THE IMPACT OF MULTIMODAL LITERACY PRACTICES ON THE ENGLISH WRITING PROFICIENCY OF PAKISTANI UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS: A CORRELATIONAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

This quantitative correlational study aims to systematically investigate the effect of multimodal literacy practices (visual, auditory, digital interactive media) on the academic English writing proficiency of Pakistani undergraduate students. The data was collected from a validated multimodal literacy practices questionnaire and analyzed based on a standardized IELTS Task 2 academic writing rubric with a random sample of 365 students from various disciplines. Using SPSS, a highly significant and positive relationship was found between multimodal engagement and writing proficiency (r = .68, p < .01). Moreover, the results showed that there is a relationship between the application of multiple linear regression between the writing score, and multimodal practices, where the coefficient of determination (R^2) is equal to 0.48. In particular, interactive digital reading was the most significant variable for the improvement of lexical resource, while visual/video media significantly boosted the structural coherence. Key results show that the incorporation of students' current digital multimodal practices into official ESL teaching programs can be a strategy to overcome gaps in system and can significantly impact the curriculum design and pedagogical reform in the Pakistani higher education sector by providing valuable evidence-based insights to curriculum developers.