This state-of-the-art account of research and theorizing brings together multimodality, learning and communication through detailed analyses of signmakers and their meaning-making in museums, hospitals, schools and the home environment. By analyzing video recordings, photographs, screenshots and print materials, Jeff Bezemer and Gunther Kress go well beyond the comfortable domains of traditional sites of (social) semiotic and multimodal research. They steer away from spurious invention and naming of ever more new and exciting domains, focusing instead on fundamentals in assembling a set of tools for current tasks: namely, describing and analyzing learning and communication in the contemporary world as one integrated field. The theory outlined in the book is grounded in the findings of the authors' wide-ranging empirical investigations. Each chapter evaluates the work that is being done and has been done, challenging accepted wisdom and standing much of it on its head. With extensive illustrations and many examples presented to show the reach and applicability of the theory, this book is essential reading for all those working in multimodality, semiotics, applied linguistics and related areas. Images from the book are also available to view online at www.routledge.com/9780415709620/

The 21st century is awash with ever more mixed and remixed images, writing, layout, sound, gesture, speech, and 3D objects. Multimodality looks beyond language and examines these multiple modes of communication and meaning making. Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication represents a long-awaited and much anticipated addition to the study of multimodality from the scholar who pioneered and continues to play a decisive role in shaping the field. Written in an accessible manner and illustrated with a wealth of photos and illustrations to clearly demonstrate the points made, Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication deliberately sets out to locate communication in the everyday, covering topics and issues not usually discussed in books of this kind, from traffic signs to mobile phones. In this book, Gunther Kress presents a contemporary, distinctive and widely applicable approach to communication. He provides the framework necessary for understanding the attempt to bring all modes of meaning-making together under one unified theoretical roof. This exploration of an increasingly vital area of language and communication studies will be of interest to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in the fields of English language and applied linguistics, media and communication studies and education.

"Multimodal Literacy challenges dominant ideas around language, learning, and representation. Using a rich variety of examples, it shows the range of representational and communicational modes involved in learning through image, animated movement, writing, speech, gesture, or gaze. The effect of these modes on learning is explored in different sites including formal learning across the curriculum in primary, secondary, and higher education classrooms, as well as learning in the home. The notion of literacy and learning as a primary linguistic accomplishment is questioned in favor of the multimodal character of learning and literacy. By illustrating how a range of modes contributes to the shaping of knowledge and what it means to be a learner, "Multimodal Literacy provides a multimodal framework and conceptual tools for a fundamental rethinking of literacy and learning.

Social Semiotics is a major new textbook in communication and cultural studies. It offers a comprehensive and original approach to the study of the ways in which meaning is constituted in social life. Hodge and Kress begin from the assumption that signs and messages -- the subject matter of semiotics -- must always be situated within the context of social relations and processes. They then show what is involved in analysing different kinds of messages, from literary texts, TV programmes and billboards to social interactions in the family and the school. While presenting a judicious assessment of different perspectives, Hodge and Kress also develop their own distinctive and highly fruitful approach, demonstrating how semiotics can be integrated with the social analysis of power and ideology, space and time, and gender and class. Social Semiotics is richly illustrated with examples and written in a clear style which does not presuppose prior knowledge of the field. It will become a key textbook for courses in communications, media and cultural studies and will be of general interest to students of sociology, literature and linguistics.

In his latest book, Gunther Kress explores how children learn to spell in the context of concerns about early literacy. Using numerous examples of children's writings and drawings, the book looks at children as "makers of meaning" and explores their earliest ventures into writing. It covers problems such as dyslexia and looks at the impact of multimedia on the processes of learning to spell. Technological aids such as spell-checkers and the effects of the increasing visualization (computer, TV, film) of communication on spelling/ writing are also discussed.

"This is an impressive book. It is an example of that rare item - a book about complex scientific ideas, expressed in clear, simple language - built on real teacher - learner conversations. Starting in the classroom, or the laboratory, with the most common occurence - a teacher offering an explanation, it proceeds by analysing the nature of specific explanations so that teachers can gain fuller insights into what is happening. Having teased out the processes of explanation, the authors then reconstruct them showing how elaboration, transformation and demonstration can enhance the understanding of the learner." Professor Peter Mortimore * How do science teachers explain science to students? * What makes explanations work? Is explaining science just an art, or can it be described, taught and learned? That is the question posed by this book. From extensive classroom observations, the authors give vivid descriptions of how teachers explain science to students, and provide their account with a sound theoretical basis. Attention is given to the ways in which needs for explanation are generated, how the strange new entities of science - from genes to electrons - are created through talk and action, how knowledge is transformed to become explainable, and how demonstrations link explanation and reality. Different styles of explanation are illustrated, from the 'teller of tales' to those who ask students to 'say it my way'. Explaining Science in the Classroom is a new and exciting departure in science education. It brings together science educators and specialists in discourse and communication, to reach a new synthesis of ideas. The book offers science teachers very practical help and insight.

Wrestling markiert nicht nur einen neuen H6hepunkt bei der Pdisentation von Gewaltdarstellungen, es stellt auch einen der vielen Entwicklungsschritte yom einzelnen Medium zum ambivalenten Arrangement aus Live-Ereig nissen, Fernsehserie und Kaufartikeln dar. Verwahrlosen nun die Kinder durch Wrestling oder dient ihnen dies Medien- und Ereignis-Arrangement bloB als Lifestyle-Rahmen? Da der noch junge Fernsehsender RTL2 WWF Wrestling im Angebot hatte, diskutierte des sen ProgrammausschuB engagiert die Erziehungs- und Jugendschutzprobleme von WWF-Wrestling. RTL2 gab dann eine qualitative Erkundungsstudie in Auf trag, auf der das vorliegende Buch aufbaut. Eine padagogische Bewertung von WWF-Wrestling oder anderen For men von Wrestling ist nur auf den ersten Blick einfach. Die kulturtheoreti sche und semiotische Analyse fOrdert dagegen ein ambivalentes Phanomen zutage, das durch den internationalen Medienmarkt seinen kulturellen Kon text verloren hat. Wrestling ist deshalb der aktuelle und kontroverse AnlaB ftir eine padagogisch ausgerichtete Genre-Forschung, die interdiszipliniir mit Rezeptionsforschung, Semiotik, Kulturtheorie und Geschlechterforschung sowie international mit britischen, deutschen und israelischen Beitragen ar beitet. Ftir die internationale Kooperation war die erprobte Zusammenarbeit von PRIsM - Pole de Recherche sur les Medias - hilfreich, die die Universite de Bourgogne, Frankreich, koordiniert. Ohne interdisziplinare und interna tionale Kooperation laSt sich den vielfaltigen neuen Genres und Program mangeboten als Kulturphanomen kaum auf die Spur kommen, sie fiihrt aber auch zu sperrigen Ergebnissen. So basiert der Beitrag von Dafna Lemish tiber WWF-Wrestling als Problem an israelischen Schulen auf dem sog."

This second edition of the landmark textbook Reading Images builds on its reputation as the first systematic and comprehensive account of the grammar of visual design. Drawing on an enormous range of examples from children's drawings to textbook illustrations, photo-journalism to fine art, as well as three-dimensional forms such as sculpture and toys, the authors examine the ways in which images communicate meaning.
Features of this fully updated second edition include:

• new material on moving images and on colour
• a discussion of how images and their uses have changed through time
• websites and web-based images
• ideas on the future of visual communication.

Reading Images focuses on the structures or 'grammar' of visual design colour, perspective, framing and composition provides the reader with an invaluable 'tool-kit' for reading images and makes it a must for anyone interested in communication, the media and the arts.

In his latest book, Gunther Kress explores how children learn to spell in the context of current concerns about early literacy. Using numerous examples of children's writing and drawing, Kress looks at children as 'makers of meaning' and explores their earliest ventures into writing.
Kress covers problems such as dyslexia within today's educational system. Technological aids on spelling and writing such as spell-checkers and the effects of the increasing visualization of communication (computer, TV, film) are also discussed.

This state-of-the-art account of research and theorizing brings together multimodality, learning and communication through detailed analyses of signmakers and their meaning-making in museums, hospitals, schools and the home environment. By analyzing video recordings, photographs, screenshots and print materials, Jeff Bezemer and Gunther Kress go well beyond the comfortable domains of traditional sites of (social) semiotic and multimodal research. They steer away from spurious invention and naming of ever more new and exciting domains, focusing instead on fundamentals in assembling a set of tools for current tasks: namely, describing and analyzing learning and communication in the contemporary world as one integrated field. The theory outlined in the book is grounded in the findings of the authors' wide-ranging empirical investigations. Each chapter evaluates the work that is being done and has been done, challenging accepted wisdom and standing much of it on its head. With extensive illustrations and many examples presented to show the reach and applicability of the theory, this book is essential reading for all those working in multimodality, semiotics, applied linguistics and related areas. Images from the book are also available to view online at www.routledge.com/9780415709620/

The 21st century is awash with ever more mixed and remixed images, writing, layout, sound, gesture, speech, and 3D objects. Multimodality looks beyond language and examines these multiple modes of communication and meaning making. Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication represents a long-awaited and much anticipated addition to the study of multimodality from the scholar who pioneered and continues to play a decisive role in shaping the field. Written in an accessible manner and illustrated with a wealth of photos and illustrations to clearly demonstrate the points made, Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication deliberately sets out to locate communication in the everyday, covering topics and issues not usually discussed in books of this kind, from traffic signs to mobile phones. In this book, Gunther Kress presents a contemporary, distinctive and widely applicable approach to communication. He provides the framework necessary for understanding the attempt to bring all modes of meaning-making together under one unified theoretical roof. This exploration of an increasingly vital area of language and communication studies will be of interest to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in the fields of English language and applied linguistics, media and communication studies and education.

In this ground breaking text, the authors span a range of issues central to contemporary school English. They collectively examine how English is shaped by policy, by institutions and by the social relations of the classroom. By connecting policy and social context, the book provides a detailed account of factors such as: the characteristics of urban multi-cultural schools teacher formation and tradition the ethos of School English departments the institutional changes that have shaped school English in urban classrooms and students' experiences of learning. The authors examine the spoken and written language of classrooms, alongside other modes of representation and communication and issues such as image, gesture, gaze, movement and spatial organisation are all examined through a timely multi-modal perspective. Those involved with education and the teaching of English will find this book a fascinating account of teaching and learning in urban classrooms, whilst policy shapers, linguists and anyone with an interest in semiotics and multimodality will find much here to enlighten them.

Taken from a seminar with educational theorist and author, Paulo Freire, at the Institute of Education in October 1993, this publication contains the reflections of Freire on progressive education, as well as discussions on the topics raised by academics and the audience. This volume makes available talks which are based around issues he has discussed in publications in Portuguese.

Originally published in 1979. This book studies language variation as a part of social practice - how language expresses and helps regulate social relationships of all kinds. Different groups, classes, institutions and situations have their special modes of language and these varieties are not just stylistic reflections of social differences; speaking or writing in a certain manner entails articulating certain social meanings, however implicit. This book focuses on the repressive and falsifying side of linguistic practice but not without recognising the power of language to reveal and communicate. It analyses the language used in a variety of situations, including news reporting, interviews, rules and regulations, even such apparently innocuous language as the rhymes on greetings cards. It argues for a critical linguistics capable of exposing distortion and mystification in language, and introduces some basic tools for a do-it-yourself analysis of language, ideology and control.

This book takes a radically new look at communication, and in doing so presents a series of challenges to accepted views on language, on communication, on teaching and, above all, on learning. Drawing on extensive research in science classrooms, it presents a view of communication in which language is not necessarily communication - image, gesture, speech, writing, models, spatial and bodily codes. The action of students in learning is radically rethought: all participants in communication are seen as active transformers of the meaning resources around them, and this approach opens a new window on the process of learning. In demonstrating that communication always draws on a multiplicity of modes of representation, and of communication, the book constitutes a profound challenge to accepted views of language as the dominant, or perhaps only significant and rational means of representation. Instead, the book suggests that communication proceeds by many modes, of which language is one and not necessarily the dominant one, and it opens a whole new set of questions: if language is not the sole, or even the dominant mode, what are the roles of other modes and how are the

First published in 1982, this influential and classic text poses two questions: what is it that a child learns when he or she learns to write? What can we learn about children, society and ourselves, by looking at this process? The book is based on a close analysis of a series of written texts by primary school children and is written for student teachers with little or no knowledge of linguistics. In this new edition, Gunther Kress has made extensive revisions in the light of recent developments in linguistics and in education. The theoretical focus is now a social semiotic one, which allows a fundamental rethinking of issues such as 'preliteracy' and broad social and cultural questions around the making of texts.

Originally published in 1979. This book studies language variation as a part of social practice - how language expresses and helps regulate social relationships of all kinds. Different groups, classes, institutions and situations have their special modes of language and these varieties are not just stylistic reflections of social differences; speaking or writing in a certain manner entails articulating certain social meanings, however implicit. This book focuses on the repressive and falsifying side of linguistic practice but not without recognising the power of language to reveal and communicate. It analyses the language used in a variety of situations, including news reporting, interviews, rules and regulations, even such apparently innocuous language as the rhymes on greetings cards. It argues for a critical linguistics capable of exposing distortion and mystification in language, and introduces some basic tools for a do-it-yourself analysis of language, ideology and control.

This third edition of the landmark textbook Reading Images builds on its reputation as the first systematic and comprehensive account of the grammar of visual design. Drawing on an enormous range of examples from children's drawings to textbook illustrations, photo-journalism to fine art, as well as three-dimensional forms such as sculpture and toys, the authors examine the ways in which images communicate meaning. Features of this fully updated third edition include: new material on diagrams and data visualization a new approach to the theory of 'modality' a discussion of how images and their uses have changed since the first edition examples from a wide range of digital media including websites, social media, I-phone interfaces and computer games ideas on the future of visual communication. Reading Images presents a detailed outline of the 'grammar' of visual design and provides the reader with an invaluable 'tool-kit' for reading images in their contemporary multimodal settings. A must for students and scholars of communication, linguistics, design studies, media studies and the arts.

As with television and computers before it, today's mobile technology challenges educators to respond and ensure their work is relevant to students. What's changed is that this portable, cross-contextual way of engaging with the world is driving a more proactive approach to learning on the part of young people.

The first full-length authored treatment of the relationship between the centrality of technological development in daily life and its potential as a means of education, Mobile Learning charts the rapid emergence of new forms of mass communication and their potential for gathering, shaping, and analyzing information, studying their transformative capability and learning potential in the contexts of school and socio-cultural change. The focus is on mobile/cell phones, PDAs, and to a lesser extent gaming devices and music players, not as "the next new thing" but meaningfully integrated into education, without objectifying the devices or technology itself. And the book fully grounds readers by offering theoretical and conceptual models, an analytical framework for understanding the issues, recommendations for specialized resources, and practical examples of mobile learning in formal as well as informal educational settings, particularly with at-risk students. Among the topics covered:

Core issues in mobile learning

Mobile devices as educational resources

Socioeconomic approaches to mobile learning

Creating situations that promote mobile learning

Ubiquitous mobility and its implications for pedagogy

Bridging the digital divide at the policy level

Mobile Learning is a groundbreaking volume, sure to stimulate both discussion and innovation among educational professionals interested in technology in the context of teaching and learning."

This book takes a radically different look at communication, and in doing so presents a series of challenges to accepted views on language, on communication, on teaching and, above all, on learning. Drawing on extensive research in science classrooms, it presents a view of communication in which language is not necessarily communication - image, gesture, speech, writing, models, spatial and bodily codes. The action of students in learning is radically rethought: all participants in communication are seen as active transformers of the meaning resources around them, and this approach opens a new window on the processes of learning.

Gunther Kress argues for a radical reappraisal of the phenomenon of literacy, and hence for a profound shift in educational practice. Through close attention to the plethora of objects which children constantly produce--drawings, cut-outs, writings and collages-- Kress suggests a set of principles which reveal the underlying coherence of children's actions-- actions which allow us to connect them with attempts to make meaning before they acquire language and writing.
This book provides fundamental challenges to commonly held assumptions about both language and literacy and thought and action. It places these challenges within the context of speculation about the abilities which will become essential for children as young adults, and calls for the radical decentering of language in educational theory and practice.

First published in 1982, this influential and classic text poses two questions: what is it that a child learns when he or she learns to write? What can we learn about children, society and ourselves, by looking at this process? The book is based on a close analysis of a series of written texts by primary school children and is written for student teachers with little or no knowledge of linguistics. In this new edition, Gunther Kress has made extensive revisions in the light of recent developments in linguistics and in education.
The theoretical focus is now a social semiotic one, which allows a fundamental rethinking of issues such as 'preliteracy' and broad social and cultural questions around the making of texts.

This book takes a radically new look at communication, and in doing so presents a series of challenges to accepted views on language, on communication, on teaching and, above all, on learning. Drawing on extensive research in science classrooms, it presents a view of communication in which language is not necessarily communication - image, gesture, speech, writing, models, spatial and bodily codes. The action of students in learning is radically rethought: all participants in communication are seen as active transformers of the meaning resources around them, and this approach opens a new window on the process of learning. In demonstrating that communication always draws on a multiplicity of modes of representation, and of communication, the book constitutes a profound challenge to accepted views of language as the dominant, or perhaps only significant and rational means of representation. Instead, the book suggests that communication proceeds by many modes, of which language is one and not necessarily the dominant one, and it opens a whole new set of questions: if language is not the sole, or even the dominant mode, what are the roles of other modes and how are the