“The challenge was fun”: Critical literacy and growth mindset in L2 multiliteracies

Abstract

Although second language (L2) experts have advocated for multiliteracies pedagogies in language courses, little is known about how students experience learning with multiliteracies curricula. This article examines the perspectives of 185 undergraduate students enrolled in a fourth-semester French multiliteracies course at a university in the Southwestern United States. Through the theory and pedagogy of multiliteracies, this design-based implementation research investigates how students traversed multimodal composing in 376 video reflections and 265 digital multimodal projects. These data, along with interviews from 10 focal students, are analyzed qualitatively through multimodal transcription, open, axial, and selective coding to illuminate student perceptions. Findings demonstrate how the multimodal projects and the multiliteracies curricula provided students an avenue to develop critical literacy, a growth mindset, and a sense of community. Analysis additionally revealed that students perceived spontaneous speaking and time constraints as tensions in the multiliteracies curriculum. These findings hold implications for designing and scaffolding L2 multiliteracies courses throughout the scope and sequence of university language courses.