In addition to reporting students' final scores on their research papers, data was also collected through surveys to gauge students’ interest and response to the multimodal assignment and their perceptions as to how the intervention was or was not helping them to improve their writing. Both classes received a survey prior to the intervention, during the intervention, and post intervention. Class A received an additional survey directly after finishing their multimodal assignments. It should also be noted that completing the surveys was not mandatory and some students chose not to finish them, allowing for a differentiation in results for each survey.
Figure 3: Pre-Test Survey Assessment (Class A)
Figure 4: Pre-Test Survey Assessment (Class B)
Prior to receiving the multimodal intervention or completing the assigned written worksheets, each class was posed the question, “Do you experience difficulty collecting your thoughts?” The answers to that question were almost identical in both classes, with the overwhelming majority of students choosing “sometimes” and very few students responding “never” (See Figures 3 and 4). In Class A, 91 percent of students reported that they sometimes experienced difficulty collecting their thoughts, while in Class B an overwhelming 86 percent of students also said they experienced difficulty collecting their thoughts. However, during the intervention the numbers shifted slightly in response to essentially the same question, “Are you experiencing difficulty collecting your thoughts”? (See Figures 5 and 6). In Class A, 53 percent of students reported that they were experiencing difficulties collecting their thoughts, in contrast to Class B in which 68 percent of students reported having difficulties collecting their thoughts. This shift in perception of how students were beginning to understand the material is significant to note, because it suggests that the integration of the multimodal assignment was allowing students to analyze the material at hand in different ways. Furthermore, it suggests that different, new understanding was helping students articulate their thoughts in more productive ways thus transferring the rhetorical knowledge gained in one mode (audio-visual composing) to another (traditional argumentative writing).
Figure 5: During Test Survey Assessment (Class A)
Figure 6: During Test Survey Assessment (Class B)
This point becomes more evident when examining a post-survey conducted after students handed in their completed papers. Surveys showed that students in Class B had encountered many problems while writing working thesis statements. Problems with completing thesis statements at the invention stage of the process noted in the surveys included but were not limited to: “collecting my thoughts”, “putting it into words”, “trying to support both good and bad sides”, “making it specific”, “not rambling”, “had trouble explaining myself”, “staying on topic”, “making it sound convincing while putting my views into it” and “what to make it about.” Students in Class A reported experiencing very few difficulties in this stage with only one student noting he or she had any difficulties. In fact, the overwhelming majority of students in Class A reported that the integration of the multimodal project not only helped them write their thesis statements but it also was an enjoyable experience. In their surveys, students in Class A further expressed their enthusiasm concerning the multimodal assignment, stating it was “fun” and “allowed me to be creative.”