by Prisca Martens, Towson University, Towson, MD

In our ever changing world it is not surprising that the concepts of literacy and what it means to be literate continue to evolve. The traditional definition that associates reading and writing with print on paper no longer encompasses the range of texts literate persons encounter on a daily basis. These texts can be printed on paper or transmitted electronically, sometimes even in real time. They come in a range of representational forms. Today’s communication systems can be multimodal, linear or nonlinear, and even depart from the traditional left to right or top to bottom orientation.

Semiotic systems are systems of signs through which societies or cultures share meaning. These sign systems may be language based, visual (i.e., art, moving images), auditory (i.e., sound, music), gestural (i.e., movement, dance), or spatial (i.e., layout, design). Each sign system conveys understanding in unique ways and offers its own exclusive perspective on a particular cultural meaning. Texts are one way of communicating meaning in a social context. Multimodal texts employ more than one semiotic system, with each system contributing in a different way to how the text is comprehended.

Picturebooks are one type of multimodal text. In addition to the written language, they employ visual (art) and spatial (design and layout) systems in which gestures and movement are represented in the picturebooks and can be complimented by gestures and sounds (auditory) used during readings. Despite the rich offerings of meanings these different sign systems in picturebooks provide, teachers and readers frequently look primarily to the written text for the meaning.

My own and my colleagues’ current research investigates what happens when young children are supported in becoming literate in the other semiotic systems available in picturebooks. What happens, for example, when children learn to think like an artist and understand the decisions the artist made to convey particular meanings through the art, gesture, and design? During September I will be sharing some of what we are doing and finding. I’ll talk about first graders’ readings and responses to Willy the Champ (Browne, 2008), after they’d spent the year learning to think in other semiotic systems. I’ll share some of the curricular experiences we designed for the children that led them to their responses to Willy the Champ. And I’ll talk about some of the books we are using and features that might be discussed with children to help them read picturebooks from a multimodal perspective.

Meanwhile, I welcome thoughts, questions, and responses about picturebooks and how you help students read them multimodally. I’m also interested in hearing responses to defining semiotic systems more broadly as linguistic, auditory, gestural, visual, and spatial, rather than specifically as music, dance, movement, language, etc. Personally, I’m more familiar with the latter but the broader conceptualizations that encompass the specifics make more sense to me. Thoughts?

Related References

Anstey, M. & Bull, G. (2006). Teaching and learning multiliteracies: Changing times, changing literacies. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Berghoff, B., & Harste, J. (2002). Semiotics. In B.J. Guzzetti (Ed.), Literacy in America: An encyclopedia of history, theory, and practice (pp. 580-581). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC CLIO.

Browne, A. (2008). Willy the Champ. London, England: Walker Books.

Bull, G., & Anstey, M. (2010). Evolving pedagogies: Reading and writing and a multimodal world. Carlton South, Victoria, Australia: Curriculum Press.

Halliday, M. A. K. & Hasan, R. (1985). Language, context, and text: Aspects of language in a social semiotic perspective. Victoria, Australia: Deakin University Press.

Kress, G. (2003). Literacy in the new media age. New York: Routledge.

Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading images: The grammar of visual design. New
York: Routledge.

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• Themes: Prisca Martens
• Descriptors: Debates & Trends, Student Connections, WOW Currents