Effectiveness of a lesson on multimodal writing

Abstract

This chapter describes a study that aimed to investigate how a multimodal writing lesson impacted student learning of 13 to 14-year-old students in a science class. The research described in this chapter addresses the following research questions: (i) how does a lesson on multimodal writing affect students’ text production and use of alternative modes of representation in the development of a written product communicating about science concepts, (ii) is there a gender difference in the characteristics of multimodal writing, and (iii) how do different lesson structures affect students’ ability to use multimodal writing. The principles of effective writing-to-learn lessons were implemented in science classrooms and the written products of 98 science students from three different schools were analyzed. Of these 98 students, 54 were given a lesson on multimodal writing prior to being assigned the task of creating a multimodal product, while 44 students were in a control group that did not receive instruction on multimodal writing before assignment of the task. Content analysis of the student products indicated that a single lesson on multimodal writing did not affect students’ overall text production, but students in the test group did use more alternative modes than students in the control group. This difference in quantity was not shown to affect the quality of the end products. A significant difference in the characteristics of multimodal writing was seen between genders, with females outperforming males when multimodal products were evaluated for effectiveness. Although some differences in lesson structures were noted across the study, evidence on their effect on learning is preliminary at best. In conclusion, the findings suggest that a single lesson on multimodal writing is not enough for students to understand how to effectively develop multimodal writing products as a way to communicate about science concepts, but that good general writing skills benefit students in transferring from traditional writing to multimodal writing.