Exploring Students’ Engagement with Multimodal Texts in English Learning Activities

Abstract

This study explores students’ engagement with multimodal texts in the English learning activities at a senior high school in Yogyakarta. As digital technologies continue to reshape the educational landscape, students are increasingly immersed in diverse forms of texts that integrate written, visual, audio, and interactive elements during the subject. These multimodal texts require a broader set of literacy skills that go beyond traditional reading and writing. While such texts are becoming more common in 21st-century classrooms, especially in language learning environments, the ways in which students engage with them in practice remain insufficiently examined, particularly within the Indonesian English as foreign language context. This qualitative case study involved some classes of Grade XII students of Ali Maksum Islamic Senior High School and the English teacher as participants. The data were collected through classroom observations, student interviews, and document analysis of teaching materials. The findings revealed that students engage with multimodal texts in three key dimensions: cognitive (understanding content), behavioural (participation and task completion), and affective (interest and motivation). Visual, audio, and video-based texts and other interactive elements were found to enhance student interest, engagement, literacy and comprehension. The study highlights the importance of integrating multimodal literacy practices into English instruction to support students' active engagement and improve learning outcomes in 21st-century classrooms along with the required skills.