RE-DEFINING ‘READING’ IN THE 21ST CENTURY 98 Beyond Words Vol.5, No. 2, Nov 2017 Re-defining ‘Reading’ in the 21st Alexius Chia Century: Accessing Multimodal Texts alexius.chia@nie.edu.sg English Language & Literature Academic Group National Institute of Education Singapore & Caroline Chan English Language Department Sembawang Primary School Singapore Abstract The act of reading has been made more complex in the 21st century with the proliferation of multimodal texts. Organizations like the ‘Partnership for 21st Century Skills’ and researchers like the New London Group (1996), Hull & Nelson (2005) and Kress et al (2006) argue for the need for schools to re-look at the ways our children become literate in this and media- driven environment. Teachers too live with this reality and can appreciate the fact that not everything they learn can be found in the textbook. However, many do not possess the knowledge and skills to harness the media and technological tools for use in the language classroom. In order for teachers and learners to be effective users of texts in the 21st Century, we argue that a framework is needed to assist them. Hence this article proposes a framework called the 6 Semiotic Modes (Chan & Chia, 2014 adapted from Anstey and Bull, 2010). They include Linguistic, Audio, Spatial, Oral, Visual and Gestural modes and are used as tools to unlock the meaning behind different types of multimodal texts needed for teaching and learning. Keywords: multimodal texts, multiliteracy, literacy development, semiotic modes Introduction Our learners live in a media-saturated world where they are bombarded with images on a daily basis. If teachers are to catch up with the times, then the teaching of reading in any English classroom should move beyond the learners’ engagement with just print text. Such a belief is supported by Hobbs (2007) and Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006), who emphasized that the process of reading, understanding and meaning-making requires learners to not only have the ability to identify the printed word, but also to read differing patterns, forms and structures within their daily lives and environment. Many English syllabuses – i.e. Singapore, several states in Australia and the Philippines to name a few – have in recent years made attempts to move away from a ‘logocentric, book-centered, and essay-driven’ (Hull & Nelson, 2005) approach. These syllabuses advocate the necessity for learners to have the ability to integrate the reading of the printed word with visual forms in print and non-print modes. Put another way, educational policy makers have begun to recognize that being visually literate is a necessary asset for the 21st century learner. Teachers too live with this reality but may not have the knowledge and skills to harness the media and technological tools for use in the language classroom. In order for teachers and learners to be effective 99 RE-DEFINING ‘READING’ IN THE 21ST CENTURY users of texts in the 21st The 6 Semiotic Modes Framework century, a framework that is principled and systematic is needed to support them. Any framework which enables the ‘reading’ of a multimodal text presupposes that the text is made up of more than one semiotic mode to communicate meaning. The practice of ‘reading’ a print or non-print multimodal text involves the learner ‘figuring out how the different semiotic modes complement or work against one another’ (Chan & Chia, 2014). For example, an effective television commercial often employs the use of moving images, speech, music, sound and often traditional texts in the form of words, phrases and sentences. The challenge for teachers is to unpack these different semiotic modes in accessible ways so that their students are able to understand how the commercial is effective in persuading the consumer to buy the product. Chan & Chia’s (2014) 6 Semiotic Modes framework outline a number of semiotic modes – Linguistic, Oral, Audio, Visual, Spatial and Gestural (ideas adapted from New London Group, 1996; Bull and Anstey, 2010) – which could be seen as ‘vehicles’ for teachers and learners to read, listen, view and understand different kinds of texts. The framework requires that teachers and learners tap on their ‘senses’ and powers of Table 1 Descriptions of the 6 Semiotic Modes with examples (adapted from Anstey & Bull, 2010; Chan & Chia, 2014) awareness and observation when analysing a multimodal text (Anderson, 1999). Technically, they have been purposely defined in an easy-to-understand way to help learners gain confidence as they grasp the reading of multimodal texts. RE-DEFINING ‘READING’ IN THE 21ST CENTURY 100 Pedagogically, they provide teachers with a set of terms for easy application in classrooms. Inspired by the work done by researchers like the New London Group (1996) and Anstey and Bull’s (2010) framework of 5 Semiotic Modes, Chan & Chia’s (2014) spell out the 6 Semiotic Modes in greater detail: ‘Reading’ Multimodal Texts Framework to reading multimodal texts The figure below shows a schematic representation of how the 6 Semiotic Modes can be applied to the reading of multimodal texts. Figure 1. Framework to reading multimodal texts via the 6 semiotic modes (Chan & Chia, 2014) General Analysis The process of analysis begins with the teacher choosing a multimodal text (e.g. a picture book, a television commercial, a YouTube video, a brochure or a movie poster, etc.). The teacher then poses the following questions that would guide learners through a general analysis of the multimodal text (Chan & Chia, 2014; adapted): 101 RE-DEFINING ‘READING’ IN THE 21ST CENTURY 1. Is there a dominant semiotic mode in the multimodal text? What is it? 2. Are there secondary semiotic modes present? 3. What do you think is the purpose of each of these semiotic modes? What is the message conveyed? Detailed Analysis Table 2 provides the teacher with specific questions pertaining to particular aspects of each semiotic mode. Depending on the semiotic modes identified, the teacher encourages the learners to further probe the text with another set of more pointed questions specific to each of the six modes. Table 2 Probing questions for each semiotic mode (adapted from Anstey & Bull, 2010; Chan & Chia, 2014) RE-DEFINING ‘READING’ IN THE 21ST CENTURY 102 These sets of questions allow a novice teacher to pre-analyse a text plan ahead; and enable an experienced teacher to delve deeper into textual analysis and interpretation of meaning and intent. Extended Discussion of Text After the detailed ‘reading’ of the multimodal text, the teacher could, for a more extended discussion, pose higher order questions to encourage a more critical reading of the text. This could be done purposefully and systematically by incorporating Bloom’s taxonomy of skills and question types. Table 3 below outlines some generic stems that the teacher could use to elicit a deeper understanding of the text: Table 3 Bloom’s taxonomy of skills and question types 103 RE-DEFINING ‘READING’ IN THE 21ST CENTURY The following list of questions demon- strates how Bloom’s taxonomy could be incorporated with questions pertaining to the semiotic modes: • What evidence from specific parts of the multimodal text point to the dominance of one or two semiotic mode(s)? Highlight them. • Why is this one semiotic mode dominant over others? Would the impact be different if another semiotic mode was or other semiotic modes were dominant, instead of the one identified? How so? Explain. • Describe the relationship between the key dominant semiotic modes in the chosen text. How are they combined? How do they affect or support one another? How do they work together to make meaning for the reader/ viewer? • What are the messages that are brought to the surface in relation to the inter-play between the semiotic modes? • From your (reader/viewer) unders- tanding of the relationship between the key semiotic modes, from whose perspective is this multimodal text constructed? • Are there other possible construct-ions from different points of view? • Who is the multimodal text pro-duced for? • Whose interests are being served by this multimodal text? The target group? Explain. • Who is excluded or included in this text? Are there communities, special groups or individuals who have been marginalised by this text? Why? • What assumptions about the target audience(s) of this text have been made? • Are there particular beliefs, values, attitudes and ideologies that are foregrounded in this multimodal text? How are they brought to surface? Are they surfaced in the first place? • How did you (the reader-viewer) come to the conclusions, messages, insights and make meaning out of the multimodal text? (Chan & Chia, 2014; adapted) Sample Analysis This section demonstrates the application of the 6 Semiotic Modes framework on a multimodal text in the form of a book cover (see https://tinyurl.com/mz9qzjv) entitled Papa’s House, Mama’s House written by Jean Patindol (2004): • Is there a dominant semiotic mode in the multimodal text? What is it? • Yes, linguistic. • Are there secondary semiotic modes present? Yes, visual. However, some might say that both semiotic modes appear to have equal status and they complement each other. • What do you think is the purpose of each of these semiotic modes? Where are the words, letters, phrases, sentences or paragraphs placed? Does the vocabulary, generic structure, punctuation, grammar or paragraphing stand out in any particular way? The words ‘Papa’s House, Mama’s House’ is the title of this book. We know this because it is represented with large and bold fonts and placed right in the middle of the book cover. At first glance, ‘Papa’s House, Mama’s House’ appears to be an unusual title i.e. a comma separates the two noun phrases ‘Papa’s House’ and ‘Mama’s House’; and it’s not ‘Papa and Mama’s House’ neither is it ‘Papa’s House and Mama’s House’ – which would probably be https://tinyurl.com/mz9qzjv� RE-DEFINING ‘READING’ IN THE 21ST CENTURY 104 the usual way of referring to the house belonging to one’s parents. • What type of visuals are they? Which ones capture your attention? How are the visuals placed in relation to one another? How is the visual framed? What is available to the ‘reader’? What is not available? What colours are used? The visuals that capture the readers’ attention are two very tall houses – line- drawn with intricate details e.g. curtains, blinds, facade designs, etc.. The houses occupy more than three quarters of the length of the book cover. One house is placed on the right of the title and the other on the left. The houses, along with the title, occupy a central position of the book cover. Most of the linguistic features and visuals are predominantly in white and they sit in contrast against a bright red background. • What is the message conveyed? What are the implications? What is the significance? What do they imply? The title, read together with the visuals, conveys a sense of separation i.e. Papa and Mama are separated and hence they live in separate houses. The height of the houses presents a looming presence and probably central to the story. Despite the seemingly dire situation of parental separation, the neatness of the houses and their beautiful facades and gardens depict a sense of normalcy unusual in many cases of separation. This juxtaposition piques the readers’ interest to want to open the cover to read more. On top of this, the predominantly red background could be interpreted as the colour of love or passion. But in some cultures, it also represents danger. This further arouses the readers’ curiosity. Lastly, what is interesting is that the narrator, whom we assume is the child caught in this separation, is missing from the book cover i.e. no images, no names, no toys, etc. can be seen. Conclusion This article started off by making a case for the re-examination of reading in the 21st century classroom. It argued that act of reading has been made more complex in the 21st century with the proliferation of multimodal texts. The 6 semiotic modes – Linguistic, Oral, Audio, Visual, Spatial and Gestural were then introduced and described. General questions were also provided to help teachers guide their learners in their analyses of multimodal texts. For each semiotic mode, a set of questions was presented to help teachers and learners probe texts. Bloom’s taxonomy of skills and question types were incorporated with the latter set of questions to encourage a deeper, more critical reading of texts. The article ended off with a demonstration of an analysis of a multimodal book cover. It is hoped that the framework presented here will enable teachers to guide their learners to ‘read’ and access multimodal texts in better and more meaningful ways. © Alexius Chia & Caroline Chan. Alexius Chia is a Senior Lecturer at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of literacy, multiliteracies, schooling, gender, curriculum implementation and school reform. 105 RE-DEFINING ‘READING’ IN THE 21ST CENTURY Caroline Chan is a Senior Education Officer currently working as Sembawang Primary school. Her interests and research are in the areas of policy interpretation and impact on curriculum development and customization in language teaching and learning and early literacy development References Anderson, N. (1999), Exploring Second Language Reading: Issues and Strategies, Heinle & Heinle Publishers, Boston, MA. Anstey, M. & Bull, G. (2010), Evolving Pedagogies: Reading and writing in a multimodal world, Education Services Australia Limited, Sydney, Australia. Chan & Chia (2014) Hobbs, R. (2007), Reading the media: Media literacy in high school English, Teachers’ College Press, New York, NY. Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. (2006), Reading images (2nd Van Leeuwen, T. (1993), “Genre and field in critical discourse analysis: a synopsis”, Discourse and Society, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 1 Ed.), Routledge, New York, NY. Hull, G. A. and Nelson, M. E. (2005), “Locating the semiotic power of multimodality”, Written communication, 22 (2), 224-261. New London Group. (1996), pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 66 No. 1, pp. 60-92. Patindol, J. L. (2004), Papa’s house, mama house, Adarna House, Quezon City. Introduction The 6 Semiotic Modes Framework awareness and observation when analysing a multimodal text (Anderson, 1999). Technically, they have been purposely defined in an easy-to-understand way to help learners gain confidence as they grasp the reading of multimodal texts. Pedagogically, they... ‘Reading’ Multimodal Texts Framework to reading multimodal texts General Analysis Detailed Analysis Extended Discussion of Text Sample Analysis Conclusion References