On "Multimodality"

As most of us would agree, I see technology as necessary to writing instruction. Needless to say, we’re in the digital age and almost all writing activity is online. The writing environment has changed and technology and writing classes are inseparable today. If we provide a technology based learning environment to our students, they would feel more comfortable in expressing themselves. In the first place, they are familiar with using technology and they feel at ease when writing web sites, blogs, chatting online, text messaging etc. If we include a computer based approach in our writing course curriculum, we can provide more real- world practice into writing. In doing so, I believe that we can encourage student participation. Another significant aspect of integrating multimodal texts into our curriculum is students are offered the role of being not only the writers but also the publishers of their own writing. This implies that, being the publishers they can get and give feedback, so communication does not stop. Feedbacks and responses are also essential in the sense that they allow for collaboration. I also agree that traditional classrooms constrain students’ work in intellectual and physical ways, since such classrooms tend to kill the imagination of students, and they also feel trapped inside the classroom. Digital space offers more room to present their ideas and their creativity is not limited. English composition teachers also play an active role in the writing process by engaging in students’ production and by providing constant feedback. “Engagement” is a two sided process involving both teachers and students. Teachers might feel challenged by multimodal practices, as instructing in the traditional way is much easier without posing any challenges other than teaching the same rules, patterns and organization (introduction, body and conclusion), and essay types over and over again by paying close attention to grammatical details. However, we should not disregard the fact that students are fed up with taking the same, monotonous composition classes. Therefore, if we can adopt a multimodal focused approach, they would feel that they are an active part of something, they are producing something and they can relate what they produce to their lives outside the class. The only challenge remains to be the effects of technology on a Composition course, and I think that the benefits will far outweigh potential drawbacks.