Abstract
In recent years there has been increased academic and professional interest and awareness in approaches to English language teaching (ELT) that take a plurilingual approach. This is often combined with a multimodal stance. The outcome of this combination is an approach to English language teaching that integrates multiple languages and multiple semiotic resources. This paper examines how a plurilingual approach to ELT can be viewed through a multimodal lens by analyzing the construction of a plurilingual talking book created as a student project in an elementary public school. The analysis uses multimodal analysis software to map the interaction of languages and images, in order to determine how these function as meaning-making resources in a multimodal, multiple-language text created by linguistically diverse students with high ELT needs. The findings indicate how combinations of different semiotic resources work together to create meaning, delineates the role of English in meaning-making, and illustrates the children’s multilingual interactions in the creation of their collaboratively composed multimodal talking book.
About the authors
Heather Lotherington is Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Education, and Professor of Multilingual Education at York University in Toronto. She is a Senior Fellow at Massey College in the University of Toronto, and former Gordon and Jean Southam Fellow at Curtin University, Perth, Australia. Her research interests span multimodal literacies; multilingual and plurilingual education; mobile learning; language, literacy and technology; and pedagogical innovation. She is currently researching production pedagogies for mobile second language learning, while continuing to theorize multimodality for educational purposes. Address for correspondence: Faculty of Education, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3. Email: hlotherington@edu.yorku.ca
Sabine Tan is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Education, Faculty of Humanities, at Curtin University. Her research interests include critical multimodal discourse analysis, social semiotics, and visual communication. She is particularly interested in the application of multidisciplinary perspectives within social semiotic theory to the analysis of institutional discourses involving traditional and new media. Address for correspondence: School of Education, Faculty of Humanities, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley Western Australia 6102. Email: sabine.tan@curtin.edu.au
Kay L. O’Halloran is Head of Department and Chair in Communication & Media in the School of the Arts at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom. Her areas of research include multimodal analysis, social semiotics, mathematics discourse, and the development of interactive digital media technologies and visualization techniques for multimodal and sociocultural analytics. Address for correspondence: Department of Communication & Media, University of Liverpool, School of the Arts, 19 Abercromby Square, L69 7ZG, United Kingdom. Email: kay.ohalloran@liverpool.ac.uk
Peter Wignell was a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Education, Faculty of Humanities, at Curtin University. His research interests are in Systemic Functional Linguistics, especially in its application to the analysis of multimodal texts, with a recent focus on discourses of violent extremism. His research has also focused on the role of language in the construction of specialised knowledge. Address for correspondence: School of Education, Faculty of Humanities, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley Western Australia 6102. Email: peter.wignell@curtin.edu.au
Andrew Schmitt is a K-12 Learning Coach in the Toronto District School Board. He facilitates job-embedded professional learning through co-planning, co-teaching, sharing resources and collaborative inquiry, to build collective educator efficacy using evidence–based instructional strategies and practices in the areas of literacy, numeracy, inquiry, technology integration, digital fluency and global competencies. At the time of this project, he was the Teacher Librarian at Joyce Public School. Email: andrew.schmitt@tdsb.on.ca
Acknowledgements
This research was made possible through a Gordon and Jean Southam Fellowship for Professor Heather Lotherington, awarded by the Association of Commonwealth Universities. Grateful acknowledgement is also given to the Social Science and Humanities Council of Canada for funding the research generating the data analyzed in this paper.
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