Fostering Multimodal Literacy Through Generative-AI-Supported E-Portfolios in EFL Classrooms

The pedagogy of multiliteracies is increasingly recognized as essential by educators and stakeholders in today’s globalized world. E-Portfolio, due to its multimodal and formative nature, aligns well with the paradigm of students’ multiliteracies development, particularly multimodal literacy. While a bulk of research has investigated the conceptual aspects of multimodality and multimodal composing in language classrooms, a paucity of empirical studies explored how student multimodal literacy is developed and examined the effectiveness of multimodal-supported tools in writing classrooms. This study intends to investigate how EFL learners’ lived experience in compiling GenAI-supported e-Portfolios influences their development of multimodal literacy in a Chinese university. A qualitative design was employed. In the study, students were divided into groups to create WordPress websites and wrote essays recommending tourism routes in Chinese provinces. They self-assessed their work, received feedback from peers, the instructor, and efeedback generated from AI, refined it through three rounds of revision, and uploaded essays with multimedia artefacts to their websites. In-class group presentations with real-time online peer assessments were conducted to encourage critical engagement with digital tools and multimodal communication. After the 16week e-Portfolio project, students’ reflective journals about the portfolio compilation process and focus group interviews were collected and then analyzed thematically. The initial finding indicates that the students’ multimodal literacy developed in connection with the levels of their engagement in e-Portfolio compilation, and their reflective practices on the creation and curation of multimodal artefacts. This study contributes to the fields of multiliteracies and educational assessment with sound empirical evidence.