University of Texas at El Paso DigitalCommons@UTEP Open Access Theses & Dissertations 2018-01-01 Rethinking Multimodality In First-Year Composition: Applying Theories Of Digital Rhetoric, Procedural Rhetoric, And Electracy To Multimodal Assignments Jennifer Falcon University of Texas at El Paso, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd Part of the Rhetoric Commons Recommended Citation Falcon, Jennifer, "Rethinking Multimodality In First-Year Composition: Applying Theories Of Digital Rhetoric, Procedural Rhetoric, And Electracy To Multimodal Assignments" (2018). Open Access Theses & Dissertations. 1426. https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd/1426 This is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UTEP. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UTEP. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RETHINKING MULTIMODALITY IN FIRST-YEAR COMPOSITION: APPLYING THEORIES OF DIGITAL RHETORIC, PROCEDURAL RHETORIC, AND ELECTRACY TO MULTIMODAL ASSIGNMENTS JENNIFER ANDREA FALCON Doctoral Program in Rhetoric and Composition APPROVED: Beth Brunk-Chavez, Ph.D., Chair Laura Gonzales, Ph.D. William Robertson, Ph.D. Charles Ambler, Ph.D. Dean of the Graduate School Copyright © by Jennifer Andrea Falcon 2018 Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my grandfather, José Franco Sandoval. Grandpa, your devotion to hard work and education will always guide me. RETHINKING MULTIMODALITY IN FIRST-YEAR COMPOSITION: APPLYING THEORIES OF DIGITAL RHETORIC, PROCEDURAL RHETORIC, AND ELECTRACY TO MULTIMODAL ASSIGNMENTS by JENNIFER ANDREA FALCON, M.F.A. DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at El Paso in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of English THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO May 2018 Acknowledgements This, and any accomplishment of mine are the result of the hard work and sacrifice of my parents, Magdalena and Joe Falcon. Thank you to the Sandoval, Falcon, Arredondo, Workman, and Ahten families. Thank you Jonah, Maddie, Marissa, Emma, Owen, Eli, and Justin, for giving me seven reasons to keep working towards my goals. Thank you to Dr. Anisa Shomo, Dr. Kong Li, Dr. Dre Montes, Sarah Lerma, Jasmine Villa, and Sarah de le Garza for your friendship and support. This dissertation took shape under the guidance of Dr. Beth Brunk-Chavez, and would not have been completed without her constant encouragement and support. Beth, I thank you for being generous with your time, advice, and friendship. You are one of the reasons my time at UTEP was so enjoyable. I hope to one day be in a position to pay it forward and help a graduate student who asks too many questions. I’d like to thank Dr. Kate Mangelsdorf, Dr. Isabel Baca, Dr. Theresa Donovan, Dr. Judith Fourzan, Dr. Gustav, Dr. Maggie Smith, Dr. Helen Foster, and Dr. Lucia Dura for allowing me to learn and grow in their classrooms. Thank you to Dr. William Robertson and Dr. Laura Gonzales for their time and commitment to helping me complete this dissertation. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... v List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ ix Chapter 1: Digital Multiliteracies and Multimodal Composition in First-Year Composition ........ 1 Definition of Terms ................................................................................................................ 3 Literacy and Digital Technology ........................................................................................... 8 Purpose of the Study ............................................................................................................ 13 Procedures ............................................................................................................................ 13 Significance of the Study ..................................................................................................... 15 Limitations of the Study ....................................................................................................... 15 Organization of the Study .................................................................................................... 15 Chapter 2: Review of Literature ................................................................................................... 17 Multiliteracies and Digital Literacies ................................................................................... 17 Rhetoric and Technology ..................................................................................................... 23 Multimodal Composition ..................................................................................................... 28 Digital Rhetoric .................................................................................................................... 34 Digital and Cultural Rhetoric ............................................................................................... 40 Procedural Rhetoric ............................................................................................................. 40 Electracy .............................................................................................................................. 41 Chapter 3: Methodology and Findings: Presentation of Data Collected from Surveys and Interviews ............................................................................................................................. 44 Qualitative Research Approach ........................................................................................... 44 Participants ........................................................................................................................... 46 Data Collection Tools .......................................................................................................... 46 Procedures ............................................................................................................................ 47 Thematic Analysis ............................................................................................................... 50 Ethical Considerations and Limitations ............................................................................... 51 Survey and Interview Findings ............................................................................................ 52 Standard Curriculum in First-Year Composition ................................................................. 57 Multimodal Composition Assignments in First-Year Composition Curriculum ................. 58 Assessment ........................................................................................................................... 67 Introducing Multimodal Practices ........................................................................................ 68 vi Pedagogy and Practices ........................................................................................................ 72 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 74 Chapter 4: Analysis of Common Approaches to Teaching Multimodal Assignments in First- Year Composition ................................................................................................................ 77 Review and Summary of Findings ....................................................................................... 80 Approach 1: Genre Theory .................................................................................................. 84 Approach 2: Rhetorical theory ............................................................................................. 86 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 88 Chapter 5: Recommendations for Incorporating Digital Rhetoric, Procedural Rhetoric, and Electracy in Teaching Digital Multimodal Assignments ..................................................... 91 Applying Procedural Rhetoric ............................................................................................. 95 Applying Electracy and Participatory Composition ............................................................ 97 Low-Stakes Multimodal Assignments in First-Year Composition .................................... 100 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 101 Future Research ................................................................................................................. 103 References ................................................................................................................................... 104 Appendix ..................................................................................................................................... 107 Vita 108 vii List of Tables Table 1 Summary of Survey Participants ....................................................................................