Metacognition and Multimodal Literacy: Adolescents Constructing Meaning from Multimodal Texts

• Author / Creator

  Shane, Margaret

• Conventional wisdom holds that adolescents are somehow naturally adroit at the selection, navigation, consumption, and creation of online texts; that they are more likely to be engaged by multimodal and online texts than by printed material. School boards and the teaching profession are heavily invested in rhetorical celebrations of such technology as a means to improve student achievement based on assumptions about how teens read multimodal, online texts. This study explores how young people aged 12-18 engage with online multimodal texts, both familiar texts of their own choosing and novel titles presented by the researcher. Specifically, this study aims to understand which metacognitive strategies study participants demonstrated during three successive online reading sessions. To this end, this study undertook to answer the following research questions. What is the level of metacognitive awareness exhibited by youth while engaging with multimodal texts? Which traditional print reading practices are identifiable in participants’ reports of their metacognitive strategies? Which metacognitive skills are exhibited by young people while exploring “the semiotic landscape” (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2005, p. 16)? The research questions aim to shed light on how adolescents employ metacognitive awareness, knowledge, and control in their construction of subjective socially and culturally mediated meaning. Are adolescents effectively engaging with these texts? Are these texts helping or hindering student learning? A secondary interest pertains to the pedagogical environment in which students engage with online multimodal texts. Data generation occurred through think-aloud sessions. Data analysis was conducted through the 11-process Metacognitive Process Inventory (MPI) (Block, 2005). Results suggest that young people demonstrate confidence and metacognitive engagement with familiar online texts that often challenge traditional print literacy strategies. Nevertheless, their critical metacognitive skills become less effective when they are presented with novel online multimodal texts. Participants also reported strong relationships with print reading that informed their online reading habits. A secondary focus of the study pertains to the experiences of participants while at school and the environment in which multimodal online reading is conducted in Alberta classrooms in the early 21st century.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • multimodal literacy
  • classroom technology
  • metacognition
  • online reading

• Graduation date

  Fall 2019

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-tsac-m263

• License

  Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.