The CATESOL Journal

As international student enrollment increases on college campuses across the US, the landscape of the composition classroom is among the first to observe the shift in the student demographic. Though some international students benefit from developmental English and ESL initiatives, most will eventually experience the mainstream writing classroom. With inclusion, the linguistic divides between international students, native speakers, and course texts are exacerbated, and it is on the instructor to find ways to provide universal access to course material and engage students in an equitable manner. This pilot study examines the viability of multimodal theme-sets as a means of bridging the literacy and cultural divides that often subjugate international students within the mainstream composition classroom. This quasi-experimental study examines 2 linguistically diverse, mainstream writing classrooms with significant L2 international student enrollment to identify how multimodal theme-sets can more effectively engage students across existing cultural and literacy barriers.