#  Beyond Words: Fostering Digital Multimodal Literacy Through Infographic Design in L2 Instruction 

 



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####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **February 27, 2026** 

 12:15PM - 01:15PM EST 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **Online**  



 

 [ Register Here for the Zoom Meeting arrow\_circle\_right ](https://harvard.zoom.us/j/96424137004) 

 



 

**Beyond Words: Fostering Digital Multimodal Literacy Through Infographic Design in L2 Instruction**

**Béatrice Dupuy,** Professor of French and Second Language Acquisition and Director of Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language, and Literacy

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**Abstract**

While human communication has always relied on multiple modes, contemporary social media and digital technologies have dramatically reshaped how meaning is created and shared. Traditional text-based communication now coexists with—and is occasionally supplanted by—audio, visual, gestural, and spatial elements in the construction of meaning (New London Group, 1996; The Douglas Fir Group, 2016). This shift requires a reconceptualization of communicative competence as inherently multimodal, incorporating "the totality of a speaker's semiotic resources" (The Douglas Fir Group, p. 26).

Research has established digital multimodal composition (DMC) as an emerging genre and compositional practice within second language (L2) writing pedagogy (e.g., Belcher, 2017; Elola & Oskoz, 2017; Jiang, 2021; Yi, Shin, & Cimasko, 2020). Despite this recognition, L2 instruction continues to prioritize written texts while marginalizing other modes of communication and their interrelationships. Consequently, learners are left (under)prepared for the rapidly evolving communicative demands of their current and future contexts (e.g., New London Group, 1996; Bezemer & Kress, 2008; Kim & Belcher, 2020).

This presentation establishes the theoretical underpinnings of DMC and demonstrates how infographics can be implemented pedagogically in L2 contexts. Using the Learning by Design framework (Cope & Kalantzis, 2016) as our foundation, we will explore strategies for guiding learners to examine modes and semiotic resources within infographics. The objective is to facilitate a critical assessment of the purposes served by these resources and to construct a metalanguage for discussing multimodal texts. Examples of student work and a rubric for assessing infographics will be shared.

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**Biographical Statement**

**Béatrice Dupuy**

University of Arizona, Professor, Dept. of French & Italian, Dept. of Public & Applied Humanities, Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Second Language Acquisition & Teaching

**Béatrice Dupuy** is a Professor at the University of Arizona, where she directs the Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language, and Literacy. Her research focuses on (multi)literacy-based approaches to teaching and learning, multimodality, and language program development and administration. Her most recent publications are *The Routledge Handbook of Language Program Development and Administration* and “Infographics by Design: Beginning French Learners’ Multimodal Composition and Authorial Agency”. In Reyes Torres, A., Brisk, M. E. & Lacorte, M. (eds.), *Multiliteracies,* *Multimodality, and Learning by Design in SecondLanguage* *Learning and Teacher Education* (pp. 67-85, Routledge. Her forthcoming article, *Former aux littératies numériques multimodales : Enjeux pour la professionnalisation des enseignant.e.s de langue seconde* will appear in *Phronesis* in Spring 2026.



 

 



 

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