Abstract
ABSTRACT While previous research has explored students’ use of modes in digital multimodal composing (DMC), scant attention has been paid to how they strategically utilize different resources to produce a coherent whole, especially a scientific documentary, and the literacies they demonstrate through DMC. Integrating DMC as a pedagogic innovation in the Chinese tertiary EFL curriculum, this study explores how undergraduate students mobilize various modes to create digital video scientific documentaries and the literacies they exhibit in their productions. The empirical analysis of three artifacts reveals that students can tactically leverage and orchestrate their semiotic repertoire to create educational and expository documentaries, conveying scientific knowledge effectively and innovatively to a lay audience. Students’ documentaries demonstrate multiple literacies comprising audience awareness, semiotic awareness, genre awareness, creativity, digital skills, problem-raising and problem-solving abilities. The findings indicate that students are competent meaning-makers who already possess a diverse array of literacies necessary for engaging in new literacy practice, and that DMC can be used as a favorable platform for them to foster these literacies. This paper concludes with implications for language instruction in conventional classrooms.
Published Version
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