Transmediation in Multilingual Classrooms: Examining the Transformation of Ideas Across Multiple Modes and Languages

• In Event: Transmediation in Motion: New Directions for Theory and Inquiry on Multimodality in School Spaces

Abstract

A growing body of research describes how multimodal composition offers culturally and linguistically diverse adolescents multiple points of entry for self expression and identity development (Yi et al., 2019). However, there is a paucity of research examining students’ academic learning through creating multimodal products. In this presentation, I draw upon social semiotics (Kress, 2010) and translanguaging (Canagarajah, 2012) frameworks to understand how bilingual students analyzed literature through multiple modes and languages. In particular, I examine how student analyses transmediated (Suhor, 1984) and transformed across multimodal and written texts.

This study was conducted in four 10th grade English Language Arts classes in a Title 1 charter high school. Out of the 38 participating students, 89% had a heritage language other than English and 74% self-identified as Latinx. Students collaboratively created three multimodal projects throughout the school year, including a hypertext poetry analysis, a persuasive soundscape, and a video theme analysis. Data sources included student analyses, video and screen capture observations, and design interviews. Multimodal analysis of the screen capture and video observational data was conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of students’ collaborative composing processes. Time-stamped video logs were created for each small group (n=18). Moving sequentially through the screen capture data for each in-class workshop, this process included creating a fine-grained multimodal record of how ideas developed and transmediated across modes. The second phase of analysis involved open and axial coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) across the video data and student interviews. Finally, transmediation visualizations (Author, 2017) were created to examine how ideas travelled and transformed during the composing process.

Findings revealed that bilingual students transmediated their literary analyses in a variety of ways across multiple modes and languages. Throughout their composing processes, students collaboratively conceptualized literary themes through use of visuals, music, and videos. Meaning-making with non-linguistic modes often preceded textual aspects of their projects and provided a foundation from which they constructed their analyses. Conceptualizing through visual and aural modes also allowed students to gain a sensory understanding of literature, including being able to “see,” “hear,” and “feel” the ELA content. Finally, students explained how having the communicative flexibility to layer, remix, and juxtapose different modes opened up impactful opportunities to “think in a different way” and see “new perspectives.” This presentation will conclude with classroom and research implications for how the process of transmediation can support bilingual students’ literacy learning.

Author

• Blaine E. Smith, University of Arizona