Science dissemination videos as multimodal supporting resources for ESP teaching in higher education

Abstract

In recent years, science dissemination has moved from printed to digital formats, and digital genres such as free access videos, along with their own multimodal characteristics (e.g. image, audio, movement, among others) are particularly relevant in order to meet 21st century users' (i.e., digital natives) learning needs (Prensky, 2017) and to make them aware of the use of the multimodal traits. However, only a few studies can be found on the use of videos for the dissemination of research in ESP teaching as learning resources in Higher Education (HE) contexts, nor have the multimodal connections embedded in videos which contribute to the engagement of their users been taken into account (Valeiras-Jurado & Bernad-Mechó, 2022). Considering a communicative multimodal procedure in the digital era (Kress, 2010), the objective of this research is to identify the criteria that ESP teachers take into account when selecting this type of video for their courses, as well as the multimodal characteristics of these videos that can be identified and taken into consideration in the classroom. To attain our aim, a questionnaire will be distributed to 10 ESP teachers asking about the criteria they use for the selection of videos (e.g., length, clarity of language, visual aids, subject matter appropriate to the content, difficulty, among other aspects). Secondly, a multimodal discourse analysis of an extract from one of the videos teachers use in their courses will be developed. The teacher who uses this video in his class will be interviewed before and after showing him the multimodal analysis in order to check whether being aware of the video's multimodal traits can change his criteria for video selection and for class activities related to it. The results of this investigation will serve to offer teachers some support in their selection of appropriate multimodal materials for their ESP courses, as well as pedagogical tips about activities that can enhance the multimodal features of this digital genre.