Multimodality in Writing attempts to generate and apply new theories, disciplines and methods to account for semiotic processes in texts and during text production. It thus showcases new directions in multimodal research and theorizing writing practices from a multimodal perspective. It explores texts, producers of texts, and readers of texts. It also focuses on teaching multimodal text production and writing pedagogy from different domains and disciplines, such as rhetoric and writing composition, architecture, mathematics, film-making, science and the newsroom. Multimodality in Writing explores the kinds of methodological approaches that can augment social semiotic approaches to analyzing and teaching writing, including rhetoric, Systemic Functional Linguistics, ethnographic approaches, and genre pedagogy. Much of the research shows how the regularities of modes and interest of sign makers are socially shaped to realize convention. Because of this, the approaches are strongly underpinned by social and cultural theories of representation and communication.

"Strategies for writing center directors and tutors working with writers whose texts are visual, technological, creative, and performative--strategies most useful for writers and how tutors can develop a better sense of multimodal composing and practices and the relationship between rhetorical choices, design thinking, and technological awareness"--Provided by publisher.

Writing Changes moves beyond restrictive thinking about composition to examine writing as a material and social practice rich with contradictions. It analyzes the assumed dichotomy between writing and multimodal composition (which incorporates sounds, images, and gestures) as well as the truism that all texts are multimodal. Organized in four sections, the essays explore • alphabetic text and multimodal composition in writing studies • specific pedagogies that place writing in productive conversation with multimodal forms • current representations of writing and multimodality in textbooks, of instructors' attitudes toward social media, and of writing programs • ideas about writing studies as a discipline in the light of new communication practices Bookending the essays are an introduction that frames the collection and establishes key terms and concepts and an epilogue that both sums up and complicates the ideas in the essays.

This book on multimodal composition is designed to help teachers of English composition expand the modalities on which they and their students draw, to go beyond the limits of texts that rely primarily on words, and to enjoy exploring the affordances - the special capacities - of video, image and sound. The book offers faculty practical help on creating multimodal assignments and working within digital composing environments. There are sample essays, advice on intellectual property concerns, sample worksheets and forms, explanations of technical terms, and useful advice about hardware, software, and digital recording equipment.

While traditional writing is typically understood as a language based on the combination of words, phrases, and sentences to communicate meaning, modern technologies have led educators to reevaluate the notion that writing is restricted to this definition. Exploring Multimodal Composition and Digital Writing investigates the use of digital technologies to create multi-media documents that utilize video, audio, and web-based elements to further written communication beyond what can be accomplished by words alone. Educators, scholars, researchers, and professionals will use this critical resource to explore theoretical and empirical developments in the creation of digital and multimodal documents throughout the education system.

The disciplinary triad of open-access, multimodality, and writing center studies presents a timely, critical lens for discussing academic publishing in a moment of crucibilic change, where rapid technological advancements force scholars and institutions to question what is produced and “counts” as academic writing. Using historiographic, quantitative, and qualitative analysis, Open-Access, Multimodality, and Writing Center Studies sees writing center scholarship as a microcosm of many of the larger issues at play in the contemporary academic publishing landscape. This case study approach reveals the complex, imbricated ways that questions about publishing manifest both within the content of journals, and as related to academics’ perceptions as signifiers of disciplinary visibility, identity, and transformation. More than just reaffirming the conventional wisdom about these changes in publishing—that these shifts are happening and we do not always know how to pinpoint them—Open-Access, Multimodality, and Writing Center Studies suggests that scholars in all fields, compositionists, and writing center practitioners be conscious of the ways they are complicit in maintaining barriers to accessibility and innovation. Chapter 5 of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com.

To many academics, composition still represents typewritten texts on 8.5" x 11" pages that follow rote argumentative guidelines. In Toward a Composition Made Whole, Jody Shipka views composition as an act of communication that can be expressed through any number of media and as a path to meaning-making. Her study offers an in-depth examination of multimodality via the processes, values, structures, and semiotic practices people employ every day to compose and communicate their thoughts. Shipka counters current associations that equate multimodality only with computer, digitized, or screen-mediated texts, which are often self-limiting. She stretches the boundaries of composition to include a hybridization of aural, visual, and written forms. Shipka analyzes the work of current scholars in multimodality and combines this with recent writing theory to create her own teaching framework. Among her methods, Shipka employs process-oriented reflection and a statement of goals and choices to prepare students to compose using various media in ways that spur their rhetorical and material awareness. They are encouraged to produce unusual text forms while also learning to understand the composition process as a whole. Shipka presents several case studies of students working in multimodal composition and explains the strategies, tools, and spaces they employ. She then offers methods to critically assess multimodal writing projects. Toward a Composition Made Whole challenges theorists and compositionists to further investigate communication practices and broaden the scope of writing to include all composing methods. While Shipka views writing as crucial to discourse, she challenges us to always consider the various purposes that writing serves.