Multimodal Composition

Summary

The video script introduces multimodal composition, a concept where various media types are combined to enhance audience engagement and accessibility. It's a familiar process from everyday interactions, like emails and social media posts, to academic essays and presentations. The script delves into the five modes of communication: linguistic, visual, spatial, gestural, and oral, illustrating how they can be effectively integrated. It encourages students to explore and create multimodal compositions in their academic work, drawing inspiration from their daily multimodal experiences.

Takeaways

• 📚 Multimodality refers to the integration of various media types into a single composition.
• 🎨 Multimodal composition enhances audience engagement and accessibility by offering diverse interaction methods.
• 🤝 We encounter multimodality in everyday life, from children's books to scientific research and social media.
• 💼 In professional settings, multimodality can be seen in emails, presentations, and client mock-ups.
• 📈 The five modes of communication are linguistic, visual, spatial, gestural, and oral.
• 🔍 The linguistic mode includes written and spoken words, while the visual mode encompasses images, colors, and text styles.
• 📊 The spatial mode deals with the arrangement and organization of composition elements.
• 🤓 The gestural mode involves body language and movements that convey meaning.
• 🎵 The oral mode focuses on the use of sound and silence to affect an audience.
• 📘 In academic settings, students will explore and create multimodal compositions to engage real-world audiences.
• 🔗 Examples of multimodal elements include hyperlinks to news articles, images, graphs, and text sections for better navigation.

Q & A

What does the term 'multimodality' refer to in the context of composition?

Multimodality refers to the process of incorporating multiple types of media into one composition, which can include text, images, videos, and other forms of communication.

How does multimodal composition enhance audience engagement and accessibility?

Multimodal composition increases audience engagement and accessibility by presenting multiple ways for them to interact with the content, making it more relatable and easier to understand.

Can you provide examples of multimodality in everyday life outside of an academic setting?

Examples include drafting emails with attachments, creating PowerPoint presentations, texting with images, posting on social media, and writing letters with visual elements.

What are the five modes of communication mentioned in the script?

The five modes of communication are linguistic, visual, spatial, gestural, and oral.

What does the linguistic mode include in multimodal composition?

The linguistic mode includes text on a page or spoken words, such as in speeches or Ted Talks.

Can you explain the visual mode in the context of multimodal composition?

The visual mode covers elements like images, colors, text size, and style, which contribute to the overall message and aesthetics of the composition.

How is the spatial mode utilized in multimodal compositions?

The spatial mode involves the arrangement and organization of elements within the composition, emphasizing or contrasting them to guide the audience's attention.

What role does the gestural mode play in multimodal composition?

The gestural mode incorporates movements and gestures, such as body language and the delivery of a speech, to convey non-verbal aspects of communication.

How is the oral mode different from the other modes in multimodal composition?

The oral mode focuses on what the audience can hear, such as music or silence, and how these auditory elements are used to impact the audience.

In the first year composition course, how will students explore multimodal compositions?

Students will explore multimodal compositions by creating their own compositions that include multiple elements to effectively engage with their real-world audience.

What are some practical ways to include multimodal elements in academic work?

Students might include hyperlinks to news articles, insert graphs or charts with data, or break text into sections to help readers navigate the content more easily.

Why is it important to consider the purpose of each element in a multimodal composition?

Considering the purpose of each element helps ensure that they work best for the intended audience and have the desired impact when experienced.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Multimodal Composition

The paragraph introduces the concept of multimodality and multimodal composition, which are frequently discussed in first-year composition courses. Multimodality refers to the integration of various media types into a single composition, enhancing audience engagement and accessibility. The paragraph explains that this concept is not new, as we encounter it in various forms of media daily, from children's books to scientific research. It also mentions that multimodal composition, while initially feeling awkward in an academic context, is a common practice in everyday life, such as drafting emails, creating presentations, or engaging on social media. The paragraph encourages students to consider the multimodal content they interact with daily as inspiration for their academic work.

Keywords

💡Multimodality

Multimodality refers to the use of multiple modes of communication, such as text, images, and audio, to convey a message or tell a story. In the context of the video, it is a key concept for understanding how different forms of media can be combined to enhance audience engagement and accessibility. The video mentions that multimodality is present in various forms of media we consume daily, from children's books to scientific research.

💡Multimodal Composition

Multimodal composition is the process of incorporating various types of media into a single piece of work to increase audience engagement and accessibility. The video explains that this type of composition may feel new in an academic setting but is actually a familiar concept from our everyday interactions with media. Examples given in the script include creating presentations, drafting emails with attachments, and posting on social media.

💡Engagement

Engagement, in the video, refers to the level of interest and involvement an audience has with the content presented to them. Multimodal compositions are said to increase engagement by offering multiple ways for the audience to interact with the ideas being communicated, such as through images, videos, or interactive elements.

💡Accessibility

Accessibility in the context of the video means making content available and understandable to a wide range of audiences, including those with different learning styles or disabilities. Multimodal compositions enhance accessibility by presenting information in various formats, thus catering to different preferences and needs.

💡Linguistic Mode

The linguistic mode is one of the five modes of communication discussed in the video. It encompasses text and spoken words, which are the primary means of conveying information through language. The video mentions that this mode can be seen in written pages, speeches, or TED Talks, and it is a fundamental aspect of multimodal compositions.

💡Visual Mode

The visual mode involves the use of images, colors, text size, and style to communicate information. According to the video, this mode is crucial in multimodal compositions as it helps to capture the audience's attention and can convey messages that words alone might not fully express.

💡Spatial Mode

The spatial mode deals with how compositions manage space, including the arrangement, organization, emphasis, or contrast of elements within a composition. The video suggests that this mode is important for creating a visually appealing and structured presentation that guides the audience through the content.

💡Gestural Mode

The gestural mode includes non-verbal communication such as gestures, movements, and body language. The video explains that this mode can be incorporated into multimodal compositions to enhance the delivery of a speech or to convey emotions and emphasis through physical expressions.

💡Oral Mode

The oral mode focuses on what an audience can hear, including music, speech, and silence, and how these elements are used to impact the audience. The video mentions that this mode is significant in multimodal compositions as it can set the tone, convey emotions, and provide auditory cues that support the overall message.

💡Real-world Audience

The term 'real-world audience' in the video refers to the diverse group of people who will engage with the compositions outside of an academic setting. The video emphasizes the importance of considering the needs and expectations of this audience when creating multimodal compositions to ensure the content is effective and engaging.

💡Context

Context in the video script refers to the background information or setting that gives meaning to the content of a composition. The video suggests adding hyperlinks to news articles or including graphs and charts to provide context for the reader, helping them understand the topic more deeply without overwhelming the main composition.

Highlights

Multimodal composition and multimodality are frequently discussed in first-year composition courses.

Multimodality is the process of incorporating multiple types of media into one composition.

Multimodal composition increases audience engagement and accessibility by presenting multiple ways to engage with ideas.

Multimodality is familiar from various forms of media such as children's books, textbooks, and blog posts.

In professional settings, multimodality can include emails with attachments, PowerPoint presentations, and Slack chats.

Personal life examples of multimodality include texting, social media posts, and creating videos.

At school, multimodality is present in essays, class discussions, and digital platform interactions.

Multimodal composition combines two or more modes of communication into one piece.

The five modes of communication include linguistic, visual, spatial, gestural, and oral.

Linguistic mode includes text and spoken words.

Visual mode covers images, colors, text size, and style.

Spatial mode involves the arrangement and organization of composition elements.

Gestural mode incorporates gestures and movements in delivery and body language.

Oral mode consists of audible elements like music or silence used to impact an audience.

First-year composition courses explore creating multimodal compositions to reach real-world audiences.

Students can include hyperlinks to news articles for additional context in their compositions.

Images, graphs, charts, and section breaks can be used to enhance reader navigation and understanding.

The purpose of each multimodal element should be carefully considered for its impact on the audience.

Although adding multimodal elements to academic work may be new, everyday life is full of multimodal approaches to draw inspiration from.

Transcripts

multimodal composition and multimodality

are both terms you will hear frequently

in your first year composition course

here in the writers Studio although

these terms may feel a bit mysterious at

first they actually entail a process

that we are all very familiar with

already from children's books to

textbooks scientific research to blog

posts and so much more multi-modality is

defined as the process of incorporating

multiple types of media into one

composition multimodal composition

increases the audience's engagement and

accessibility by presenting multiple

ways they can engage with your ideas

this type of writing or composing may

feel awkward at first in an academic

setting but it's helpful to keep in mind

all of the other forms of media we

consume or observe all around us in our

everyday lives at work we might draft an

email with attachments or hyperlinks

create a PowerPoint presentation for a

meeting draft a mock-up for a client

chat over slack or teams or a mix of

several different approaches on any

given day in our personal lives we might

text a friend or family member post an

image with appropriate cap options and

hashtags on social media create a video

to share with others or write a letter

to a state representative at school we

write essays join class discussions in

canvas yellowdig or other platforms

navigate inscribe to ask questions email

classmates or professors create

presentations or design visuals

all of these are different or multiple

modes or forms of communication when we

put two or more of these together into

one piece we call that multimodal

composition we are composing something

with multiple modes of communication as

we do a deeper dive into multimodality

we can also explore the five modes of

communication the linguistic mode

includes text such as on a page or

spoken words like in a speech or Ted

Talk the visual mode covers elements

such as images colors or text size and

style

the spatial mode involves how a

composition deals with space such as how

all elements are arranged organized

emphasized or contrasted

the gestural mode incorporates gestures

and movements such as the way a speech

is delivered or body language such as

hand movements and facial expressions

finally the oral mode consists of what

an audience can or cannot hear such as

music or silence and how they are used

to impact an audience in podcasts videos

film television music radio and so on

in our first year composition courses

you will explore multimodal compositions

in a variety of ways you will also have

several opportunities to create your own

compositions that include multiple

elements to reach your real world

audience in effective engaging ways

for example you might include a

hyperlink to a news article that expands

on a topic or issue you're writing about

adding more context for your reader

without taking up too much space in your

own composition

you may also include an image of people

involved in your chosen topic insert a

graph or chart with important data

related to your content or break your

text up into sections that help your

reader navigate it more easily

carefully consider the purpose of each

element much like you do with your

research and evidence

which elements work best for this

audience and what impact do you hope to

have on them when they experience this

content

we've only scratched the surface of the

possibilities of multimodal composition

but as we move forward in class it's

helpful to remember that you interact

with and create multimodal content daily

while adding multimodal elements into

your academic work may be new to you

think back to all the multimodal

approaches in your everyday life that

you're already familiar with and use

them as inspiration