Multimodal Literature

Chances and Challenges of Teaching "The Arrival", "American Born Chinese" and "The Unforgotten Coat" in the EFL Classroom

Sabrina Denz

• Publisher: GRIN Verlag
• Year: 2022
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9783346574060
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: European Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

Master's Thesis from the year 2020 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Other, grade: 1,3, University of Cologne (Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät), language: English, abstract: The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that implementing a pedagogy of multiliteracies and multimodal literature can have a great impact on teaching in the EFL classroom. In the last chapter, three different multimodal novels will therefore be highlighted. An analysis will take place on how Shaun Tan's "The Arrival", Gene Luen Yang's "American Born Chinese" and Frank Cottrell Boyce's "The Unforgotten Coat" can foster a multimodal literacy. For this purpose, possible ways of teaching will be drafted. At the beginning of this decade we started to face a new world-wide crisis. Due to the current global pandemic many economic, political and social changes arise for everyone. Even if we cannot predefine the impacts of this transition in the long run, we can assume that it will effectuate changes for the working and social life of many people around the globe. In fact, this situation already requires new methods for learning, working and socializing on different levels. In times of globalization and mass migration, diversity and heterogeneity became natural phenomena. Besides, (foreign) languages and English as a lingua franca became more important for everyday life. It led to the implementation of new technologies, and especially new communication systems, which are frequently used world-wide. Communication apps like WhatsApp or Instagram, which are used by the majority of young people nowadays, are an integral part of social life. Today, the necessity for using these in learning environments is stronger than ever. With it comes the demand to use these communication systems appropriately. The influences of digital technologies also set new needs for learning and teaching in the English foreign language classroom. The crisis, yet again, underlines the demands for new learning methods, which have long been discussed in schools and other educational settings.