Transformative transmediation: Eliciting student self-evaluation of academic writing through the video essay assignment

Although multimodal assignments have increasingly been incorporated into academic writing curricula, research into their impact on student writing remains limited. This study, conducted at a Singaporean university, required students to transform a written essay draft into a video essay and then revise their draft into a written essay assignment. By comparing students’ initial drafts and their final submissions, and analysing interviews and reflective journals, we identified significant benefits stemming from the transmediation between written and multimodal text. Specifically, we found that 1) transmediation enabled students to self-evaluate their writing as they repeatedly listened to their voiceovers, found concrete visuals to illustrate their ideas, and edited their work to fit the concise video format; 2) students broke with habitual, less useful revision practices as they were freed from the conventional and grammatical concerns of written academic text and narrated their arguments colloquially in their voiceovers; 3) students exhibited an improved awareness of audience and medium; and 4) students were more enthusiastic with the course due to the novelty of the multimodal assignment. These findings suggest that including a video essay assignment during the drafting process can serve as an effective tool in advancing students’ abilities to evaluate their own academic writing.