Multimodal Digital Tasks to Foster Integrated Skills in College EFL Learners: A Conceptual Framework

Abstract

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction faces a persistent gap: no principled framework currently guides how multimodal digital tasks should be designed to develop college-level learners’ integrated reading, writing, listening, speaking, and digital skills, even as digital technologies and multimodal communication continue to reshape the field. This conceptual paper addresses that gap by proposing a theoretically grounded framework for designing such tasks. Using a systematic narrative synthesis of empirical and conceptual research published between 2020 and 2025 (with foundational earlier sources retained where still influential), the framework integrates five theoretical traditions (Task-Based Language Teaching, multiliteracies pedagogy, social semiotic theory, sociocultural theory, and multimedia learning theory) into five interconnected dimensions: theoretical grounding, multimodal task design principles, digital tool integration criteria, skill integration mapping, and multimodal assessment design. The resulting framework offers a structured, evidence-informed basis for task design, illustrated through a sample multimodal documentary-project task. As a conceptual contribution, the framework has not yet been tested empirically, and its applicability across institutional and cultural contexts, particularly under-resourced ones, remains to be established. The paper concludes with implications for curriculum designers, language teachers, teacher educators, and policymakers, and outlines directions for future empirical validation.