Abstract

Multimodal composing has become increasingly common among language learners who encounter and produce multimodal texts in their daily lives. This study investigates the multimodal texts produced by English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners who were provided with the opportunity to practice multimodal composing, with a focus on how semiotic modes are combined to form meaning. This study first examines the types of semiotic modes the learners embedded in their multimodal texts and then analyzes how these modes, in conjunction with textual descriptions, contribute to the overall meaning of the texts, using the concept of rhetorical purposes. The findings suggest affordances of semiotic modes are related to their rhetorical purposes in multimodal texts and that knowledge of these affordances can help learners compose more effective multimodal texts.