Multimodal pedagogy in TESOL teacher education: Students’ perspectives

Despite the increasing incorporation of multimodal practices into ESL/EFL classes, research on multimodal pedagogy in TESOL teacher education is still in its infancy. Empirical evidence also shows that ESL/EFL teachers lack skills to design and deliver multimodal practices. To bridge the research gap and innovate the TESOL curriculum, the author in this study implemented multimodal projects in two online graduate courses, and examined the students’ (pre-/in-service teachers’) perceptions on integration of multimodal projects. The analyses of semi-structured interviews and written narratives, supplemented with the multimodal products, revealed that the multimodal practices facilitated the students’ learning of content knowledge and their professional development. The perceived benefits included engaging and motivating content learning, retaining and deepening knowledge, fostering mutual learning in online community, enhancing digital learning, and fostering motivation to implement multimodal pedagogy. The students also conveyed challenges in topic selection, technology use, and time control, and provided suggestions on peer interaction, technology training, and task management. This study has significant implications for research and pedagogy in TESOL teacher education.