Conference paper

Multimodality in TEFL Classroom

Valentino Jakšić orcid.org/0000-0002-8032-1036 ; University of Zagreb
Jurica Korade ; University of Zagreb

Abstract

Multimodality is rarely focused on in classrooms, especially in Croatia. By definition, multimodality describes communication practices in terms of the textual, aural, linguistic, spatial, and visual resources used to compose messages. Therefore, it is of great importance in everyday communication on all levels – from interpersonal to personal communication, to media and even intrinsic communication. Having this in mind, teachers should implement more multimodal tasks in their classrooms in order to elevate the level of awareness of their students. That kind of multimodal exposure would especially improve deeper understanding of the communication process in second language learners, such as Croatian students who are rarely exposed to native speakers. Basic groundwork for this kind of use of multimodality was laid down by the international project called The Distributed Little Red Hen Lab, established by Francis Steen and Mark Turner. The main goal of the project, besides the theoretical framework, is the development of new computational, statistical, and technical tools to assist research into multimodal communication. While learning about the project, we came up with some multimodal tasks and ways to present multimodality to high-school Croatian learners of English, which will be explored in this paper. Furthermore, one practical example of multimodal classroom task will be thoroughly explained.

Keywords

multimodality; TEFL; gestures; redhen lab; SLA

Hrčak ID:

200180

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/200180

Publication date:

24.4.2018.

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