Sarah McKone

Major: English and History

Honors in English

Supervisor: Dr. Anthony A. Atkins

NON-TRADITIONAL DESIGNS OF WRITING:

MULTIMODALITY AS COMPOSING

The integration of technology in composition classes encourages the application of new media and multimodal composition in students’ writing. The integration of new media and a multimodal composition process may change students' perceptions about the relationship between English and technology. This idea invoked the study of students' perceptions on relationships between technology and English, composition, their basic studies classes and their future professions. Research questions for my honors project include: How much instruction do students receive on writing with new media in English classes? Do students perceive learning about the integration of technology in their writing as imperative to their education in English? Are students familiar with technologies, such as Web 2.0 technologies, that allow them to create new media texts? Do students expect to learn these technologies from their English professors? Do students perceive a change in their writing process? Are students in UNCW’s English Department using a multimodal composition process? This thesis employs a multimodal research design to find data to represent the opinions, attitudes, and feelings of students registered for composition classes at UNCW, including ENG 101, ENG 102, ENG 103, ENG 201, and ENG 204. A 25-question survey assisted with the collection of quantitative data about these topics while focus group sessions helped to collect qualitative data. The use of both data sets created unique responses to the research questions and to the relationship between English and technology at UNCW.