Discussion

In the rest of Toward a Composition Made Whole, Shipka (2011) makes an extended and compelling case for how multimodal composition can do and be all of these things. Dozens of others in the field of composition studies have and continue to make that case. But I suspect that these well-evidenced arguments still would not have persuaded the dismissive history department TA from Shipka’s anecdote. What may persuade him, or perhaps already has since Shipka’s monograph was published, are the intervening years and the changes that have occurred to disciplinary communication during that time. In the open-ended comment box at the end of the questionnaire distributed to academic professionals in this study, some participants volunteered precisely this perspective: “It is not possible anymore to publish an article in the natural sciences without some visuals,” wrote one respondent. “No scientific presentation is ever given without visuals. Articles and presentations without visuals stopped years ago as the necessary technology involved improved and became more widespread.” Another spoke to the ways the COVID-19 pandemic may be accelerating these trends: “The shift to online (distance learning) teaching during the pandemic period affected the importance and frequency of use of digital/multimedia forms of communication in my field. Even in the case of classes that were previously taught in hybrid format, the shift to being completely online has had a significant effect.”

For skeptics and holdouts, the findings from this study may also prove persuasive: It may not look look like an essay written on ballet shoes, but presentations, data visualizations, videos, and websites seem to have become mainstream academic practices, no longer the niche practices of earlier adopters but integrated components of disciplinary knowledge-making. What’s more, the finding that there are close similarities between how alphabetic and multimodal texts are used by academics is noteworthy. It suggests that multimodal composition is not perceived as less suited to research or “academic” pursuits than conventional forms of composition are by academics themselves. It suggests that academics don’t necessarily perceive a separation between conventional and multimodal texts in practice—even though there is still a lag in the frequency of the uptake of such texts.

This survey, then, provides a rationale for compositionists like Shipka (2011) to continue their work. Multimodal composition instruction is perhaps preparation for disciplinary communication. But this survey also identifies a need. Just as Wardle (2009) worries about composition instructors’ capacity to teach the genres of the university, compositionists likely risk mostly helping students learn multimodal “mutt-genres” without the disciplinary expertise of faculty outside of writing studies. There is, as Harris (2020) recently argues, probably real pedagogical value to doing exactly this. But to compose multimodal disciplinary genres, students and faculty need support.

At the dawn of the millennium, WAC scholars seemed to understand this, with edited collections like Reiss et al.’s (1998) promising a new direction for the field. Interest seems to have waned since then, however, with sporadic publication in the area and only two presentations (one of which was by the author of this study) at the (fully digital) 2020 IWAC conference mentioning the word “multimodal” in its abstract. It’s possible this tepid interest in modes beyond writing has tempered faculty’s willingness to assign multimodal projects, as the responses from students and faculty in this study suggest. Even outside of providing direct support for multimodal composition instruction in the form of workshops and consulting as numerous scholars have advocated (Fordham & Oakes, 2013; Hocks, 2001; Fodrey & Mikovits, 2020; Mikovitz et al., 2021; Sabatino & Blevins, 2018; Summers et al., 2018), WAC leaders certainly have a role to play in shaping the policies and cultures of their institutions to support multimodal composition. One of the striking implications of this survey is that students and academics may not necessarily think of their multimodal composition work as “writing,” as evidenced especially by students’ marked reticence to make appointments at the writing center for multimodal projects. I strongly suspect the fact that the university guidelines for writing-intensive courses specify requirements for pages of writing also influenced the kinds of projects instructors assigned. For assignments and writing center traffic to reflect the diverse, multimodal disciplinary communication practices this survey finds evidence for, WAC policies and writing centers need to explicitly invite modes beyond the W.

Of course, such rebranding is not simple or easy. Disciplinary debates continue in writing studies around whether a field that includes “writing” in its name should consider itself expert on communicative practices that are not writing, or at least not legible to outsiders as writing. When it comes to cross-curricular work, thinking outside WAC’s W also raises issues of disciplinary “turf.” Should multimodality across the curriculum more properly be the domain of communications or media studies or art and design? Personally, I think WAC specialists might do well to let English departments or communications departments worry about such questions. One of the defining elements of WAC theory and practice is the realization that writing is not “owned” by writing studies or English departments. If writing studies professionals’ expertise does not completely overlap with all aspects of multimedia work, what of it? Writing studies’ expertise does not overlap with many aspects of disciplinary writing. WAC professionals are probably positioned better than just about anyone in the academy to work across disciplinary boundaries and tap into others’ specialist expertise. A field that concerns itself with crossing should be able to productively push the boundaries of what we consider writing to be: Writing isn’t big enough.

If this feels like risky work, that’s because it is. WAC programs may only occasionally be starting to enjoy some of the benefits of the hard-won recognition institutions have granted to writing. Disrupting that can feel like a gamble, and it will necessitate the hard work of developing new evidence-based pedagogical practices for learning and communication. But nearly two decades ago, Selfe (2004) and Yancey (2004) warned of composition becoming irrelevant if it fails to adopt multimedia meaningfully. WAC may already have become irrelevant to a substantial portion of the work of academic disciplines. But it need not stay that way. WAC could serve a valuable role bridging and broadening communicative practices in the academy. That means expanding not just how we but also how universities think about writing.