Multimodal Methods and Meanings: Using Qualitative Research Methods to Understand Children’s Multimodal Texts
Submitted by:
Angela Wiseman
Abstract:
The purpose of this presentation is to explicate multimodal methodologies in literacy education research that promote equity and social justice for diverse learners. While students’ worlds have become increasingly visual, research methods predominantly focus on text-based or response-oriented data which fails to capture the complex ways that students engage in literacy (Smith, Hall, & Sousanis, 2015). Over the past decade, researchers who engage with visual methods of research have demonstrated how approaching literacy research from an expansive perspective has the potential to provide insight on the complexity of students’ literacy practices and dismantle deficit perspectives related to students’ participation in school learning (i.e. Ranker, 2007). However, the promise of visual and multimodal research has yet to be realized, given the significant methodological challenges which stymie literacy scholars engaged in this scholarly work.
Researchers who utilize visual and multimodal methodologies have demonstrated how approaching literacy research from an expansive perspective has the potential to provide insight on the complexity of students’ literacy practices and dismantle deficit perspectives related to students’ participation in school learning. There are three main objectives grounding this session on multimodal and visual research: 1.) Framing and analyzing the complexity of multimodal research in K-5 classrooms; 2.) Promoting multiple methods and techniques for analysis; 3.) Expanding equity-oriented analytic and conceptual frameworks.
The three objectives of this presentation will be illustrated in two ways. First of all, findings from a review of research on multimodal methods of qualitative research in elementary school classrooms will be briefly presented. Second, important implications will be explored using specific examples from research collected in elementary/primary classrooms where visual and multimodal literacies were encouraged in the language arts curriculum. Research will be presented that explore the following question: What happens when students learn using visual and multimodal methods of literacy learning in an elementary/primary language arts program? Findings reflect how the language arts curriculum that used multimodal methods of literacy allowed for deeper thinking, engagement, and inclusive learning practices for students.
BIO:
Dr. Angela M. Wiseman is an Associate Professor of Literacy Education at NC State and a Docent Professor of Multiliteracies at the University of Tampere, Finland. Angela’s research focus includes methods of analyzing children’s visual and multimodal artifacts and family literacy using children’s picturebooks. Her current research project involves reading children’s literature with formerly incarcerated and homeless, drug addicted parents in as part of a family literacy project. She is the co-editor of the Journal of Children’s Literature and is a Senior Researcher on the grant Preparing Teachers for Cultural Connections, Collections, and Reflections through Technology.
REFERENCES:
Ranker, J. (2007). Designing meaning with multiple media sources: A case study of an eight-year-old student’s writing processes. Research in the Teaching of English, 41, 402-434.
Smith, A., Hall, M., & Sousanis, N. (2015). Envisioning possibilities: Visualising as enquiry in literacy studies. Literacy, 49(1), 3-11.