Beyond Traditional Literacies: A Multimodal-Based Instruction to Fostering Student Digital Literacy Learning
Siti Kustini (a, b), Didi Suherdi (b), Baachrudin Musthafa (b)
a. Informatics Engineering Department of State Polytechnic of Banjarmasin, Jalan Brigjen H. Hasan Basri, Kayutangi, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan
b. English Language Education, Indonesia University of Education, Jalan Setiabudi No. 229, Bandung, West Java
Abstract
The fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) marked by artificial intelligence and cyber-physical systems has transformed the landscape of education including literacy learning. Some literacy educators claim that the success of students- today as millennial kids (Gen-Zs) and future employees has been linked to digital literacy. This literacy is defined as the skills associated with using digital technology to enable users to locate, organize, understand, evaluate and create information and using those skills to solve problems in technology-rich environments. This study attempts to investigate the extent to which multimodal pedagogy helps improve students- digital literacy skills in an English for Specific (ESP) setting in vocational higher education. A theoretical multimodal semiotic approach along with multiliteracies pedagogy is served as the overarching guideline in the overall instructional procedures grounded specifically from the principles of learner-centeredness, constructivist learning, and social interaction. A qualitative case study approach was adopted to provide an in-depth explication and analysis of students- literacy development. Data collection included classroom observations, field notes, and students- digital artefacts. In the course of the study, the students engaged in the creation of two digital projects of different genres: digital information report and digital persuasive talk. The key findings of this study suggest that multimodal pedagogy is an effective instructional method for digital literacy learning in an ESP classroom context in vocational higher education. The study produced a number of recommendations for ESP teachers and literacy educators in relation to implementing multimodal pedagogy into the curriculum.
Keywords: Digital literacy; Industrial revolution; instruction; multimodal pedagogy; ESP
Topic: International Conference of English Language Teaching, Literature & Linguistics