Multimodal literature and CEFR reading proficiency: Improving literary reading skills in EFL learners

Abstract

Using multimodal literature, incorporating the auditory, visual, and kinaesthetic elements to 
support the students’ diverse learning styles, enhance students’ engagement and motivation in an 
EFL literature classroom. It contributes to a more interactive and productive learning 
environment, promoting students to gain more comprehension when reading texts. This study 
investigated the impact of multimodal literature on the literary reading abilities of C1-level EFL 
students. The participants were ten fourth-year English major students (4 men and 6 women) at a 
public university in Northern Thailand who participated in a course incorporating six multimodal 
literature-based lesson plans. A pre- and post-literary reading test and a rubric assessed students’ 
literary reading competence. A Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test was employed to analyse the pre- 
and post-test quantitative data. The findings revealed a statistically significant improvement in 
students’ post-test scores (z=2.176, p<.05). These findings are of significance as they 
demonstrated the significant impact of using multimodal literature as opposed to linear texts on 
EFL learners’ reading proficiency at the tertiary level. By incorporating the use of multimodal 
texts into pedagogical practices, the findings of this study can give English teachers and educators 
a guideline or roadmap for designing curricula that will address the shift in people’s reading habits 
that tend to rely on modern technology and move away from print reading of linear texts toward 
digital reading on devices like computers, tablets, and smartphones that offer them non-linear 
texts in multimodal forms.