This study aims to (1) explore the use of multimodal text in teaching reading at a public high school in Boyolali by EFL pre-service teacher and (2) investigate students’ response to the use of multimodal texts during reading class. This qualitative study uses a narrative inquiry approach. The data resources for this study include reflective journal that the researcher produced during her teaching practice, and artifacts in the forms of lesson plans, teaching materials, and pictures that were taken during all the activities during the teaching process using the material related to the topic discussed in this research. The techniques of data collections were reflective journals writing and artifacts analysis. To ensure the trustworthiness, Audit Trail was used and started by creating research questions, arranging theoretical framework, creating research’s blueprint, developing instruments, producing raw data, selecting relevant data, coding the data, and to creating data display. The findings of this study are as follows. First, the study revealed that implementing multimodal texts through a structured approach—comprising pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading stages—significantly enhanced students' reading comprehension and engagement in EFL classes. In the pre-reading stage, visual aids and modeling techniques activated students’ prior knowledge, setting a foundation for comprehension. During the while-reading stage, contextualizing methods, schema building, and peer scaffolding deepened understanding by integrating auditory and spatial modes and encouraging collaborative learning. In the post-reading stage, metacognitive activities and independent practice reinforced comprehension and application of knowledge. Second, this approach effectively engaged students, improved their comprehension of complex texts, and elicited positive emotional, behaviour, and cognitive responses, confirming the benefits of multimodal strategies in education. These findings align with existing research on the benefits of multimodal texts and suggest important implications for EFL teaching practices, including the need for teacher training in multimodal lesson design and the incorporation of multimodal frameworks into curricula to support diverse learning styles and foster holistic education.
