View Content #29021

Welcome to week four of the CASLS Greatest Hits Challenge! It’s not too late to participate, so download your Greatest Hits Bingo card and play along!

This week’s Greatest Hits video is More than Words: Introduction to Multimodal Communication. Humans rely on a wide variety of auditory, visual, and cultural information to convey meaning, in addition to the words we use. These multiple ways, or modalities, of conveying information can include gestures, tone, rhythm, images, and much more. Viewing communication as multimodal opens up many more tools for creating and understanding meaning. Simply put, all the information one sees and hears can more context to the words used.

Here’s how to play:

First, watch this week’s video.

Then, choose one interaction in the target language to examine. This could be a conversation you had with a friend or acquaintance, a short passage from a book or textbook, a social media post, or even a meme. Look for multimodal information in this interaction using these guiding questions:

1. What visual information do you see? Are there images or emoji?
2. What auditory information do you hear? Is the speech fast or slow, loud or quiet? Is there laughter or other non-verbal sounds?
3. What body language or gestural cues do you see? What expressions do people have on their faces? What movements or gestures do they make?
4. What written information do you see? What do you understand? What do you need to investigate more?
5. What cultural information do you notice? Is there anything you see, read, or hear that is specific to the cultural context of the interaction?

Next, pull out your Bingo card and explore this week’s activities. Complete one or complete all five - it’s up to you!

Choose from:

1. Play A Digital Game
2. Use an App in the Target Language
3. Make a Holiday Card
4. Text with a Friend
5. Post with Hashtags

Remember, complete any five activities in a row (horizontal, vertical, and/or diagonal) to win!

When your card is completed, email us a copy of it info@uoregon.edu with “Greatest Hits Challenge” in the subject line, and we will mail you a prize!

Note: Educators, are you looking for a pre-made activity to go along with this week's Bingo card videos? Find selected activities here: Using Digital Games for Learning, Mobile Apps: Adapting Sentences in the Wild, Texting and Connecting: Developing Boss-level Messaging Skills, and Hashtags in Action.