Digital multimodal composing (DMC) has become an essential skill for language learners in the digital era. DMC involves creating texts that encompass multiple modes such as text; images; sounds; speech; space; and gestures. Videos, infographics, websites, comics and podcasts are examples of digital multimodal texts that combine multiple modes to create meaning.
By incorporating multimodality into learning, teachers can provide relevant and engaging learning opportunities that encourage creative expression, critical analysis and a sense of ownership. While a focus on multimodality is becoming more prominent in language teaching, assessment often prioritises isolated modes rather than multimodal meaning-making.
In this article, we provide five decision-making steps for assessing multimodal composing and place multimodal meaning-making at the heart of the process. We also explore how DMC can amplify student voices, connect across the curriculum and support real-world communication skills. Finally, we address some common challenges teachers face when assessing multimodal work and offer practical solutions to support fair, creative and inclusive assessments.
Decision 1: How will I integrate assessment into my teaching?
During the learning process, an important decision is determining when to carry out assessment tasks. For example, if learners are developing a digital storytelling video, mind maps, storyboards or scripts, you could assess these and offer feedback that informs the final video.
Students could be asked to present their finished work and reflect on their DMC process and skills. Teachers can ask questions like: ‘Why did you decide to include this image / music / phrase?’ This collaborative assessment style can provide more context to the final product rather than evaluating components in isolation.
Classroom tip
Use a digital portfolio tool (e.g. Padlet, Google Sites) to collect drafts, reflections, peer feedback and final products. This portfolio provides a holistic view of the learning process and supports formative assessment.
Reflective question for teachers
How can formative assessment of drafts and design choices shape students’ final multimodal texts?
Decision 2: Who will do the assessment?
Teachers conduct assessments, but peer and self-assessments are also common in DMC. The latter empowers learners with greater responsibility and raises their awareness of multimodal analysis and achievement standards. Teachers can produce checklists or rubrics to help learners generate specific feedback. Students may need to be taught a specific metalanguage, which is the language for talking about the multimodal genre they are working on. For example, an infographic’s metalanguage includes visual and text hierarchy, icons and negative space. Using a metalanguage can facilitate multimodal text analysis, but it is essential to compose checklists or rubrics in student-friendly language.
Classroom tip
Conduct a mini-lesson on metalanguage at the beginning of each DMC unit. Encourage students to create glossaries with visual examples they can use throughout the project.
Reflective question for teachers
How can I scaffold peer assessment to ensure feedback is constructive and connected to my learning objectives?
Decision 3: Am I assessing a specific multimodal genre?
Your assessment criteria could focus on specific or various multimodal genres. This decision depends on the learning focus and the degree of autonomy allowed for learners to produce their multimodal output.
If you are working with a specific multimodal genre, like a website, you can create more genre-specific assessment descriptors. For example, under a ‘layout and navigation’ criterion, a high-achievement level descriptor could say something like this:
Your website adopts a very clear layout, making it easy to find information. Key features (navigation bar, headlines, content blocks, logos, images, multimedia, call-to-action buttons, footers) are well organised and consistently placed, ensuring users can navigate the site easily.
If learners can select different genres for their multimodal output, the assessment criteria must be general enough to accommodate a range of multimodal features. For example:
Your multimodal composition effectively combines essential genre features into a clear layout / structure that is easy to navigate.
Classroom scenario
In a secondary classroom, students work on a ‘Voices of the community’ project. Some record interviews and podcasts, while others design infographics or create short documentaries. The teacher uses a shared rubric with genre-flexible criteria like: message clarity; effective use of multimodal features; and audience engagement.
Reflective question for teachers
How can my rubric balance genre-specific expectations with flexibility for student choice?
Decision 4: Which multimodal features will I assess?
Teachers must analyse example texts to develop assessment criteria for specific multimodal genres and identify the key features used to create meaning. For example, comics contain structural features such as: panels and gutters, visual features like images and icons; textual features such as speech bubbles and captions; and typographical features such as font style and size. Learners can be assessed on their effective use of features relevant to the multimodal genre.
In addition to these key features, teachers assess:
- interaction with text: e.g. use of angles, lighting, gestures
- representation of ideas: e.g. key messages, persuasive appeals, tone
- orchestration of modes: e.g. how visual and textual elements work together to form cohesive meaning.
Practical strategy
Use mentor texts in the selected genre. Deconstruct them with learners using guiding questions:
What multimodal features are used?
How do these features work together to create meaning?
What design choices are most effective and why?
Classroom tip
Have students annotate mentor texts digitally (using a tool like Google Slides), identifying and labelling each multimodal element.
Reflective question for teachers
Are my assessment criteria helping students recognise the interplay between design, content and audience?
Decision 5: What prominence will language play in my assessment criteria?
In multimodal assessment, language can be assessed as its criterion or integrated into other criteria. Language prominence depends on the task. Some multimodal tasks demand language-dominant content and may require speaking or writing descriptors. Others, such as comics, involve less language, which must be integrated into other meaning-making elements.
For example, in a comic strip, language could be assessed as part of a broader criterion.
- Story and message: includes coherence, creativity and language accuracy
- Text and visual: includes how the text supports or enhances visuals
Reflective question for teachers
In what ways can I assess language learning through students’ design choices in multimodal texts?
Extending DMC: student voice, cross-curricular links and real-world relevance
We have found one of the most rewarding aspects of DMC is the way it foregrounds a student’s voice. When our learners are allowed to choose their project mode, genre and topic, they often engage more deeply and assume greater ownership of their work. Teachers can foster creativity and critical thinking by enabling students to select a topic they care about, for example, environmental activism, cultural identity or social media influence.
DMC also naturally lends itself to cross-curricula learning. A learner producing a podcast on climate change may draw on scientific research, persuasive techniques and audio-editing skills. A comic strip about historical events could combine narrative writing, historical accuracy and visual storytelling. These projects encourage collaboration between fields and provide authentic, real-world tasks that mirror the type of communication students will engage in beyond the classroom.
Classroom scenario
In an upper-secondary class, students collaborate on a ‘Global voices’ digital magazine. Each student contributes a different multimodal text: one creates a photo essay on displacement; another records a spoken-word poem on identity and others design infographics on global education statistics. The project culminates in a digital publication shared with partner schools abroad, providing students with an authentic audience and meaningful purpose.
To support projects like these, teachers can provide a flexible ‘toolkit’ of digital platforms. For example:
- Canva: for posters, infographics and slide decks
- Book Creator: for digital storytelling and eBooks
- Storyboard That or Pixton: for video reflections and interviews
- Anchor or Audacity: for podcast creation
Each platform has strengths and limitations, so offering a few options and encouraging experimentation can be empowering. Teachers can model how to use these tools or encourage students to teach one another through mini tutorials.
Reflective question for teachers
How can I design a DMC that allows students a voice, connects across the curriculum and engages with real-world issues?
By integrating student choice, cross-disciplinary themes and authentic audiences into DMC assessment, teachers can move beyond isolated language tasks and help learners see themselves as powerful communicators in a multimodal world.
Assessment challenges and solutions in DMC
While DMC offers learners engaging and meaningful opportunities, assessing multimodal work can also present challenges. Below are some common concerns teachers face and solutions to help overcome them.
Challenge 1: How do I fairly assess creativity and design?
Multimodal texts often showcase creative design, but teachers may feel unsure how to assess this without subjectivity.
Solution
Focus your rubric on the effectiveness of the design choices rather than artistic ability. For example, assess how well the layout, colour, image choices or audio elements support the message and engage the audience. Co-creating success criteria with students can also clarify expectations and reduce ambiguity.
Challenge 2: What if students have different levels of digital skills?
Technology access and familiarity can vary widely among students, creating potential inequalities in the final product.
Solution
Offer a range of tools that cater to various levels of tech confidence. Provide scaffolding through video tutorials, peer support or optional tech ‘boot camps’ at the beginning of each unit. You can also include a reflection task where students explain their design choices, helping you assess meaning-making – even if the final product is less polished.
Challenge 3: How do I manage time for DMC projects alongside curriculum demands?
Multimodal projects can be time-consuming to plan, execute and assess.
Solution
Break the project into small stages such as research, scripting, drafting and designing – each with a mini-deadline and formative feedback opportunity. You can also integrate DMC tasks into existing learning outcomes. For example, a digital presentation or infographic can replace a traditional essay.
Challenge 4: How do I assess groupwork fairly?
Groupwork is common in DMC, but unequal participation can be challenging to track.
Solution
Include individual reflection or contribution logs as part of the assessment. Alternatively, ask students to submit a brief video or audio summary of their role in the project. Peer evaluation can also ensure accountability.
Reflective question for teachers
What challenges have I faced when assessing creative or digital projects, and how might I adapt my practices to overcome them?
Moving forward: building confidence and competence in DMC
Creating a safe and exploratory space is crucial for building student confidence in DMC. Offer opportunities for learners to experiment with digital tools, participate in collaborative activities and reflect on their creative choices.
By embedding student agency, cross-curricular thinking and real-world relevance into DMC projects, teachers can transform traditional language activities into powerful communication tasks that reflect how meaning is made in the 21st century. While multimodal assessment brings new challenges, these can be addressed through careful scaffolding, flexible rubrics and learner reflection.
Final practical suggestions
- Digital tools: introduce user-friendly platforms (e.g. Canva, Adobe Express, Book Creator) for beginners.
- Rubrics: co-construct rubrics with students to promote ownership.
- Reflection: include reflection prompts in every project:
- What was your design goal?
- Which multimodal elements helped you express your ideas?
- What would you do differently next time?
By embedding DMC into language learning, teachers enable students to become effective communicators across modes and critically analyse the messages they encounter in the real world. As outlined in this article, effective assessment ensures that multimodal meaning-making is recognised, supported and celebrated – even in the face of practical challenges.
