge deeply and develop their critical thinking ability.