A Multimodal Language Pedagogy

Multimodal pedagogy has become central to mediated language instruction (New London Group, Harv Educ Rev 66(1):60–90, 1996). As digital technologies advance, multimodal strategies are increasingly integral to language education, bridging the gap between in-class and out-of-class informal and professional practices. This entry explores multimodal pedagogy from three perspectives: reception, production, and interaction. Regarding reception, it discusses how diverse modes affect comprehension and cognitive load, with an emphasis on technologies like text-to-speech. Concerning production, it highlights the role of digital storytelling and the need for multimodal competency criteria to guide the assessment of pedagogical productions and to align them with the semiotic grammar of new and rapidly emerging digital genres. Focusing on interaction, it examines how different digital environments shape additional language communication and the need to equip learners with the necessary semio-pragmatic, and socio-cultural skills to interact online with others. The entry concludes by outlining the main facets of a multimodal language pedagogy and advocating the development of teachers’ techno-semio-pedagogical skills to implement the latter.