"Blackness Is Not Just a Single Definition": Multimodal Composition as an Exercise for Surfacing and Scaffolding Student Theorizing in a Black Studies Classroom

Autor/in	Ohito, Esther O.
Titel	"Blackness Is Not Just a Single Definition": Multimodal Composition as an Exercise for Surfacing and Scaffolding Student Theorizing in a Black Studies Classroom
Quelle	In: English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 20 (2021) 2, S.227-244 (18 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1175-8708
DOI	10.1108/ETPC-05-2020-0047
Schlagwörter	Black Studies; Writing (Composition); Theories; Scaffolding (Teaching Technique); Undergraduate Students; Afrocentrism; White Students; Literacy; Thinking Skills + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Schreibübung; Theory; Theorie; Afro-centrisme; Afrozentrismus; Alphabetisierung; Schreib- und Lesefähigkeit; Denkfähigkeit
Abstract	Purpose: This study aims to investigate multimodal composition as an exercise or tool for teaching students theory building. To illustrate, an analysis of artifacts comprising a student's multimodal composition, which was created in response to a multipart literacy assignment on theorizing Blackness, is analyzed. Design/methodology/approach: Afrocentricity served as both theoretical moor and research methodology. Qualitative case study, focusing on the case of an individual student, was the research method used. Findings: Multimodal composition was an effective exercise for surfacing the multidimensionality of a student's complex knowledge while simultaneously placing the student in the powerful position of theorist. The process of composing multimodally integrated reading, writing and speaking skills while revealing the focal student's need for targeted writing intervention. Practical implications: The study evidences multimodal composition as a useful exercise for capturing students' nuanced interpretations or students' critical theorizing as well as meaningfully incorporating and assessing students' literacy skills. Originality/value: Exposure to preexisting theory alone relegates students to the realm of passive knowledge consumers. This undermines the emancipatory and justice-oriented objectives of critical education, which ideally contributes to social change by challenging dominant power structures and distorted perspectives of marginalized persons. To be empowered agentic learners, students need to be both taught how to theorize and engaged as theorists. This study shows how multimodal composition can be used as a liberatory literacy tool for those intertwined pedagogical purposes. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01