The impact of multimodal composing on CSL learners’ writing performance: Considering language, structure, and content dimensions

Despite the increasing prevalence of multimodal approaches and multimodal composing (MC) in Chinese as a second language (CSL) instruction, whether MC can positively impact the writing performance of CSL learners remains to be further explored. This study focuses on advanced-level CSL learners and investigates the impact of MC on their writing performance through a quasi-experimental study involving three writing tasks. Learners’ attitudes and evaluations towards MC are examined via a reflection survey and a semi-structured interview, and their writing performance is evaluated using three criteria, namely language, structure, and content. The results indicated that the experimental group engaged in MC demonstrated greater syntactic complexity, structure, and content compared to the control group. However, while the experimental group showed a decline in accuracy and increased lexical diversity, there was no significant difference compared to the control group. Overall, the experimental group expressed a positive attitude towards MC, which enhanced their motivation. This study offers new perspectives and methodologies for investigating MC performance. The findings provide valuable insights for both research and practice in integrating MC into CSL writing instruction.