DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/A9WJ-8T74
Defense Date
2017
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Media, Art, and Text
First Advisor
Eric Garberson
Second Advisor
Elizabeth Hodges
Third Advisor
Jorge Benitez
Fourth Advisor
Michael Keller
Abstract
Multimodal writing refers to texts that use more than one communicative mode to convey information. While there is much scholarship that examines the history of alphabetic writing instruction and the alphabetic composing processes of students, little research explores the historical origins of multimodal composition and the processes in which students engage as they compose multimodal texts. This two-part project takes a fresh approach to studying multimodal writing by exploring the multimodal pedagogies of ancient Greek and Roman rhetoric and writing teachers, analyzing the role of mental and physical images in modern writers’ composing practices, and investigating contemporary students’ processes for composing multimodal texts.
In Part I, I re-imagine the history of multimodal writing by exploring the multimodal pedagogies that instructors of rhetoric and writing developed during Greek and Roman Antiquity, and I show how contemporary students use an array of multimodal composing processes that rely on both mental and physical images to write alphabetic text. In Part II, I share the results of a case study in which I investigate the processes students use to compose audio- and video-essays while enrolled in a multimodal writing course. This study explores what students know about multimodal writing before beginning the course, how they learn the software needed to compose these projects, the challenges students experience as they compose, and the similarities and differences students perceive between their own processes for composing alphabetic and multimodal texts.
Ultimately, I argue that composition teachers must acknowledge our long history of teaching with multimodal pedagogies and our experience composing alphabetic text through multimodal processes. Recognizing this lengthy history will decrease the anxiety that many composition teachers experience when tasked with teaching multimodal writing because, while typically only time and experience can grow confidence, in this case, a recognition of how much we already know will allow us to teach with the self-assurance we have earned.
Rights
© Jessica B. Gordon
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
12-11-2017
Included in
Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Digital Humanities Commons, Rhetoric and Composition Commons