A Study of Teachers’ Multimodal Discourse in Online Teaching of Chinese as a Foreign Language

Abstract

The current study conducts a multimodal discourse analysis to explore the CFL teachers’ multimodal pedagogy observed in remote teaching as well as online class interaction with the support of multimodality tools and multichannel communicative tools available online. In the current study, four research questions are to be answered regarding the key themes in CFL online teaching: (1) How do the CFL teachers’ discourses facilitate the teacher-student interaction in online teaching? (2) How do the CFL teachers’ discourses help the teacher-student rapport building in online interactions? (3) How do the CFL teachers’ discourses provide space for student learning in online teaching? (4) How are the CFL teachers’ teaching perceptions reflected in their online teaching practice? This study employs a qualitative research design from multiple data sources. The main argument of the current study is that CFL online teaching is a student-centred process. CFL teachers observed have performed a critical part in building the online space of learning with the support of multimodal tools. They have provided the learners with multiple visual/semiotic input resources in delivering their instructional content (image, cartoon, photo, vlog). Multimodal and multichannel interactive mode is identified in the CFL online classroom teaching. Additional communicative channels are employed apart from the verbal interaction in the process of online teaching (WeChat chatting, chatting box, online sketching, online typing). Findings also reveal that the CFL teachers have conducted self-disclosure interactions and discourse of emotional support. This helps the CFL teachers’ rapport building with the learners in online teaching. At the same time, the data from online teaching observation shows that the CFL teachers’ online teaching practice are in a line with their teaching perceptions revealed in interview data.