Exploring multimodal pedagogies through a pedagogical translanguaging perspective among primary school English language teachers in China

URI
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Type
Thesis
Author
Xiang, Yu
Supervisor
Lim, Fei Victor
Abstract
This qualitative multiple-case study examines the multimodal pedagogies employed by two English language teachers in primary-level classrooms in Shanghai, Mainland China, in response to the recent updates in the Chinese Compulsory Education’s English Curriculum Standards. The updates to the Curriculum Standards incorporate the development of students’ multimodal literacy, particularly their viewing skills of multimodal texts, as an integral part of their English language education. English language education for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in Mainland China is constantly evolving to keep up with these updates. Therefore, it is important to explore how language teachers in Mainland China are adapting by integrating multimodality into classrooms and developing students’ multimodal literacy. To understand this, we need to analyze the pedagogical approaches used by the teachers, specifically their pedagogical translanguaging practices, which are their instructional strategies that involve using two or more languages (Cenoz & Gorter, 2017), as well as other planned instructions that make full use of learners’ linguistic and semiotic repertoire (Cenoz & Gorter, 2021). While analyzing the pedagogies in language classroom with a focus on teachers’ pedagogical translanguaging practices, understanding how multimodal semiotic resources can be orchestrated in classrooms to make meanings are essential. Multimodal pedagogies involve teachers’ strategic employments of a range of multimodal resources in designing students’ learning experiences (Bezemer & Kress, 2016). The research methodology includes video-recorded classroom observations, researchers’ field notes, and teachers’ post-lesson reflections on their multimodal pedagogies during individual stimulated-recall semi-structured interviews. The study used the Lesson Microgenres framework and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to analyze lessons and teachers’ reflections. It investigates how the two teachers orchestrate multilingual and multimodal resources, such as students’ first language (L1), images, animations, emojis, and embodied teaching practices, to achieve diverse instructional and regulative purposes. The study provides pedagogical implications based on these findings on multimodal pedagogies. Furthermore, this study also provides theoretical insights into the field of research on translanguaging and multimodality by critically examining the relationship between the two concepts, aiming to gain a deeper understanding of multimodal pedagogies.
Date Issued
2024
Publisher
National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University (NIE NTU), Singapore