Michael J. Klein and Kristi L. Shackelford’s “Beyond Black on White: Document Design and Formatting in the Writing Classroom” adds onto the conversation arising in “An Introduction to and Strategies for Multimodal Composing” by Melanie Gagich.
Analysis
In Gagich’s paper, the term “multimodality” refers to the concept of a “text” including multiple forms of communication, such as the five modes of communication identified in “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures”– linguistic, visual, spatial, gestural, and aural. When it comes to writing, the idea is that there is not only the linguistic mode of communication, but also the visual as well as the spatial. For example, the linguistic aspect of a formal or academic essay is the main focus of communication, but the font, line spacing, and other formatting decisions are based on the visual and spatial modes of communication within the paper. Contributing to this concept, Klein and Shackelford compare these visual elements of writing to that of designers working with images and appearance. In their paper, they express the importance of a written document’s visual appearance alongside the document’s contents.
My Opinion
I would personally have to agree with both papers, as I believe that multimodal writing is an important skill and technique for writers to learn and to utilize. For example, I have always had a preference for Times New Roman font over any other, and choose to use it in professional settings, as well as academic, or in any other setting. I won’t argue against the visual aspects of any text playing a major role in our writing; the proof is in the pudding. However, I also believe that paying attention to multiple aspects of a paper does not necessarily have become multitasking. I often do not focus on the visual or spatial modes until the linguistic part of my writing is at least mostly completed. I never really organize and beautify the things I write as I write them; I prefer to tackle one thing at a time. I think it’s better this way, and ensures that my brain is doing the best work it can.
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