Representation Meaning of Multimodal Discourse in Textbooks: A Case Study of Persian Language-Learning Textbook

Habib Ahmadi, Saeed Yazdani, Zahra Babasalari, Ali Rabi

Abstract


Resources such as images, colors, sounds and actions have already been regarded as different types of modes which fulfill the meaning-making. Multimodal discourse refers to two or more modes working together for the meaning-making of the whole discourse. The paper conducts a multimodal discourse analysis of Persian language-learning textbook from ideational aspects. Persian language-learning textbooks give almost equal weight to both their pictures and verbal texts. The study of ideational aspect focuses on factors such as participants, processes (action, reactional, etc.), circumstance, etc. This article has a two-fold objective: (1) to discuss how the system of transitivity in Kress and van Leeuwen’s Visual Grammar (1996) for the analysis of images is related to the system of transitivity in Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar (2004) and (2) to investigate how multimodal texts combine in meaning production. In terms of a theoretical discussion about visual language, the study of Visual Grammar is relevant, considering the need for investigating the ways this kind of grammar can contribute for language teaching. The analysis reveals the pictures’ functions in meaning interpretation and explains the relations between the pictures and the verbal texts.


Keywords


Visual Grammar; multimodality; transitivity; Persian language-learning textbook

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/10959

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