Book review: Veronica Bonsignori and Belinda Crawford Camiciottoli (eds),Multimodality across Communicative Settings,Discourse Domains and Genres

The book is a collection of studies presented in the workshop ‘Multimodal Perspectives on Language Teaching and Research’ held in May 2015 at the University of Pisa, Italy. It consists of an introductory essay and 10 chapters, exploring multimodal resources in various domains and genres, including educational settings, TED talks, political interviews, courtroom discourse and animated films. A variety of methodological aspects of a multimodal approach are covered in the book, including analysis, transcription and multimodal annotation software.

Following a Forward by Theo van Leeuwen, the introductory chapter defines the concept of multimodality used in the book as ‘communicative modes beyond speech and writing (that) are crucial components of human interaction’ (p. 2) and reviews major multimodal studies, with a special focus on those exploring the interaction between verbal and non-verbal semiotic resources. The introduction pays particular attention to multimodal studies related to language teaching and learning, one of the main themes of the book.

The subsequent 10 chapters are thematically grouped into two parts, investigating respectively multimodal educational practices and practices in a range of other domains such as political interviews and courtroom discourse. The first five chapters in the volume share an interest in exploring the use of multimodal resources in pedagogic activities. Chapter 1 by Campoy-Cubillo proposes multimodal listening as a multi-faceted construct that involves the ability to understand and interpret the connection between various modes in a given communicative context. It also suggests criteria for assessing multimodal listening task design, focusing especially on question types (i.e. questions organized around content, general and pragmatic knowledge, syntactic knowledge, lexical and phonological features, etc.) and task administration in the teaching of listening skills. Designing a listening task, as Campoy-Cubillo points out, should account for the various modes students would encounter in real-life communication, since the awareness of available modes may enhance language learners’ comprehension. Chapter 2 by Cappelli and Noccetti demonstrates how multimodal and multisensory activities could be used to enhance dyslexic adults’ vocabulary learning in a second language (?). Two groups of Italian dyslexic learners are compared in the case study, with one group being taught with a range of highly multimodal activities and the other being taught following the traditional guidelines with some multisensory materials. The result suggests that multimodal and multisensory teaching methods are conducive to the learning of English vocabulary by Italian dyslexic adults.

Chapter 3 by Camiciottoli examines the interaction between verbal and non-verbal resources in realizing interpersonal meaning in an academic lecture for undergraduates at Yale University. Using ELAN, a video annotation software, the author analyses the co-occurrence of interactional linguistic features such as comprehension checks (e.g. Okay?, Right?), imperative, idioms and puns, and non-verbal elements such as gaze and hand/arm gesture. Her study demonstrates that verbal and non-verbal features work together to enhance the understanding of the lecture and promote the interaction between the lecturer and the students. Chapter 4 by Beltrán-Palanques focuses on the multimodal dimension of communicative competence, revisiting this concept by taking into account different modes employed in a given context (e.g. Royce, 2007). It argues that the development of learners’ communicative competence should include competencies to deal with various semiotic modes. Chapter 5 by Davitti conducts a multimodal analysis of interpreter-mediated dialogues in parent–teacher meetings in schools with a focus on the co-construction of meaning between the participants (i.e. parents, teachers and interpreters), the management of participation framework, and the coordination of interaction. The findings may shed light on the interactional dynamics of interpretation and the multimodal dimension of interpreter education.

The second part of the volume explores multimodal resources used in specialized domains and genres, covering TED talks, political interviews and films, courtroom discourse, and animated films. Chapter 6 by Masi includes a fine-grained analysis of the interaction between speech and gestures in three English TED talks on socio-economic topics, showing that deictic and etaphoric gestures tend to co-occur with abstract notions in these talks. Chapter 7 by Bruti analyses body language in political interviews, comparing male and female styles as represented in the CBS joint interview of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in 2013. To offer a clearer illustration of the interplay between verbal and non-verbal resources, the chapter compares Clinton’s linguistic and gestural features with those of Obama, and Clinton’s and Obama’s speech with language uses by female and male politicians in the same genre. Chapter 8 by Bonsignori too investigates political discourse, utilizing political drama films (i.e. The Ides of March and The Iron Lady) as data. Using ELAN as the analytical tool, the study explores the co-construction of meaning between non-verbal elements (e.g. gestures, facial expressions and body movements) and rhetorical devices for persuasion and evaluation (e.g. parallel structures). Through this analysis, the chapter shows how video resources can be used as pedagogic tools for teaching English for Specific Purpose (ESP) and researching political discourse.

Chapter 9 by Franceschi conducts a multimodal analysis of courtroom discourse in the South African context. It examines speeches delivered by defence lawyers and prosecutors, focusing on lexical-semantic and socio-pragmatic features as well as non-verbal resources. In doing so, the chapter contributes to the development of multimodal materials for ESP in law education. Chapter 10 by Vignozzi investigates the use of idioms in five animated Disney films (such as ZZ). The chapter argues that apart from the plots, dialogues and images, using idiomatic expressions contribute to the success of these films. By analysing the co-deployment of various semiotic components in shots, it shows that idiomatic expressions are often foregrounded in humorous scenes and scriptwriters consciously adapt idioms to the multifaceted nature of animated movies to produce laughter.

This volume has an evident pedagogic orientation. Apart from the first five chapters in Part 1 which directly address multimodal issues in educational settings, Chapters 6, 8 and 9 in Part 2 have also outlined explicitly implications of the research for teaching the English language, in particular in the ESP context. With its varied perspectives taken and different methodological approaches drawn upon, this volume will be of great value to those who utilize semiotic and discursive approaches to studying multimodal communication.