DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS’ MULTIMODAL LITERACY IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSES IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

Improving education quality level and increasing the higher education students’ motivation requires to transfer a monomodal (monocodal) way of gaining knowledge into a multimodal (multicode) format of educational and teaching methods. The current polycode nature of education is accompanied by the permanent development of multimedia technologies, which leads to a new understanding of what it means to be literate. There is a need to study the basics of multimodal literacy – the ability to understand and produce language using different modes of expression. The article is devoted to the issue of intensification the multimodal literacy teaching in foreign language classes in higher education institutions. The scientific investigation considers the Ukrainian and foreign scientists latest research. The article identifies specific qualities of the creolized text (materiality, conciseness, semioticity), the work on the improvement of which ensures high efficiency of polycode perception and production. Materiality is realized through the two-dimensional functioning of interactive signs (syntagmatic and paradigmatic), as well as through the transformation and integration of signs into various modes of expression. The conciseness of the multimodal text simultaneously contributes to its reduction and increase of volume. Semioticity is manifested through the qualitative perception and use of paralingual and extralingual elements of discourse both separately and in their interaction. The article examines the benefits of multimodal format for the development of students' sociocultural competence. The study demonstrates that the multimodal content is effectively implemented through cultural and social examples of language interaction. The study offers a detailed consideration of content and structural aspects of the methodology for developing students' multimodal literacy in foreign language classes in higher education institutions. It was determined that the choice of a method for working with a multimodal text depends on its content. Theoretical materials in a multicode format contribute to highquality understanding and memorization. Fiction style, previously presented monomodally, becomes an effective tool for creating own multimodal product. Universal content in a colloquial or journalistic style allows to develop multimodal literacy at all stages: perception, analysis, partial modeling and full production of polycode text. Content analysis serves as the basis for determining a methodologically appropriate methods for work in a foreign language class. It has been proven that the qualitative development of multimodal literacy includes the development of skills to perceive and produce semiotic (lingual, paralingual) and sensory-perceptual signs, integrate them into various materials, and concisely convey them through polycode means of expression. The creation of methodological tools for the development of such literacy takes into account the content and structural aspects of multimodal text.