Taking stock: Multimodality in writing center users' texts

摘要

Though much scholarship exists suggesting why multimodal writing should be taught at the college-level and how it might be addressed in writing and multiliteracy centers, no previous studies have tried to document to what degree students are bringing multimodal texts to the writing or multiliteracy center. This article is a first attempt to study writing center users' texts for multimodality. We find through studying users at a university with required multimodal instruction in two required first-year writing classes and advertised support for multimodal writing that few students bring multimodal texts to the writing center, few know what the term "multimodal" means, and none in the sample bring in texts composed in more than two modes. In the conclusion, we offer suggestions based on these findings for first-year writing instructors, writing center professionals, and for faculty teaching writing across the campus.