Introducing Multimodality

This accessible introduction to multimodality illuminates the potential of multimodal research for understanding the ways in which people communicate. Readers will become familiar with the key concepts and methods in various domains while learning how to engage critically with the notion of multimodality. The book challenges widely held assumptions about language and presents the practical steps involved in setting up a multimodal study, including:

• formulating research questions
• collecting research materials
• assessing and developing methods of transcription
• considering the ethical dimensions of multimodal research.

A self-study guide is also included, designed as an optional stand-alone resource or as the basis for a short course. With a wide range of examples, clear practical support and a glossary of terms, Introducing Multimodality is an ideal reference for undergraduate and postgraduate students in multimodality, semiotics, applied linguistics and media and communication studies. Online materials, including colour images and more links to relevant resources, are available on the companion website at www.routledge.com/cw/jewitt and the Routledge Language and Communication Portal.

List of illustrations

About this book

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1: Navigating a diverse field

Chapter 2: Why engage with multimodality?

Chapter 3: Systemic Functional Linguistics

Chapter 4: Social Semiotics

Chapter 5: Conversation Analysis

Chapter 6: Five more approaches to multimodality

Chapter 7: Designing a multimodal study

Glossary

Self-study guide

References

Index

Carey Jewitt is Professor of Technology and Learning at University College London, Institute of Education. She has authored/edited a number of books on multimodality, including The Routledge Handbook of Multimodal Analysis (2009/2014), Technology, Literacy and Learning: A Multimodal Approach (2008), Urban English Classrooms: Multimodal Teaching and Learning (2005), with Gunther Kress and colleagues, and The Rhetorics of the Science Classroom: A Multimodal Approach (2001), with Gunther Kress and colleagues.
Jeff Bezemer is Reader in Learning and Communication and Co-Director of the Centre for Multimodal Research at University College London, Institute of Education. He is co-author of Multimodality, Learning and Communication (with Gunther Kress, 2015).
Kay O’Halloran is Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Curtin University, Western Australia. Her publications include Multimodal Analysis Image (2012), Multimodal Studies: Exploring Issues and Domains (2011), Mathematical Discourse: Language, Symbolism and Visual Images (2005) and Multimodal Discourse Analysis (2004).