Working with digital text in the language classroom in a transmodal perspective

Abstract

Given the intrinsic relation between linguistic, cognitive and social activities, and also the multiple semiotic resources involved in the compositional process, it is necessary to include the nonverbal dimensions in the work with text production and comprehension in language teaching contexts. The affordances of the digital and the emergence of digital-native genres imply, on the one hand, conceptual challenges and offer, on the other, new pathways for the interaction and meaning-making process, which can combine new and conventional forms of writing (HOWELL et al., 2015). This implies working with an expanded notion of text, as defined by Cavalcante et al. (2019) and Cavalcante & Custódio e Filho (2010). Grounded in this notion of text, we reflect on the work with digital texts in the language classroom, based on a transmodal approach (SHIPKA, 2016; HORNER et al., 2015), with the aim of contributing to the discussion of theoretical and pedagogical perspectives in language teaching contexts. Therefore, we present a teaching proposal for language classrooms, exploring the affordances of the digital in the expansion of students’ compositional repertoire and the work with text.