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New Media Peer Writing Tutoring

Multi, Multi, & Multi: Multimodality’s Place in the Writing Center

In my first year of being a Writing Center tutor, I can now proudly say I haven’t had a single synchronous appointment about writing. Those who know me have heard me say (many times) that I haven’t had a single face-to-face appointment. Which at the Writing Center is a modality in which I talk with a student face-to-face about any writing assignment they may have. While I haven’t had face-to-face appointments, I have had online-real-times (ORTs). Which is a sort of Zoom-like modality. It’s within these ORTs that I’ve had the honor of talking to another “writer.” Except I’ve never talked about writing during these appointments. I’ve talked about podcast episode ideas, movie recommendations for language learning, and layouts of cinematography for a rom-com movie, but never writing. It was through these appointments that I learned the word, “Multimodality.”

WHAT IS MULTIMODALITY?

Well, I’m so glad you asked. Multimodality, as defined by Jennifer Grouling and Jackie McKinney in their study, “Taking stock: Multimodality in Writing Center Users’ Text,” is the process of designing and composing beyond written words (Grouley and Mckinney 58). Or in a fancier way: 

“The conscious manipulation of the interaction among various sensory experiences—visual, textual, verbal, tactile, and aural—used in the process of producing and reading texts’” (Grouling and McKinney 58). 

Multimodality, as a term, is often confused with the word: multimedia, and for good reason; multimedia means the use of more than one medium of expression or communication. They’re very similar. The only difference between the two is that one refers to the use of multiple mediums (multimedia) and the other refers to the interaction of those mediums in relation to writing (multimodality). 

Both often fall under the umbrella of multiliteracy, which is the “idea that there are many types of literacy practices, not just one traditional way of viewing, enacting, teaching, and learning literacy” (Stewart 2). 

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

I tell you why this matters. When I was experiencing multimodality, I didn’t know what it meant. In fact, when I asked a class of twenty others most didn’t know what it meant. Most didn’t even know if they’d practiced multimodality or not. This, to me, means that when I was tutoring I was missing important interactions of media. For a writer, interacting with mediums could be important and significant to the reading experience. By being unaware of the world of multimodality, I would see pictures within an essay and think “What a nice picture,” instead of “I wonder why the writer chose this picture? What does this image add to my understanding of the topic at hand? Have my perceptions of the work I’m reading been changed or affirmed by this added media element?” Choices matter and I’ve in a certain way, been neglecting those choices. There are other reasons why knowing the term, multimodality, matters and I plan to lay them all out. 

LEARNING STYLES 

One of the biggest reasons why multimodality matters and belongs within writing centers is because of differing learning styles akin to each individual. In their article, Multimodality and The Writing Center’s Role in Restoring Justice for “Bad Writers,” Mary McGinnis and Jennifer Gray point out that multimodal assignments help students compete better in the 21st century and that it’s especially effective with students who think they’re bad writers as it can appeal to a student’s need for control over their own work. It helps a student see how the assignment relates to their lives and future careers. Multimodality is also helpful in assisting EAL students with their English language proficiency as they’re able to diversify their texts and write in a way that may be similar to the language they’re more proficient in (Shin et al. 1). McGinnis further states that most students don’t see traditional papers as interesting and related to their lives, but find motivation in multimodal work. 

PERSONAL EXPERTISE

Another aspect of why multimodalities belong in the Writing Center is because of how similar it is to strict alphabetical writing or writing without other modalities. We, as tutors, already have the tools to comprehend multimodal work. It’s about shifting our brains into the perspective to interpret these works that need to occur. Brian Hotson, author of “I Don’t Know, Let’s Play: Multimodal Design Support in the Writing Center,”  puts it best:

“In my opinion, writing centers are well positioned to extend the work they do supporting students as they use writing as a tool of thinking and communicating to include multimodal processes that do not prioritize alphabetic/linguistic modes. Writing center tutors already know the structure of argumentation, the rhetoric of academic writing, and styles and formats required for writing at university or college levels. They also know how to think along with students, as well as to think in and through the tasks, challenges, and blocks that students come to the center to work through” (Brian Hotson). 

The agenda items for a written paper are the same for a podcast episode or a visual essay. It’s all about recognizing structure and taking multimodal work seriously. In his article from Praxis called “Building with Someone,” Rayon Sampson says a quote that has stuck with me the entire time I was learning about multimodalities: 

“I recognize that with all activities that have a repetitive fashion, i.e. weightlifting, playing an instrument, bad habits or techniques can develop and hinder growth and progress. It is the same way with writing. Being able to locate and explain in a positive manner what those techniques or habits are becomes key to improving that student’s writing process”

We all have something we’re good at and enjoy. Those things all have structure and repetition. Take those things you’re good at and apply them, as examples, to your tutoring styles. It may just help another writer understand something about how their brain works or facilitate a smoother tutoring experience for you. 

WHY THE WRITING CENTER? 

I’ll tell you why. Writing, historically, has since the dawn of time been multimodal. Alan Benson, the author of “We Have Always Already Been Multimodal: Histories of Engagement with Multimodal and Experimental Composition,” states that people of ages past took their spoken words or visual paintings, worked together, and created something called alphabetical text for the purpose of preserving stories, future entertainment, and for long-distance communication. This means that we, as a people, have always been multimodal. If you’ve ever engaged in presenting a powerpoint you’ve worked in multimodality. If you’ve added pictures to an essay before, you’ve worked in multimodality. If you’ve made a video essay using clips from movies, speaking over those clips, and including written quotes, you have worked in multimodality. In fact, the Writing Center uses multimodalities right now. Having three different forms of appointment styles is multimodal. Albeit in a different form, but still helpful nonetheless. 

THINGS TO REMEMBER 

The Writing Center is a place for collaboration! It’s never been a fix-it-shop, but rather a place to speak and be heard in a multiliterate way as students are often assisted beyond the printed page. We are not copywriters but tutors and collaborators. A simple question of “Is this multimodal work?” to a writer and defining the term if asked, can unlock a gateway of new experiences for both the tutor and writer to pursue. Remember to attack multimodal work with a curious mind and you might just enjoy it the way I’ve been. 

References

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