Orchestrating multimodal resources in English language teaching: a critical study of an online English teaching video

ABSTRACT

This study develops a framework that integrates multimodality and translanguaging to analyze meaning-making in an online English teaching video. We consider pedagogy as more than teaching approaches and methods, but as a process of design that is realized by the orchestration of multimodal semiotic resources. In terms of multimodal analysis, we systematically transcribed the configuration of resources used in different stages and moves of an online English teaching video on YouTube, and how they work together to achieve the objectives of the lesson. From a translanguaging perspective, we employ the notion of “orchestration” to understand how resources in the teacher’s repertoire work together. The analysis demonstrates how multimodal resources are intertwined to construct meaning that cannot be captured by studying them in isolation. A critical analysis of the video was conducted to determine the extent to which translanguaging pedagogy and raciolinguistic ideologies are found in the video. The study concludes that not only is it important to consider multimodal design of online videos; the social justice agenda of a translanguaging pedagogy that eschews native-speaker norms and raciolinguistic ideologies is equally important, especially for learners from diverse linguacultural backgrounds.

KEYWORDS:

• Multimodality
• translanguaging
• pedagogy
• online teaching video

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments to help improve the quality of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. In June 2020, one of the most popular online teachers on YouTube published an apology video for perpetuating “accent discrimination” in her videos. In the apology video the teacher appeals for the industry to be aware of the unintended consequences for creating videos that perpetuate raciolinguistic ideologies.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the City University of Hong Kong Strategic Research Grant [7005336].

Notes on contributors

Wing Yee Jenifer Ho

Wing Yee Jenifer Ho is Assistant Professor at Department of English, City University of Hong Kong. Her main research interest is recreational language learning in the digital wild. She also has great interests in using digital multimodal composing as a pedagogical tool. Her work has appeared in Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Journal of English for Academic Purposes, Journal of Second Language Writing, Language and Intercultural Communication, Qualitative Research, and System.

Dezheng (William) Feng

Dezheng (William) Feng, PhD, is Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Research Centre for Professional Communication in English at the Department of English and Communication, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research focuses on the analysis of various media and communication practices from the perspectives of pragmatics, discourse analysis and multimodality. His recent publications appeared in journals such as Journal of Pragmatics, Pragmatics and Society, Discourse and Communication, and Visual Communication.