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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 6
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
DOI:10.14738/assrj.106.14760.
Sanchez, A. (2023). Multimodal Writing in The Spanish Classroom: A Pedagogical Tool to Empower and Heal from The Covid-19
Pandemic. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(6). 545-553.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Multimodal Writing in The Spanish Classroom: A Pedagogical
Tool to Empower and Heal from The Covid-19 Pandemic
Ana Sanchez
West Chester University, PA, 19382, Department of Languages and Cultures
ABSTRACT
This paper explores the multimodal compositions of seven students in an
intermediate Spanish class which took place during the Summer of 2021. The class
met virtually by zoom due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which limited face-to-face
interactions. The Covid-19 pandemic had a profound effect on people's lives around
the world, causing not only physical health issues but also mental health problems
such as stress, anxiety, and depression among others. Multimodal writing is a tool
to empower students and help them heal from the trauma of the Covid-19
pandemic. In addition, multimodality allows students to produce texts that reflect
their experiences, identity, and voices through the various modes of
communication available on the internet. Even though writing has become an
important language skill due to technology and all the social platforms, some
scholars don’t give the same importance to writing than to other skills in language
learning (Valdez et al., 1992). Multimodal texts combine two or more modes of
communication, such as written language, spoken language, visual, audio among
others (The New London Group, 1994). As Edwards-Groves (2011) strongly stated
“A contemporary focus on writing highlights how technology use also enables new
possibilities for creativity – new creativities – in multimodal text construction and
meaning making (p. 51).
Keywords: writing, multimodal, healing, empower, identity.
INTRODUCTION
Writings is no longer just the ability to read and write paper-based texts (Li and Storch 2017).
The computer and internet have redesigned the concept of writing, a skill that can no longer be
considered less important than speaking or listening comprehension in a language class
(Valdes et al. 1992). In addition, writing has always focused on accuracy, and it has been seen
as an added skill to practice grammar and vocabulary. Nowadays, writing requires a wide
range of modes afforded by technology, the internet, and the multiple social platforms our
students interact with daily. In fact, multimodal writing has always existed, “Old Egyptian script
was based on images, and so still are Chinese and other logographic languages” (Coulmas,
2003). Technology is part of students’ lives, they are involved one way or another with iPhones,
iPads, MacBook’s, and iBlog’s on the internet. The YouTube channel has become the main
source of knowledge for multiple disciplines. Therefore, it makes sense to make the written
text made up of multiple semiotic modes students can interact with to communicate their
messages. Furthermore, multimodal writing is a way to meet linguistic and cultural differences
in the classroom, as well as the wide range of personalities and learning styles that are
comprised in any one group of students. (New London Group, 1996).
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 10, Issue 6, June-2023
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Students who enter the professional field.
‘Need to be experienced and skilled not only in reading (consuming) texts employing multiple
modalities, but also in composing in multiple modalities, if they hope to communicate
successfully within the digital communication networks that characterize workplaces, schools,
civic life, and span traditional cultural, national, and geopolitical borders’ (Takayoshi & Selfe,
2007, p. 3). The students whose compositions I will analyze in this paper, have received Spanish
as a foreign language class for more than three semesters.
This class took place during the summer of 2021, and we had our class sessions by zoom.
Students were exhausted of the trauma from the pandemic, some had lost family members,
friends, and they were anxious about the future. Additionally, some of them had some learning
challenges that required the use of a wide range of pedagogical tools for learning to take place.
This situation of the pandemic, and the composition of the class and individual needs,
motivated me to use multimodality to empower and help students heal from all the traumatic
events they endured during the pandemic. The use of multimodality allowed students to create
identity friendly texts, where they were 100% in charge of their compositions, since the
nontextual elements would become the map students followed to write their stories. They
chose the grammar and the vocabulary based on the pictures that describe their lived
experiences, the final product would portrait students’ students’ voices as reflected in the
choices of modes afforded by the internet.
ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ COMPOSITIONS
I will refer to students using alphabetical letters, from letter A to J.
Next, is the composition of student A, which I briefly interpret to English, since all of them are
written in Spanish except for other modes such as photos, pictures, and video clips among other
internet affordances that incorporate written and/or spoken English.
Student A
[El último año fue extraño por Covid 19. Las tiendas cerraron y la gente no pudo viajar. Tuvimos
que usar nuestras computadoras para la escuela y hablamos por Zoom. He vivido en casa
durante Covid, pero voy a volver a la escuela en el otoño. Fue difícil para mí aprender en línea,
pero los profesores lo hicieron más fácil. Los profesores ofrecieron ayuda y fueron muy
pacientes. Fue difícil estar lejos de mi familia y amigos durante mucho tiempo, pero era
importante que todos estuvieron seguros. En enero, me puse en cuarentena en Lancaster
porque mis abuelos tenían el virus. Estaba triste porque no quería dejar a mis abuelos. Ellos
mejoraron y yo regresé a casa. Me alegré de que los científicos crearan la vacuna para todos.]
Student A expresses through the linguistic and pictures that contain the English language how
weird the Covid-19 epidemic was. Student A says that it was extremely difficult to be away from
family members and friend for such a long period of time, but it was necessary to keep each
other safe. The student mentions that their grandparents got the virus, but survived, and it was
a relief when the Covid-19 vaccine became available). The pictures he/she uses depict the
loneliness, and the prolonged period of time without being able to see friends, or other family
members.
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Sanchez, A. (2023). Multimodal Writing in The Spanish Classroom: A Pedagogical Tool to Empower and Heal from The Covid-19 Pandemic. Advances
in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(6). 545-553.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.106.14760
Student B
[Mi vida fue deprimente porque no pude ver a mis amigas o mi familia durante meses.
Extrañaba mi primo, nos llevamos bien. Solíamos salir de compras mucho y era muy divertido.
Me mantuve en contacto con mi familia con mi teléfono. Me gusta hablar con ellos porque me
hacen feliz. Fue un momento desafiante para nosotros.
Estaba aburrido en mi casa todo el día. Me sentí muy aislada y abrumada. Así que, mi mama y
yo fuimos a caminar mucho. Entonces la escuela comenzó de nuevo. Tuve que acostumbrarme
al “zoom”. Era difícil de comprender. No, me gustaba la escuela en la computadora. No pude ver
a mis amigos o profesores.