Multimodal Communication in the University: Surveying Faculty Across Disciplines

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Gwendolynne Reid, Emory University; Robin Snead, University of North Carolina Pembroke; Keon Pettiway, North Carolina State University; Brent Simoneaux, North Carolina State University
• Language: English
• Date: 2016-03-28
• Publisher: WAC Clearinghouse
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 1997-2017 The WAC Clearinghouse and/or the site's authors, developers, and contributors. Some material is used with permission.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://wac.colostate.edu/atd/articles/reidetal2016.cfm
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Across the Disciplines
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 1
• Keywords: networked digital media; survey; multimodality in composition; WAC/WID; CxC; communication
• Research Categories: Mass Communications; Education, Technology

Abstract

While a strong case has been made for addressing multimodality in composition, the case has been less clear for WAC/WID and CxC programs and research. Studies of disciplinary communication have documented the use of multiple modes in a number of fields, but few engage directly with theories of multimodality or with multimodality in context of changes related to networked, digital media. This study presents a snapshot of multimodal communication practices and assignments across disciplines developed through a survey of faculty at a research-intensive public university. Quantitative results indicate that, with some disciplinary variation, faculty across disciplines use multiple modes of communication in their professional work, their scholarly communication, and their pedagogy. Qualitative analysis of faculty responses complicates this picture with diverse conceptualizations of the relationships between modes. Themes related to faculty experiences of genre change and to the challenges of communicating about multimodality across disciplines are also addressed. These results justify the need for professional development efforts focused on multimodality in the context of WAC/WID and CxC programs and for continued research on multimodality in university contexts, even as they point to the challenges of communicating across disciplines that lack shared vocabulary.