Abstract:

The term multimodality (New London Group, 1996) is based on and reflects the changing forms and modes of communication due to the increase in interactions with new technologies. Through interactions with digital technologies, multimodal learning provides resources and opportunities that change traditional forms of communication and teaching (Unsworth, 2001). Multimodal pedagogy is based on Kress's (2003) theoretical construct of multimodality, which views it as the use of different modalities (textual, audio, linguistic, spatial, and visual) to communicate and construct meanings (Kress, 2003). Multimodal pedagogy emphasizes the vital use of multiple modalities in real-world learning environments. Implementing multimodal pedagogy in foreign language education appears to be essential according to many academics (e.g., Stein, 2000; Peng, 2019).

This paper calls into question how language understanding has recently changed due to new technologies. In the context of foreign language education and digitalization development, various multimodal texts combining words, images, audio, and visual recordings in different digital forms and means are being created and processed. This situation reflects the current understanding of literacy as the ability to work with texts containing different semiotic resources (New London Group, 1996). Multimodal learning uses different ways of presenting and constructing information content in verbal and non-verbal ways. Multimodal teaching allows the presentation of information in more than one sensory mode and facilitates the active construction of meaning to create tasks that require multiple modes of representing meaning. For example, Jiang and Luke's (2016) findings demonstrated that learner motivation and autonomy increased through working with multimodal inputs.

In terms of the modern approach to foreign language education, we have to take into account the impact of information and communication technologies on the individual, e.g., TELL (technology-enhanced language learning), CALL (computer-assisted language learning), CMC (computer-mediated communication) and MALL (mobile-assisted language learning). Technology has brought about new practices and ways the world has been perceived and understood and has legitimately affected language production and interpretation (Li, 2017). Thus, our perceptions of language and communication have changed significantly with the advent of technology, and the approach to foreign language learning should reflect the perception of reality and transform.

With the rapid development of informatization and digitalization of life, it is also legitimate to pay attention to the ways of perceiving and processing the multimodal reality of the information-saturated digital age. The changes also necessitate a reconceptualization of foreign language education as a process of developing receptive and productive competencies, and a shift in the perception of literacy is taking place. With the permanent use of various technologies, literacy is rarely associated with the written word anymore; thus, images, colours, sounds, symbols, shapes, or tastes seem to be more crucial in understanding a language

Keywords:

Multimodality, Digitalisation, Modes, Literacy, Language Understanding.