From Language To Multimodality

This book shares the recent debates by systemic functional linguistics and other linguistic forums. Its principal focus is on how we use language to make meaning of the world, on how the systems and structures of the ideational function of language represent the realisation of our experiences of the world around us. The volume captures the endeavours of scholars working in different contexts, disciplines and languages around the world. Their contributions explore what underlies experiential and logical meaning-making through specific analyses of recently-created, contextually diverse, single texts or collections of texts, from mono- to multimodal texts. The issues addressed are: layers of meaning through the transitivity system; agency and subjectivity; what kinds of participants and circumstances are associated with various processes and how these vary across languages; new ways of researching and capturing the interaction of the experiential function with the other functions of language - interpersonal, textual and logical - in communicative contexts; how multimodality and new ways of modelling experience semiotically influence the work of linguists, linguistic description and application. The book displays the dynamic dialogue on theoretical and applied interests of scholars interested in functional linguistics and working in a wide range of academic contexts. At post-graduate level advanced students will benefit from new perspectives, the innovative thinking and research accounts that make up the collection. The papers highlight the flexibility of systemic functional linguistic approach and exemplify how it can offer deeper and further insights into potential ways of exploring meaning-making by drawing on recent seminal developments in ideation.

This edited volume provides research-based knowledge on the use, production and assessment of multimodal texts in the teaching and learning of English as an Additional Language (EAL). The book reflects growing interest in research on EAL, with increasing numbers of learners of English worldwide and the growing relevance of EAL to numerous education systems. The volume examines different aspects of English from a multimodal perspective, showcasing empirical research from across five continents and all three levels of education. Applying frameworks based on Multimodal Social Semiotics and Systemic Functional Linguistics, chapters focus on the use and affordances of multimodal texts in pedagogy, literature, culture, text production, assessment and curriculum development connected to EAL. Directing attention to the significance of modes beyond speech and writing in EAL, the volume provides a wide range of perspectives and experiences that can be applied more widely and inspire other practices in the global and diverse field of EAL teaching, learning and assessment. This collection will be of interest to scholars in multimodality, language education, and teacher education.

Provides a comprehensive and unique examination of global language learning outside of the formal school setting Authored by a prominent team of international experts in their respective fields, The Handbook of Informal Language Learning is a one-of-a-kind reference work and it is a timely and valuable resource for anyone looking to explore informal language learning outside of a formal education environment. It features a comprehensive collection of cutting edge research areas exploring the cultural and historical cases of informal language learning, along with the growing area of digital language learning, and the future of this relevant field in national development and language education. The Handbook of Informal Language Learning examines informal language learning from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Structured across six sections, chapters cover areas of motivation, linguistics, cognition, and multimodality; digital learning, including virtual contexts, gaming, fanfiction, vlogging, mobile devices, and nonformal programs; and media and live contact, including learning through environmental print, tourism/study abroad. The book also provides studies of informal learning in four national contexts, examines the integration of informal and formal classroom learning, and discusses the future of language learning from different perspectives. Edited by respected researchers of computer-mediated communication and second language learning and teacher education Features contributions by leading international scholars reaching out to a global audience Presents an exciting and progressive selection of chapters in a rapidly expanding field of research and teaching Provides a state-of-the-art collection of the theories, as well as the historical, cultural and international cases relating to informal language learning and its future in a digital age Covers 30 key topics that represent pioneering findings and new research The Handbook of Informal Language Learning is an essential resource for researchers, students, and professionals in the fields of language acquisition, English as a second language, and foreign language education.

This accessible introduction to multimodality illuminates the potential of multimodal research for understanding the ways in which people communicate. Readers will become familiar with the key concepts and methods in various domains while learning how to engage critically with the notion of multimodality. The book challenges widely held assumptions about language and presents the practical steps involved in setting up a multimodal study, including: formulating research questions collecting research materials assessing and developing methods of transcription considering the ethical dimensions of multimodal research. A self-study guide is also included, designed as an optional stand-alone resource or as the basis for a short course. With a wide range of examples, clear practical support and a glossary of terms, Introducing Multimodality is an ideal reference for undergraduate and postgraduate students in multimodality, semiotics, applied linguistics and media and communication studies. Online materials, including colour images and more links to relevant resources, are available on the companion website at www.routledge.com/cw/jewitt and the Routledge Language and Communication Portal.

In the past few decades, there has been a growing interest in the benefits of linking the learning of a foreign language to the study of its literature. However, the incorporation of literary texts into language curriculum is not easy to tackle. As a result, it is vital to explore the latest developments in text-based teaching in which language, culture, and literature are taught as a continuum. Teaching Literature and Language Through Multimodal Texts provides innovative insights into multiple language teaching modalities for the teaching of language through literature in the context of primary, secondary, and higher education. It covers a wide range of good practice and innovative ideas and offers insights on the impact of such practice on learners, with the intention to inspire other teachers to reconsider their own teaching practices. It is a vital reference source for educators, professionals, school administrators, researchers, and practitioners interested in teaching literature and language through multimodal texts.

This book is based on contributions to the Seventh European Summer School on Language and Speech Communication that was held at KTH in Stockholm, Sweden, in July of 1999 under the auspices of the European Language and Speech Network (ELSNET). The topic of the summer school was "Multimodality in Language and Speech Systems" (MiLaSS). The issue of multimodality in interpersonal, face-to-face communication has been an important research topic for a number of years. With the increasing sophistication of computer-based interactive systems using language and speech, the topic of multimodal interaction has received renewed interest both in terms of human-human interaction and human-machine interaction. Nine lecturers contri buted to the summer school with courses on specialized topics ranging from the technology and science of creating talking faces to human-human communication, which is mediated by computer for the handicapped. Eight of the nine lecturers are represented in this book. The summer school attracted more than 60 participants from Europe, Asia and North America representing not only graduate students but also senior researchers from both academia and industry.

Society is characterized by a constant flow of multimodal products, which increasingly blur the lines between screen and reality, and audiovisual translation allows overcoming geographical and linguistic frontiers between small realities across the planet. However, research has long struggled to adapt its methodologies to effectively analyze such phenomena, and even more to scale its results through larger corpus analyses. Dora Renna proposes a pioneering framework, informed by the latest trends in audiovisual translation and multimodality and fit to achieve the complex task of operatively including multimodality in a rigorous corpus analysis of source and target versions of films characterized by language variation as a key element of character design. While language is at the core of her analysis, its role in the broader audiovisual context is explored thanks to a solid network of relations that shed light on linguistic and translational choices as well as on their implications. Framework and methodology are explained in detail and thoroughly applied to the case study to show how this perspective contributes to move a step forward in corpus-based audiovisual translation studies. The results obtained are unexpected and urge readers to overcome old attitudes towards audiovisual translation and multimodal corpora.

In the social sciences and humanities, researchers often qualify the period in which we are living as ‘late-modern’, ‘post-modern’ or ‘superdiverse’. These terms seek to capture changing conditions and priorities brought about by a new social order. This social order is characterized, among other traits, by an increased visibility of social, cultural and linguistic diversity, arising out of unprecedented migration and mobility patterns. It is also associated with the development of information and communication technologies, which in the digital era transform communication patterns, identities, relationships and possibilities for action. For education, these late-modern conditions create numerous interesting challenges, given that they are of course reflected in the classroom and other sites of learning. Conditions of ‘superdiversity’ mean that, in educational institutions, varied practices, linguistic repertoires, and symbolic resources come into contact, posing questions about how institutions and actors choose to deal with this diversity. Likewise, digital technologies with their possibilities for assembling and using multimodal texts in new ways transform the learning experience, redefining what counts as teaching, learning, knowledge, or assessment. By providing careful analyses of policies and interactions in superdiverse, technologically complex, educational contexts, the authors of this volume contribute something important: they give a shape – a semiotic form – to some of the issues raised by transnational migration, sociocultural diversity, and digital complexity. They construct a framework for reflecting about the new social order and its impact on education. They also reveal the kinds of new questions and new terrains that can and must be explored by linguistic research if it wants to stay relevant for education in these times of change.