Reading Multimodal Texts for Learning – a Model for Cultivating Multimodal Literacy

The re-conceptualisation of texts over the last 20 years, as well as the development of a multimodal understanding of communication and representation of knowledge, has profound consequences for the reading and understanding of multimodal texts, not least in educational contexts. However, if teacher...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Designs for learning 2016, Vol.8 (1), p.25-36
Main Authors: Danielsson, Kristina, Selander, Staffan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brain Hemisphere Functions
Buddhism
Color
Content Analysis
Course Content
Cross Cultural Studies
Cultural Context
Figurative Language
Food
Foreign Countries
Human Body
Language Usage
learning resources
Middle School Students
multimodal literacy
multimodal text analysis
multimodality
Multiple Literacies
Physiology
Relaxation Training
Science Instruction
Secondary School Students
Semiotics
Teaching Methods
text model
Textbooks
Values
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Summary:The re-conceptualisation of texts over the last 20 years, as well as the development of a multimodal understanding of communication and representation of knowledge, has profound consequences for the reading and understanding of multimodal texts, not least in educational contexts. However, if teachers and students are given tools to "unwrap" multimodal texts, they can develop a deeper understanding of texts, information structures, and the textual organisation of knowledge. This article presents a model for working with multimodal texts in education with the intention to highlight mutual multimodal text analysis in relation to the subject content. Examples are taken from a Singaporean science textbook as well as a Chilean science textbook, in order to demonstrate that the framework is versatile and applicable across different cultural contexts. The model takes into account the following aspects of texts: the general structure, how different semiotic resources operate, the ways in which different resources are combined (including coherence), the use of figurative language, and explicit/implicit values. Since learning operates on different dimensions -- such as social and affective dimensions besides the cognitive ones -- our inclusion of figurative language and values as components for textual analysis is a contribution to multimodal text analysis for learning.
ISSN:2001-7480
2001-7480
DOI:10.16993/dfl.72