Production of multimodal texts in Secondary Education: A case-study

Abstract

This paper describes the theoretical framework and the methodology followed by three researchers from different disciplines (Literature, Art Education and Educational Psychology) in order to present the challenges 12-15-year-old students faced in the production of a multimodal text in a school context. It examines the way students address specific dimensions of meaning (representational, social and organizational) within and across linguistic and visual-spatial modes, when producing a multimodal text. Specifically, it demonstrates students’ challenges in addressing the different dimensions of meaning and achieving synergy among different semiotic systems in creating multimodal artefacts. Qualitative methods were utilized to analyze how groups addressed linguistically and visually the representational, social and organizational dimensions of meaning for the production of their multimodal texts and how they reflected on the production of their multimodal meaning making. The results of this study shed light on the difficulties the students have faced in the production of multimodal meaning making. Moreover, the study stresses the need to support students through systematic approaches on how to address the different dimensions of meaning in multimodal text production. Finally, several suggestions are provided regarding further research on studying in depth the process of producing multimodal texts in school context.