Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

English (Ph.D.)

Department

English

First Advisor

Anne Geller

Second Advisor

Dohra Ahmad

Third Advisor

Steven Mentz

Abstract

This dissertation investigates podcasting and audio projects as multimodal practices in composition, analyzing how audio-based assignments both challenge and reproduce traditional writing norms. Drawing from personal teaching experience and a dataset of publicly accessible assignment prompts, rubrics, and instructional guides, the study examines how podcast projects are framed, assessed, and implemented in higher education. While often promoted as creative and accessible alternatives to essays, these assignments frequently replicate the same thesis-driven, rubric-centered, and exclusionary structures that define conventional academic writing. Through a cross-textual analysis of fifteen podcast rubrics and fifteen assignment prompts, this project identifies recurring patterns, including paradoxical expectations of “conversational style” alongside strict grammatical correctness, assumptions of technological access, and limited engagement with sound as a rhetorical resource. Such practices reveal how podcast pedagogy can reinforce white mainstream English and perpetuate inequities tied to race, class, and technology. Building on scholarship at the intersection of multimodality, sound studies, and composition, the dissertation situates podcasting within the broader field of sound studies and composition. It argues that effective multimodal pedagogy requires approaching audio not as a delivery method for written text, but as a medium of rhetorical invention and meaning-making in its own right. A chapter on artificial intelligence extends this inquiry by exploring AI’s potential role in shaping audio composition, alongside ethical concerns of authorship, surveillance, and bias. Ultimately, this study contributes to ongoing conversations in writing studies by offering critical insight into how multimodal assignments are designed and assessed. It concludes with recommendations for more equitable and inclusive podcast projects that cultivate authentic voice, creativity, and rhetorical experimentation within the evolving digital landscape.

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