Alexander, Kara Poe; Davis, Matthew; Mina, Lilian W.; Shepherd, Ryan P., Eds. Multimodal Composing and Writing Transfer. Utah State University Press, 2024. Paperback, xvii + 248 pp. ISBN: 978-1-64642-533-4.
Composition increasingly moves across digital, visual, and multimodal forms, making the transfer of knowledge across contexts a crucial concern for educators and scholars. Multimodal Composing and Writing Transfer, edited by Kara Poe Alexander, Matthew Davis, Lilian W. Mina, and Ryan P. Shepherd, addresses this challenge by bridging empirical studies, theoretical discussions, and practical strategies that explore how composing across media reshapes what we consider “writing” and how we teach it. In this volume, transfer refers to how writers take what they have learned in one situation and apply or modify it in another. Multimodality broadens the idea of writing to include not only alphabetic text but also images, audio, video, and other communicative modes. By bringing these concepts together, the editors show that composing across different modes can make transfer more apparent and help students develop flexible, adaptable literacy practices that carry across contexts. The foreword sets the stage by reinforcing these ideas as it defines the key concepts (transfer, learning, and multimodality) and shows how they intersect, while the introduction establishes why these ideas matter and lays a foundation for the chapters that follow.
The volume’s organization into three sections allows readers to explore multimodal transfer across contexts, from early academic experiences to longitudinal and programmatic perspectives. Its strength lies in the wide range of contexts, learners, and methodologies represented through the varied contributions. For instance, in Part 1, “Multimodality and Transfer in the First-Year Writing Curriculum,” small case studies and larger sample size research show how students engage with digital and multimodal tools. One chapter demonstrates how video and other digital media make moments of transfer visible, while another examines first-year students designing advocacy campaigns across cloud-based platforms, highlighting practical recommendations for teachers. A third chapter explores translation across digital and spoken modalities, showing how multilingual students navigate multimodal presentations and the benefits of doing so. These examples illustrate how multimodal practices can enrich both research and classroom instruction.
Part 2, “Multimodality and Transfer in the Vertical Curriculum,” moves beyond introductory courses to discuss transfer across academic and nonacademic contexts. Studies in this section show how writing center consultants draw on prior knowledge to tutor multimodal texts and how students negotiate genre, identity, and expression in digital and social media spaces. By linking classroom practices to students’ everyday multimodal experiences, these chapters demonstrate the book’s relevance to both higher education and interdisciplinary scholarship.
Part 3, “Multimodality and Transfer Across the Writerly Life,” focuses on how multimodal practices develop over time and across programs. “Drawing Worlds Together” examines a student’s semiotic practices and literate activity, showing how drawing, writing, and speaking work together to build meaning over a writer’s life. “Rhetoric in Its Fullness” presents a framework for a vertically aligned curriculum that encourages multimodal transfer at multiple levels, demonstrating how foundational outcomes can support writing across contexts. Other chapters explore alumni experiences and instructors’ engagement with digital composing infrastructures, sharing how communities of practice influence teaching, learning, and the transfer of multimodal skills. Together, these studies provide a rich view of the ways multimodal composing can inform both pedagogy and research over time.
The afterword maps tensions, questions, and future directions for multimodality and writing transfer, effectively synthesizing the book’s central themes and offering a meta-reflection on where the field might go next.
As a reader with a background in English language arts rather than composition studies, I found the terminology initially dense but appreciated the editors’ clear explanations of foundational concepts. I also noted how the book foregrounds connections across disciplines, showing, for example, how insights from digital media, social studies, linguistics, and even visual arts inform approaches to writing and transfer. This interdisciplinary framing makes the text relevant not only to composition scholars but to educators and researchers across multiple fields. Each chapter concludes with references and teacher-focused recommendations, making the volume both scholarly and practical. While the chapters can be read independently, together they offer a comprehensive overview of how multimodal composing reshapes research and instruction.
The originality of this volume lies in its integration of multimodal composing and writing transfer, two areas often studied separately. This integration is valuable because it demonstrates how teaching and researching writing across multiple modes (text, image, video, and digital platforms) can enhance students’ ability to apply skills in new contexts, offering a deeper understanding of how transfer happens and why it matters. Linking multimodality with transfer theory allows the book to provide both the practical strategies and the theoretical insights that help educators support writing skills students can carry into new situations. Its case studies and programmatic analyses draw on multiple disciplinary perspectives, demonstrating how multimodal composition encourages students to synthesize knowledge from various fields and apply it in meaningful ways. Furthermore, its empirical diversity shows the range of conditions under which transfer can occur. Although much of the research focuses on higher education, the principles are relevant for K–12 teachers, interdisciplinary scholars, and anyone interested in broadening how writing is defined and taught.
Ultimately, Multimodal Composing and Writing Transfer is both a resource and an invitation. By combining theory, practice, and diverse disciplinary approaches, the book promotes an expansive view of literacy that can inform research and teaching across fields. It challenges educators and researchers to think beyond traditional writing, embrace multimodal practice, and create environments that foster transfer in varied settings. For writing instructors, administrators, and scholars invested in teaching, technology, and literacy across contexts, the book is well worth a full read and makes an excellent addition to academic and professional libraries.
Abigail F. Smith, University of North Carolina at Charlotte