Introducing Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis in an EFL Undergraduate Classroom: Early Implementation, Opportunities, and Challenges

Authors

  • Pornpan Chairat Faculty of Humanities and Social sciences, Thaksin University, Songkhla, Thailand

Keywords:

Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA), EFL Pedagogy, Critical Literacy, English Major, EFL

Abstract

Despite various formal and informal initiatives at national, institutional, and program levels, integrating critical thinking and advanced English communication skills in Thai EFL higher education contexts remains a challenge. Drawing on my teaching experience and curriculum development work at a Thai university, this paper discusses a recurring issue: the difficulty English major students encounter when performing complex analytical tasks in upper-level courses. This challenge persists despite a curriculum structured to equip students with necessary linguistic and academic foundations in the first two years, thereby postponing the development of analytical thinking to the later stages of study. Thus, the paper advocates for a shift in instructional approach, proposing the earlier integration of Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA), an approach that examines meaning-making across verbal, visual, and multimodal texts, into lower-level courses. Using the International Cultures course as a case, I argue that early-year exposure to MCDA not only helps bridge the gap between (meta)language development and critical thinking, but also scaffolds students’ analytical competencies, which, in turn, effectively prepares them for critical engagement in advanced coursework.

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Published

2025-05-23

How to Cite

Chairat, P. (2025). Introducing Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis in an EFL Undergraduate Classroom: Early Implementation, Opportunities, and Challenges. Journal of Buddhist Education and Research (JBER), 11(2), 711–720. retrieved from https://so06.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/jber/article/view/284330

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