Art is inherently multimodal, whereas vocabulary learning is typically linguistically oriented. The intersection of these two domains presents insights into how language learning can be done multimodally. This study was conducted in an elementary art classroom at an international school in Japan. Data collected over a four-week unit focusing on stained-glass include videotaped classroom interactions, teaching materials, and students’ artifacts. Through transmodal analysis, which traces and connects meaning extracted from artifacts and interactions, this study illustrates how core vocabulary and conceptual meaning migrates and evolves from teacher's initial teaching to classroom interactions, and eventually to students’ multimodal meaning making. The analysis revealed that as meaning was re-configured from one artifact to another, students gained a deeper conceptual understanding and demonstrated progressive ability in incorporating the target vocabulary in discursive communication. Additionally, by following the trajectory of three students with different language profiles: (a) an English novice; (b) an ex-novice who became a fluent multilingual; and (c) a native English speaker, this study highlights that native speakers, just like novices, need instructional attention. A pedagogical implication of this study is the value of transmodal pedagogy in enhancing classroom equity. Methodologically, the study suggests viewing the interrelationships of modal representations as multidirectional and web-like, rather than linear.

Authors:
Nickie Wong, Temple University, Japan

About the Presenter(s)
Ms. Nickie Wong is an experienced international school educator and a PhD candidate at Temple University Japan. She is working on her dissertation about Teacher's Experience on a Transmodal Pedagogy and is interested in multimodality in education.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickie-wong/

Additional website of interest
https://nickieteaches.com/

See this presentation on the full schedule – Wednesday Schedule

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