Multimodal composition in a first-year writing course in a colombian university

This chapter analyzes the experience of multimodal composition in a first-year writing course at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Cali, Colombia. This experience takes advantage of the knowledge and skills that students have acquired in vernacular contexts. It also analyzes and redirects that knowledge and skills to the composition of multimodal texts in the academic field. The chapter describes the assignment of the project, guidance provided by professors, ways of assessment, students’ answers, and characteristics of the final products. Students’ motivation, integration of knowledge from different fields, incorporation and validation of knowledge built up in vernacular contexts, and exploration of digital tools are amid the strengths of multimodal composition in the course. The main challenges identified are the actual integration of different semiotic systems, which transcend the repetition of information, and the acknowledgment of authorship, mainly for nontextual information that is taken up from other sources.