Multiliteracies scholars have long argued that multimodality and multiculturalism must serve as the foundation for more effective, authentic and meaningful intercultural communication. After all, the ability to communicate with purpose, clarity and confidence across different cross-cultural, digital domains is precisely what is required of future-ready individuals. Yet, mastering intercultural communication skills has been further problematised by a fractured and contentious world in which cultural, linguistic and mass media resources are constantly and casually being borrowed, broken up, and blended with little or no regard for their specific origins, inherent value or cultural sensitivity; neither are there formal opportunities to develop them within the typical disciplinary structure of higher education. This case study examines an online drama initiative between Singaporean and Japanese students designed to foster 21st century intercultural communication skills in English via the writing and performing of monologues via Zoom. The monologue can be considered the perfect vehicle for fostering intercultural communication as it is a dramatic form centred on bridging divides (between the fictional and real worlds) and fostering shared understandings (between a specific situation and its universal meaning) multimodally. By adapting the four tenets of the multiliteracies method, we interrogate the problems and possibilities of drama work that is bound by a screen rather than a physical location (critical framing), confuses the distinction between private and public spaces (situated practice), adapts performance conventions for an actor effectively in close-up (overt instruction) and compels students to begin writing in one context and perform it in another (transformed practice).

Authors:
Ken Mizusawa, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Aya Murray-Kawakami, Meijo University, Japan
Richard Angus Whitehead, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Ken Mizusawa is a Lecturer at the National Institute of Education, an institute of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, textbook author, teacher educator, and a playwright represented by Playmarket, New Zealand.

Connect on Linkedin
https://sg.linkedin.com/in/ken-mizusawa-425ba839

See this presentation on the full schedule – Wednesday Schedule

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