Multimodal Literacy in the EFL Classroom Workshop - Abstract - Workshop Design for Learning

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by hdkawk

This paper links Systemic Functional-based multimodal discourse analysis with English as a Foreign Language teacher education through the workshop “Multimodal Literacy in the EFL classroom” (MLEFL). Using multimodal analysis for critical thinking pedagogy and the Systemic Approach to critical viewing, MLEFL introduces student teachers with no prior multimodality instruction to multimodal literacy. Participants learn through meaning-making with semiotic resources, multimodal analysis using a pedagogic metalanguage, and lesson-plan creation to promote primary students’ multimodal literacy. Qualitative small-scale findings with twenty pre-service teachers indicate improved capacities.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Multimodal digital texts and literacy reconceptualization

Teacher design challenges in multimodal literacy

The MLEFL workshop as a design for learning

The “Multimodal Literacy in the EFL Classroom”Workshop as a Design for Learning STYLIANI KARATZA ABSTRACT This paper links Systemic Functional-based multimodal discourse analysis and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher education through the workshop “Multimodal Literacy in the EFL classroom”(MLEFL) . Drawing upon ‘multimodal analysis for critical thinking’ (MACT) pedagogy (O’Halloran et al., 2017) and the Systemic Approach to teaching critical viewing (Lim and Tan, 2017, Lim, 2018), MLEFL aims at involving student teachers (STs) in a transformative process through which STs with no previous instruction on multimodality are introduced to multimodal literacy. After being engaged in making meaning through various semiotic resources and conducting multimodal analysis with the use of a pedagogic metalanguage, STs complete a task of representing their new experiences via the process of creating a lesson plan aimed at promoting primary school students’ multimodal literacy. The paper presents MLEFL asa design for learning (Kress and Selander, 2012). It serves two purposes: to present the content and syllabus of the MLEFL workshop and to reflect upon its implementation and effectiveness. The paper reports on the qualitative findings from a small-scale research conducted with twenty pre-service EFL teachers who participated in the fourweek workshop in a virtual environment. It investigates STs’ perceptions shared in workshop evaluation forms and participation in the forum as well as their assignments for signs of learning. The analysis of the findings revealed differences in STs’ capacities (Kress, 2010: 175) which support the effectiveness of the workshop. Most STs created lesson plans which promote critical viewing, used the pedagogic metalanguage efficiently and explained the design of their activities with well-informed rationale. SPECIAL COLLECTION: DESIGNING LEARNING WITH PRACTITIONERS RESEARCH CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Styliani Karatza, PhD National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, GR [skaratza@enl.uoa.gr](skaratza@enl.uoa.gr) KEYWORDS: pedagogic metalanguage; teacher education; multimodal literacy; Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse Analysis (SF-MDA); primary school students; teaching multimodal texts TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Karatza, S. (2022) . The“Multimodal Literacy in the EFL Classroom” Workshop asa Design for Learning. Designs for Learning, 14(1), 112–128. DOI: [https://doi.org/10.16993/](https://doi.org/10.16993/)[ ](https://doi.org/10.16993/)[dfl.188](dfl.188) 1. INTRODUCTION With the advancements in technology, new kinds of multimodal digital text formats have progressively made their appearance in children’s everyday life experiences. Being an emergent field of research, as Mills and Unsworth (2017) state, the study of multimodal literacy learning in schools and society begins with the important recognition (cf. Kress, 2013) that reading and writing are closely associated tothe use of multiple meaning-making resources in texts, often in digital contexts of use, instead of being practiced as discrete skills. Researchers stress the need for a reconceptualization of literacy and literacy education that moves beyond its traditional logocentric account and embrace the role of images and other modes in meaning-making (Unsworth, 2006: 55) . Twenty-first century literacy encompasses range of multimodal artefacts and critical analysis of multimodal meaningmaking practices encountered in our everyday life experiences, which should be added to “the multiliteracy curriculum from the early stages of formal education”(Vasta and Baldry, 2020: 7–8) . Evidently, there is a need to reconsider “[…] the kind of learning that de facto takes place, and how that is recognised within the culture of given context like a school level […]”(Kress and Selander, 2012: 265) . As O’Halloran et al. (2010: 4) explicate, all kinds of texts are multimodal as they use and combine diverse semiotic system resource

FAQs

What does the MLEFL workshop aim to achieve for student teachers?

MLEFL aims to involve student teachers in a transformative process that introduces them to multimodal literacy through meaning-making, multimodal analysis, and lesson-plan development.

Which analytical and teaching frameworks does the paper connect to teacher education?

The paper connects Systemic Functional-based multimodal discourse analysis with EFL teacher education, drawing on “multimodal analysis for critical thinking” pedagogy and the Systemic Approach to critical viewing.

How is multimodal literacy development targeted in the workshop’s outcomes?

Student teachers represent their experiences by creating lesson plans designed to promote primary school students’ multimodal literacy, including critical viewing supported by a pedagogic metalanguage.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by hdkawk