Embodied Multimodal Teaching and Learning Praxis in a College Classroom: Strengths and Challenges

• In Event: Issues in Preservice Teacher Education: Identity, Beliefs, and Praxis

Abstract

The eight-month long ethnographic case study discussed in this paper was conducted at a large R1 university in the southeastern U.S.. Drawing on theories and previous empirical studies in multimodality, embodied SFL instruction, and Design-Based Research, the study explores (1) multilingual and multicultural students (pre- and in-service teachers) and instructor’s thoughts and feelings regarding an embodied multimodal curriculum implemented in a research-based graduate-level course, and (2) challenges and strengths in this curriculum. Data analysis includes theory-informed thematic analysis and ethnographic multimodal description of classroom discourse and individual interviews with one of the course instructors and two students who took the course.

Author

• Maverick Yunqiang Zhang, University of Georgia - Athens