Multimodality, Translingualism, and Rhetorical Genre Studies: Laura Gonzales
Rhetorical Genre Studies, developed in part through Carolyn Miller’s seminal work highlighted in this special issue of Composition Forum, expands previous conceptions of genre to “fuse text and context, product and process, cognition and culture in a single, dynamic concept”
RGS “encourages us [and potentially our students] to consider the complex interconnections” between “the full social and symbolic action of textual practice”
scholars argue that multimodal pedagogies grounded in RGS “provide students with a much broader toolkit from which to function as rhetors in the world,” helping them reconceive genres not as static forms that only exist in educational settings, but as socially situated heuristics developed to meet the needs of particular communities at specific times (Arola, Ball, Sheppard 2013)
The aim of both RGS and multimodal composition is to understand writing in context and to leverage their rhetorical impact when communicating with various audiences. The goal of multimodal composition curricula using RGS as a framework, in turn, is to help students understand writing as socially situated rather than as a static, rule-bound phenomenon.
translingualism offers a way to connect the socially situated conceptions of genres promoted by RGS with the flexible, audience-centered approach to teaching writing adopted by multimodal scholars.
translingualism (as it is used in this paper) provides a lens by which to examine (and value) “how writers deploy [and combine] diction, syntax, and style, as well as form, register, and media”
By combining her interpretation of the word “drawing” with illustrations and words describing Malcolm X’s literacy sponsors, Nathalia’s reading response was an act of translanguaging, as she “adopt[ed] interpretative strategies,” to combine words and visuals in her multimodal reading response
When asked to describe their approaches and potential anxieties about composing conventional print genres such as the print version of their literacy narratives or rhetorical analyses, 12 of 17 students expressed similar concerns, stating that they had trouble translating their ideas into writing
Students’ gestures, in conjunction with their verbal discussions, suggest a limited, linear perception of conventional print genres.
L2 writers used multimodality to layer a multiplicity of meanings rather than to reiterate a specific idea--L2 students (or at least the 8 of 10 students evidenced in this study) practice translingualism by “re-contextualizing” and “reforming” semiotic modes and antecedent genres
By presenting L2 learners as experts in multimodal composition who readily enact rhetorical genre theory, we can continue moving away from the deficit perception of L2 learning that continuously plagues the academy.
For 12 of 17 L1 and L2 students, conventional print genres are perceived as templates with strict, bounded guidelines. Approaches to multimodal composition, on the other hand, appear to be influenced by students’ experiences with language acquisition and negotiation, with 8 of 10 L2 students describing multimodality (7 of 10 also using gestures) as an opportunity to purposefully layer meaning across modes in less bounded ways