This ethnographic, qualitative case-study empirically explores possibilities for language learning through digital multimodal composing in popular new media genres among emergent bi/multilingual newcomer youth in school. Given the increasing numbers of newcomers in Canadian classrooms, there is a growing urgency to understand, through context- and case-specific research, how Canadian schools can support emergent bi/multilingual newcomer youth to achieve their full potential in language learning classrooms. The study makes a timely contribution to helping educators, teacher-educators, and education systems better understand the possibilities of in-school digital multimodal composing for language learning among this population of youth.
This ethnographic, qualitative case-study empirically explores possibilities for language learning through digital multimodal composing in popular new media genres (e.g., Reaction Videos, Video Podcasts) among emergent bi/multilingual newcomer youth in school. The study involved nine students, most of whom were from refugee backgrounds, in a local Vancouver secondary school. Reflexive thematic analysis identified three ways in which digital multimodal composing afforded opportunities for language learning: (1) increased written production; (2) use of the specialized language of digital multimodal composing; and (3) attention to language in multimodal forms. Given the increasing numbers of newcomers in Canadian classrooms, there is a growing urgency to understand, through context- and case-specific research, how Canadian schools can support emergent bi/multilingual newcomer youth to achieve their full potential in language learning classrooms. The study makes a timely contribution to helping educators, teacher-educators, and education systems better understand the possibilities of in-school digital multimodal composing for language learning among this population of youth.
