Identities and Investment in Foreign Language Multimodal Production: Contrastive Case Study

• In Event: 58.082 - Roundtable Session 25
  In Roundtable Session: 58.082-2 - Examining Motivation and Investment in L2 Research

Abstract

Research studies suggest that multimodal production facilitates language learners' agentic assemblage of semiotic resources; however, they tend to overlook the complex mediation of the multilingual speakers' subjective aspects. Using the cases of two contrasting students, drawn from a larger study of digital storytelling in a foreign language classroom, this paper argues the critical roles of identities in multiliteracies projects. One of the focal participants expressed pleasure and invested more than required, while the other felt estranged and altered the task procedure. Positioning analysis of the post-project semi-structured interviews, triangulated with the analysis of final products and written reflections, suggested that their different capacities to imagine themselves as speakers of the language impacted their emotional responses and investment.

Author

• Keiko Konoeda, Bates College