Bridging the Multimodal Gap

Book excerpt: Bridging the Multimodal Gap addresses multimodality scholarship and its use in the composition classroom. Despite scholars’ interest in their students’ multiple literacies, multimodal composition is far from the norm in most writing classes. Essays explore how multimodality can be implemented in courses and narrow the gap between those who regularly engage in this instruction and those who are still considering its scholarly and pedagogical value. After an introductory section reviewing the theory literature, chapters present research on implementing multimodal composition in diverse contexts. Contributors address starter subjects like using comics, blogs, or multimodal journals; more ambitious topics such as multimodal assignments in online instruction or digital story telling; and complex issues like assessment, transfer, and rhetorical awareness. Bridging the Multimodal Gap translates theory into practice and will encourage teachers, including WPAs, TAs, and contingent faculty, to experiment with multiple modes of communication in their projects. Contributors: Sara P. Alvarez, Steven Alvarez, Michael Baumann, Joel Bloch, Aaron Block, Jessie C. Borgman, Andrew Bourelle, Tiffany Bourelle, Kara Mae Brown, Jennifer J. Buckner, Angela Clark-Oates, Michelle Day, Susan DeRosa, Dànielle Nicole DeVoss, Stephen Ferruci, Layne M. P. Gordon, Bruce Horner, Matthew Irwin, Elizabeth Kleinfeld, Ashanka Kumari, Laura Sceniak Matravers, Jessica S. B. Newman, Mark Pedretti, Adam Perzynski, Breanne Potter, Caitlin E. Ray, Areti Sakellaris, Khirsten L. Scott, Rebecca Thorndike-Breeze, Jon Udelson, Shane A. Wood, Rick Wysocki, Kathleen Blake Yancey