Mighty Digests # 22: KRESS: Discourse Analysis and Education: A Multimodal Social Semiotic Approach

Rogers, R. (2011). An Introduction to Critical Discourse Analysis in Education, 2nd edition. New York: Taylor and Francis.

Chapter 10 – Gunther Kress: Discourse Analysis and Education: A Multimodal Social Semiotic Approach

I really enjoyed this article. Reading it after the Fairclough chapter was “oxygenating”. And, I guess, you can read it as a response to the aforementioned chapter. But this article is much, much more.

The very first page of the chapter offers so much insight in the topic, that it is almost redundant trying to summarizing it. A “copy and paste” would have worked as well! And as I keep on reading, it is very true for the whole article.

I want to quote some of the most useful definitions in the article, that helped me to better understand the concept of “Text”, from different angles and layers of meaning:

“Texts are outcomes of processes initiated and performed by social agents for social reasons; and they provide a means of getting insight into these processes and the purposes of social agents.” (p. 205)

“Texts – as material objects – are in part constitutive of social institutions.” (p. 205)

“Texts are outcomes of processes initiated and performed by social agents for social reasons.” (p. 205)

“Texts are the results of semiotic work of design, production, and composition.” (p. 207)

The concept of “multimodality” sounds like a powerful concept/model to interpret language, discourse and texts in educational contexts.

“Social semiotics provides a theoretical frame for a focus on all aspects of meaning-making.” (p. 208)

This article, the whole article, is also a great source of key-concepts (“lexis vs. depiction”,  “centrality vs. marginality”, learning in time and space, framing, interpretation…) and all-important references (Barthes, Chomsky, Foucault, Habermas, Labov…).

Gold star here!