The peripherality of digital multimodal composing in Vietnamese EFL writing: a metaphor-based study of teacher cognition

Abstract

Digital Multimodal Composing (DMC) represents a significant pedagogical shift in Second Language (L2) writing, transitioning from monomodal text to multimodal semiotic orchestration. While DMC has gained global traction, research on its application in Vietnam remains limited, indicating a need to understand how individual lecturers make sense of its still peripheral status in their own teaching contexts. This qualitative multiple-case study (Stake, 2006) examines how three Vietnamese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) lecturers conceptualize DMC integration through metaphor analysis. Treating each participant as a bounded case, cross-case synthesis identified three metaphorical frameworks: the "Staircase" (systematic institutionalization), the "Evening Gown versus Swimsuit" (context-appropriate selection), and the "Spiral" (iterative refinement). Across these three cases, the metaphors point to an emergent "structural trilemma". This trilemma is conceptualized as an interpretive construct rather than a fully established model, encompassing institutional barriers such as assessment misalignment and infrastructure gaps, pedagogical integrity concerns related to skill-erosion fears, and tensions between engagement and academic rigor. Findings indicate that, for these participants, DMC was positioned as supplementary rather than a replacement for print-based writing, reflecting a locally rational adaptation to systemic constraints. Implications emphasize cautious assessment reform and genre-differentiated application, with the recognition that broader multi-site research is needed before stronger claims can be made.