SFE20816 English: Multimodal Texts (Autumn 2016)

The course is connected to the following study programs

Obligatory subject within the 90 study credits English Extension Course.

May be taken as part of the bachelor programme in Society, Language and Culture.

Lecture Semester

English extension course: 1st semester (autumn)

Bachelor's Programme in Society, Language and Culture: 3rd or 5th semester (autumn)

The student's learning outcomes after completing the course

KNOWLEDGE?

Students have knowledge of how to analyze multimodal texts.

SKILLS?

Students can use certain theoretical models to examine multimodal texts and to discuss the social/cultural contexts in which those texts are produced and used.

GENERAL COMPETENCE?

Students understand the importance and general pervasiveness of multimodal texts in societies, and how those texts are interpreted and valued by different social groups.

Content

This course is an introduction to the theory of multimodality, an interdisciplinary approach to understanding how we make meaning through language and other modes or channels of communication. Multimodal texts draw on the resources of different communicative modes, such as speech, writing, image, and sound, and combine them to form some kind of coherent whole.

In this course, we will examine and discuss a variety of different multimodal text-types in different media, including picture books, cartoons and graphic novels, posters, videos, websites, and internet memes. In particular, we will consider the choices made by 'text producers,' and discuss how those choices might affect the way different 'readers' understand or make sense of texts.

Forms of teaching and learning

Lectures and seminars

Workload

Approx. 280 hours.

Coursework requirements - conditions for taking the exam

Two short written assignments must be approved by the lecturer and completed at specific deadlines before students can start the final written examination.

Examination

Individual written assignment and oral exam

A written assignment (minimum 3000 words) on a topic chosen in consultation with the lecturer; the assignment should be analytical, research based, and clearly referenced.

The written assignment has to be approved for a pass result before the oral exam.

The oral exam (c. 30 mins) is based primarily on the final written assignment, but also the course more generally. The oral exam may adjust the final result by one step up or down on the A-F grading scale.

If a complaint is filed, the written part will be reassessed. In the case of a changed result a new oral exam will be arranged.

Course evaluation

The course is evaluated each semester.

Literature

Required reading

Fryer, Daniel Lees (ed.). 2016. Compendium for multimodal texts. Available in student bookshop.

Hopkins, Jed. 2016. Introducing metafunction. Video, 49 mins, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNPrHkgRoMI&feature=youtu.be

Kress, Gunther, and Theo van Leeuwen. 2006. Reading images: the grammar of visual design. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge. Available in student bookshop.

Lukin, Annabelle. 2012a. An introduction to functional grammar. Video, 8 mins, available at https://vimeo.com/46732234.

Lukin, Annabelle. 2012b. Clause as exchange, part 1. Video, 31 mins, available at https://vimeo.com/51417910.

Lukin, Annabelle. 2012c. Clause as exchange, part 2. Video, 19 mins, available at https://vimeo.com/51422776.

Lukin, Annabelle. 2012d. Clause as representation, part 1. Video, 28 mins, available at https://vimeo.com/48590461.

Lukin, Annabelle. 2012e. Clause as representation, part 2. Video, 32 mins, available at https://vimeo.com/49338877.

Lukin, Annabelle. 2012f. Clause as message, part 1. Video, 24 mins, available at https://vimeo.com/49429179.

Lukin, Annabelle. 2012g. Clause as message, part 2. Video, 15 mins, available at https://vimeo.com/49433691.

Material handed out in lectures or posted on Fronter is also obligatory reading.

Supplementary reading (recommended)

Barthes, Roland. 1977. Image music text. London: Fontana Press.

Bloor, Thomas and Meriel Bloor. 2004. The functional analysis of English: a Hallidayan approach. 2nd ed. London: Arnold.

Eggins, Suzanne. 2004. An introduction to systemic functional linguistics. 2nd ed. London: Continuum.

Hellum, Bjørg. 2013. Analyse av multimodale tekster: En holistisk modell. Oslo: Scandinavian Academic Press.

van Leeuwen, Theo. 2005. Introducing social semiotics. Abingdon: Routledge.

Maagerø, Eva. 2005. Språket som mening. Innføring i funksjonell lingvistikk for studenter og lærere. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

O’Toole, Michael. 1994. The language of displayed art. London: Continuum.

Painter, Claire, J. R. Martin, and Len Unsworth. 2013. Reading visual narratives: image analysis of children's picture books. Sheffield: Equinox.

Reference only

Halliday, M. A. K., and Christian M. I. M. Matthiessen. 2014. Introduction to functional grammar. 4th ed. Abingdon: Routledge.