Abstract
As an instructional potential for language learning purposes to integrate digital technologies, digital multimodal composing (DMC) has mushroomed as a textual practice which involves the exploitation of digital tools in order to produce texts. In doing this, multiple semiotic modes (e.g., word, image, soundtrack etc.) are combined, and involved in the process of text production. This chapter is assumed to envision the changes in the educational landscape as a result of the age of digitization, and to understand the potential contributions of digital technologies and novel literacies to language learning and teaching. Specifically, DMC-oriented language learning and teaching will be scrutinized in order to maximize the potentials of language teachers, and thereof language learners, by investing in a post-pandemic virtual technology as an application of computer-mediated communication.
TopCmc: Trends And Impact In The Changing Educational Landscape
CMC basically targets the role of interactivity between stakeholders by means of mediated and multimodal communication channels (Rafaeli, 1988). CMC, along with its newer modes, are inclining towards dyadic and ephemeral environments (Herring, 2002) instead of online interactions and interplay between different modes. Since it is not doomed to a single mode, some additional modes are employed to communicate and enhance the relationships between the stakeholders since it pays attention to not only the individual but the collective influences of multiple modes of CMC.
In essence, it is exploited as a generic term nestled by various communication forms through networked computers. Well-known examples of such systems may include electronic mail, computer conferencing, bulletin boards, discussion lists, collaborative work through interconnected computers, networking, and the like. The central focus is on the relationship of new messages being created with preceding messages rather than other variables (i.e., frequency, timing, content, number, etc.) of exchange. Herein, technology increases the plethora of interactivity in which it occurs, disbursing communication from structured nature of technology. In all veins, it promotes both mediated and face-to-face communication in order to provide responsiveness amidst conversational partners.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Digital Literacy: It is an individual’s ability to asset, evaluate, and disseminate information through media channels and typing by using digital platforms.
Multimodality: It is known to be the “normal state of human communication” ( Kress, 2010 , p. 1), through and in which individuals create meaning through socially shaped semiotic modes and resources.
ICT: It is the acronym for information and communications technology (or technologies), assumed as the components and infrastructure that empower contemporary computing.
Prosumer: It is a newly coined term used to describe those who are both producers and consumers of digital multimodal resources to enable meaning-making ( Duncum, 2011 ).
DMC: It refers to the “activities that engage learners in using digital tools to construct texts in a variety of semiotic modes, including writing, image, and sound (to name a few)” ( Hafner, 2015 , p. 487).
L2: It is an individual’s second language that is different from his/her native language (L1, first language), albeit learnt later within the scope of another language of one’s home country, a neighbouring language, or a foreign language other than L1.
CMC: It is a generic term shaped by various communication forms through networked computers and types of computer technologies through different forms of texts.