An AnnOTATEd STudEnT PROPOSAL 325Laura Hartigan Hartigan 1
Professor Greene
English 385
March 28, 20—Proposal for Research: The Affordances of Multimodal,
Creative, and Academic Writing
Researchers (Hughes, 2009; Vasudevan, Schultz & Bateman,
2010) have called attention to the unique ways that writing can foster
student learning and have for some time now argued that teachers in
elementary and high schools should give students more opportunities
to write fiction and poetry using image, music, and text to express
themselves. Within the last decade, even more alternative modes of
writing have gained prominence. Researchers (Hughes, 2009; Hull &
Katz, 2006) argue that “multimodal digital storytelling” provides
students with ways to help them engage more deeply with their written
work. Digital storytelling in particular enables students to examine their
experiences by writing personal narratives in which they confront key
turning points in their lives and the challenges they face. In turn, they
can use images, music, and voice-over to amplify and give meaning to
their written stories. Allowing for what researchers call “new literate
spaces” creates the opportunity for multiple modes of learning,
understanding, and collaboration that challenge the limited ways that
students use writing as a mode of learning in school (Hughes, 2009; Hull
& Katz, 2006). Students may learn to write persuasive essays, but they
also need opportunities to learn about themselves and use their writing
as a way to create changes in their lives. Thus researchers urge educators
to reform curricular and pedagogical practices to help students use
writing to help them develop a sense of identity and ownership of their
writing, to see the decision-making power they have as individuals.
When they argue that multimodal, digital literacy practices
have a place in the standard curriculum, researchers (Hall, 2011;
Hughes, 2009; Hull & Katz, 2006; Ranker, 2007; Vasudevan et al.,
2010) provide evidence to show how youth grow and develop, become
more confident learners, and use what they learn in and out of school.
This is particularly true when youth have opportunities to reflect on
their lives and use multiple literacies to give meaning to their12The student
retraces the
recent, and
important,
conversation
about writing
and alternative
conceptions
that challenge
some widely held
assumptions.She summarizes
recent studies and
evidence supporting
the value of
alternative modes
of writing. But she
also identifies a gap
in the argument
writing researchers
make.11_GRE_5344_Ch11_313_342.indd 325 11/19/14 11:02 AM