Bridging the Multimodal Gap + A Guide to Composition Pedagogies
Bridging the Multimodal Gap
As a new student of pedagogy, I had only recently learned of the difference of product-focused versus process-focused pedagogy, and seen the often ignored importance of the latter. So it was to my surprise to be introduced in Chapter 4: “Reversing the Process: Video Composition and the Ends of Writing” the problem with overcorrecting towards process-driven learning, which results in not having a good criteria for when one should stop writing, leaving students confused as to how to arrive to the destination of their composition. Writing is definitely an act of discovery and invention, so it's been helpful knowing I (nor my students), need to know exactly what their writing needs to say before it's written; however, on second reflection, I find I always have some idea of what I want to say, and it's when I have no clue where I want to go that I feel stuck and lost. Apparently, according to Pedretti and Perzynski, other students feel the same.
By utilizing video composition, multimodality offers an unfamiliar but helpful space for students to learn how to achieve the criteria of their work and define the audience they are creating their works for. Here are four things the authors had students focus on during the process of their projects that I found helpful questions to ask students when having a class consider how different mediums come with different requirements (76-77):
How is the process of creating a brief online video like writing an essay?
How is the process of creating a brief online video not like writing an essay?
In what ways is preparation for creating videos different from preparation for creating an essay?
Student videos and essays can be seen as a series of projects. How do the conditions of your life as a student at this particular moment in history shape your projects?
However, in Chapter 8: “When Multimodal Gets Messy: Perception, Materiality, and Learning in Written-Aural Remediation”, there is an argument that while multimodal implementation in the classroom comes with many benefits, instructors need to be ready for the potential complications it comes with. Multimodality can often be an exciting idea for students, but with the lack of a clear roadmap the translation of academic expectations and language to new mediums can be a difficult one.
“Though some students may excel in creating media-centric texts circulating in popular culture (e.g., memes, podcasts, video mashups), they can be confused when those modal worlds conflict with ideologies of academic settings. And what of the challenges faced by students who lack experience creating multimodal texts at all?" (140)
Since the technology behind multimodality is constantly changing and shifting, students must be willing not only to learn how to implement academic composition in these new mediums, they must also be willing to relearn and experiment with new methods over time as new technology and conventions are introduced. It's important to encourage some degree of confusion, uncertainty, and experimentation while still providing a guiding hand and assignments that lead to growth and avoid being too vague to the point it paralyzes students.
A Guide to Composition Pedagogies
Until reading "Basic Writing", I hadn't really considered the difference between a regular composition class and one meant to teach a more preliminary level of writing. Lamos and Mutnik initially outlines five key things to consider when teaching the course; I find #3 and #4 the most intriguing (21):
Assume students can learn and deserve to be engaged in serious intellectual activities and curriculum.
Engage in “extra” student-centered work… in the form of time, conferences, feedbacks, or other related scaffolding techniques.
Address “high-order” issues of argumentation, evidence, and analysis alongside “low-order” issues of grammar, style, syntax, and punctuation.
Integrate academic writing and reading instruction.
Value the inevitable tension between what students “already know” and trying to “move them to what they need to know”.
As somebody who has seen freshmen writing courses from the perspective of an SI, I think the third point might be the most important. Balancing "high-order" and "low-order" issues of writing is very difficult, and needs to be catered uniquely for each class, and sometimes, each student. Some students feel very comfortable with their ability to form a cohesive argument and provide evidence for it, but struggle to utilize typical writing conventions, while others might have the opposite problem, and I believe students in a basic writing course will have similar experiences in learning one better than the other.
I also find that students struggle to pull away key information from a text and to analyze the thematic relevance of different works, so pairing writing and reading instruction in a basic writing class seems to be a really good idea.
Moving past basic writing to "Rhetoric and Argumentation", David Fleming discusses the problem with how argumentation is taught in education. Fleming claims arguments are seen in two different ways, either as a claim with points of evidence, or a disagreement between two parties in which each tries to convince the other. But good rhetoric and argumentation needs both, and that aspect is usually lost in the classroom.
“Schools tend to reduce and flatten arguments. Students are frequently asked to make san argument without being part of a situation that actually calls for one… outside school, meanwhile, argument is often identified with opposition: with attacking others and defending ourselves.” (249)
I like the solution Fleming proposes in creating a more democratic messy classroom in which students are able to take on real-world situations, understand the two different sides of the argument, and then build their own case. I think teaching this type of logic is really important because in our current age we struggle a lot with rational thinking and good information evaluation skills, so it's worrisome to know that in Fleming's opinion rhetorical teaching is on the decline. If I do become a teacher, even if I don't center rhetoric and argumentation pedagogy, I think I'll aim to implement those skills and incorporate some of these methods in the classroom.
Comments