Abstract
With the boost of digital technologies and globalization in this millennium, studies on different modes (e.g. gesture, writing) in attention to learning and communication have been developing rapidly but largely segmented by domains, methodologies or topics. Given this context, Bezemer and Kress aim to establish in this innovative volume a unified multimodal frame which cuts across boundaries of learning and communication and accounts for different social semiotic practices. Focusing on sign-makers and their meaning-making, they propose a social semiotic frame for the recognition of semiotic work, the shaping of the learning environment and assessment of learners. Integrating the multimodal lens for both communication and learning, this monograph makes a valuable contribution to contemporary multimodal discourse studies.
The volume consists of seven interrelated chapters, all of which center on the establishment of the social semiotic frame. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the volume and explains the social semiotic perspective of the frame. Regarding signs as situationally motivated and meaning-making as design, social semiotics stresses the sign-maker as both rhetor (for the audience) and designer (drawing on semiotic resources). Bezemer and Kress see communication and learning as an integrated field in terms of meaning-making: learning is an inevitable outcome of sign-making in communication, while communicative resources open the routes to learning.
Chapter 2 introduces the multimodal terminology for the social semiotic frame. Working through three detailed examples in different contexts (e.g. job interview), Bezemer and Kress make a comparison of their contextual configurations and introduce a social semiotic lexicon for describing and analyzing multimodal signs and their interaction. In light of social semiotic theories (e.g. Kress, 2010), the notion of agency is emphasized for the distributions of power between initial sign-makers and sign re-makers.
Chapters 3–5 cogently illustrate the main dimensions of the social semiotic frame. Chapter 3 elucidates learning as transformative engagement and gives recognition to its semiotic work. Learning is defined as ‘the inevitable outcome of any and every engagement with the socially made world’ (p. 37) and can be seen as a form of communication, which significantly challenges traditional studies in this field. The chapter gives a socially transformative account of learning in two ways. The first is by identifying types of signs (i.e. signs of engagement/signs of learning) according to their functions and the second is by illustrating the semiotic changes in meaning-making (i.e. transformation/transduction).
Chapter 4 explores the design of learning environments and highlights the role of designers. It starts with identifying differences between self-initiated and others-prompted learning routes. Of particular focus in this chapter is how instructors function as designers to shape the learning environment in terms of ‘rhetorical purpose, the designer’s interest, the semiotic resources and the characteristics of audience’ (p. 63). With principles of design (i.e. framing, selection, arrangement and foregrounding) exemplified in a wide range of multimodal data (e.g. tutorials on YouTube), it shows the significance of design in realizing the social relationship between instructors and learners.
Chapter 5 addresses the issue of assessment and judgment in learning and communication. First, concerning multimodal assessment environments, the notions of signs for assessment and signs of assessment are distinguished. Second, different types of judgments are classified in terms of visibility (i.e. implicit/explicit), formality (i.e. formal/informal) and location (i.e. frontstage/backstage). The chapter accentuates the assessment and judgment of learners by sign-makers who represent values of the community.
Chapter 6 is concerned with the influence of social and technological factors on semiotic change. From a historical perspective, it investigates changes in the social and technological conditions of communication and learning by tracking meaning-making in a wide range of social contexts.
Chapter 7 reflects on key issues in the volume and calls for innovation in pedagogy. It deals with the implications and applications of the social semiotic framework, reflects on its inevitable limitations and presents a vision for future research.
The contributions of the volume to multimodal discourse studies are crucial. First, it contributes to multimodal discourse analysis by generating a systematic multimodal frame with a wide applicability. This encompassing social semiotic frame accounts for multimodal discourse studies in a wide range of social practices, including various instances of everyday and institutional contexts. Second, it presents the latest social semiotic view of meaning-making in multimodal contexts. By unraveling specifically how instructors and learners conceive their relationships in the reciprocal social interaction, it advances the theories of multimodality and social semiotics. Third, it contributes to discourse studies of multimodal pedagogies. Theoretically, learning is extended and discussed in terms of its definition, transformative principles and semiotic assessment. Practically, an impressive array of examples in this volume shows readers how learning can be explored using a multimodal social semiotic approach. Fourth, it advances investigations into social and technological change of multimodality. By linking multimodal studies with ethnography, this volume demonstrates their applicability to exploring how signs are historically and culturally shaped. In this way, it greatly influences contemporary multimodal studies.
Despite the convincing illustrations in this volume, there remains some room for further research. A lot of emphasis in this volume is placed on how sign-makers influence the learning environment and the value of learners. However, it may be interesting to see further research that involves the impact of the modal relationship on shaping the multimodal environment of learning and communication. Also, the volume would be more accessible if the authors provided a glossary of the many multimodal terms encompassed in the proposed frame.
Overall, this volume is impressive in establishing social semiotic generality for multimodal discourse analysis. Given its advanced theory, detailed elaboration and powerful implications, this volume is a valuable asset for faculty and students who are working in multimodality, social semiotics, discourse analysis, pedagogy and related studies.