WATCH SEMINAR

A move approach to analysing a digital multimodal genre

Presenter: Erandi Kithulgoda, LALS, VUW research student

How can web genres be analysed from a move perspective, while accounting for visual, textual resources and affordances of the web medium? What are the challenges?

With rapid digitalization of business and marketing, using online multimodal rhetorical means to reach out to customers and ensure business performance, now seems to be the norm. In this context, descriptions of genres on ecommerce sites and identification of any cross-cultural differences will be instructive to professionals and students of Business Management/Marketing alike. Erandi used the move analysis model of genre analysis (Swales, 1990, 2004) to conduct a pedagogically motivated description of one such digital multimodal genre – the online product information (OPI) genre. In this talk, Erandi explains how the semiotic resources of the visual  and textual modes and interactive properties of the online medium were considered in analysing a corpus of 160 online product information texts, to describe its generic features in a cross-cultural context (New Zealand and Sri Lanka). Erandi also discusses the challenges encountered when adopting the move structure approach to digital genre analysis.

The effect of mind mapping and outlining on EFL students’ writing performance and attitudes

Presenter: Vy Doan Lan, LALS, VUW research student

How can pre-writing techniques help in improving the quality of L2 writing?

Current writing practices focusing on form and error-free written products in the Asian context are exerting great pressure on EFL undergraduates, and a growing amount of research has been done on the L2 writing process and the use of self-regulated strategies. The development of pre-writing strategies, such as mind mapping and outlining, has been shown to benefit not only the quality of written products but also the efficiency of the writing process; however, these strategies have not been compared in terms of their effects on students’ writing attitudes and performance. This talk will focus on the use of an explanatory sequential mixed methods study to compare the effects of outlining and mind mapping on Vietnamese first year students’ writing enjoyment, self-efficacy beliefs, level of engagement in planning and performance. The use of this study to explore students’ actual use of pre-writing strategies when they were not specifically required to use them a in high-stakes condition will also be discussed.