Knowledge and Skills Statement
Show students a recording of a multimodal text such as a TV commercial. Then direct students to list and analyze all of the communication modes used in the text as well as how and whether each modality is used effectively.
Further Explanation
This assessment requires students to identify and discuss the various communication modes used in a multimodal text. Students should understand that multimodal text is made up of more than one mode such as images, movement, sound (spoken language and music), and written language.
Research
1. Leu, D. J., Zawilinski, L., Castek, J., Banerjee, M., Housand, B. C., Liu, Y., & O'Neil, M. (2007). What is new about the literacies of online reading comprehension? To appear in Rush, S. L., Eakle, J. Berger, A., ed. Secondary School Literacy: What Research Reveals for Classroom Practice. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. Retrieved from https://geoc.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/161/2013/08/NewLiteracies_article.pdf
Summary: The authors of this research studied online reading comprehension and the skills that students need in order to become proficient in analyzing multimodal and digital texts. The authors examine the way readers synthesize online texts, and indicate that online readers are actively constructing online texts that they read through their decisions about which sites to visit, among many other choices when reading and researching online.
2. Tainsh, N. (2014). Going south with Sophie Scott: a journey into oral language. Practically Primary, 19(1), 31+. Retrieved from https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A361713105/PROF?u=tea&sid=PROF&xid=ebafcfb7
Summary: The author examines the value of students' classroom discussion for oral language development. As a collaborative activity, students were required to adapt an assigned story into a multimodal format, which encouraged a "wide range of immediate, complex, and unplanned oral language" discussions as students had to "express views, justify ideas, negotiate, evaluate and collaborate to produce their planned oral scripts."
3. Batson, J. (2014). Postmodernity and oral language learning. Practically Primary, 19(1), 39+. Retrieved from https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A361713108/PROF?u=tea&sid=PROF&xid=0dc50066
Summary: The article argues for the increasing need for schools to support conversational skills in the digital age and provides ways to build opportunities for social communication in the classroom.