Mapping Modes in
Children’s Play and Design:
An Action-oriented Approach to
Critical Multimodal Analysis
A companion to Chapter 12 by
Karen E. Wohlwend
From the companion website for Rogers, R. (2011). An Introduction to Critical Discourse Analysis in Education,
2nd edition. New York: Taylor and Francis at www.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415874298
Aim of Presentation
To suggest ways of representing and focusing
analytic attention on multimodal data, including
video and artifacts.
To highlight how decisions about representation
and transcription affect analysis.
Multimodal Design
Artifacts as Dense Realizations of Complex
Processes:
Produced and Productive
Anchor prior meanings and
uses
Anticipate trajectories and
future uses
Invite a set of tactics
(moves) (de Certeau,
Foucault)
A
Transcription:
Putting CAction/Context
First
B
D
E
92
Marshall returns to the table, sets the
puppet on the table and using his index
finger, smudges and blends the wet red
10:39:33 marker, turning the tape a dull pink.
93
As I ask about the puppet, Marshall uses a
red marker to color blank or lighter pieces
10:39:50 of tape. He recaps the marker and
Because, um, he's working.
94
Marshall begins peeling the tape off the
puppet which leaves white spaces where
10:39:54 reddish tape had been.
95
Marshall volunteers to help Janet set up
the tables in the lunchroom. Other children
10:40:11 chime in, "Can I go? Can I help?"
I will! I'll go!
96
97
98
I'm just playing around. I'm just
pre- I'm just play, playing
around so, so I could draw
SpongeBob.
Yeah.
Marshall leaves the table to throw away a
clump of tape. He returns and continues to
peel off tape, holding the puppet down with
10:40:24 his left hand while peeling with his right.
An unknown child asks, "Why you ripping
10:40:26 that off?"
Marshall is fascinated with the dramatic
Because, so so I will want to
contrast produced by peeling away the
know what it looks like.
10:40:37 bright red tape.
Who:::a.
10:40:42 Marshall peels off an entire column of tape. I [xxx] go looking 'at good. Hey!
Shaking his finger, Marshall drops the
crumpled tape onto the table. The lights go
Get here. Ack.
100 10:40:46 off, signalling cleanup time.
99
F
G
Transcript with
action/context in
first column (Ochs,(xxx) in the
1999) to privilege lunchroom
today? To help
action given left-to the lunchroom?
right reading.
Frame by Frame Multimodal Analysis
A frame freezes a slice of time-space
Changes in spatial position produce (representation
of) action
Films: linear text made up of a sequence of individual
frames
Making SpongeBob: Modes in Activity
Based on analytic
approach suggested by
Norris (2004, p. 108).
Handling Objects: Mediated Actions
Cutting: Modal Intensity
Layout of Built Environment
cardboard
screen
art supply
shelf
(off-camera)
art table
Movement
cardboard
screen
art supply
shelf
(off-camera)
art table
Proxemics: Relationships Across Space
Sports Fans Play Group
Gaze: Subjectivities and Shared Space
Visibility: Seeing in Crowded Places
Backgrounding and foregrounding
Modes circulate discourses; discourses influence which
modes get foregrounded
Overlapping modes—some are foregrounded; others
backgrounded
Overlaps and dense places as productive sites for
transformation
Discourses and Social Spaces
Skills
Mastery
Discourse
Intentionality
Discourse
Multimodal
Literacy
Discourse
Suggested Readings
Hull, C.A., & Nelson, M.E. (2005). Locating the semiotic power of
multimodality. Written Communication, 22(2), 224–261.
Kress, G. (2004). Gains and losses: New forms of texts, knowledge, and
learning. Computers and Composition, 12(4), 5–22.
Norris, S. (2004). Analyzing multimodal interaction: A methodological
framework. London: Routledge.
Ochs, E. (1999). Transcription as theory. In A. Jaworski & N.
Coupland (Eds.), The discourse reader (pp. 168–182). London:
Routledge.
Scollon, R., & LeVine, P. (Eds.). (2004). Discourse and technology:
Multimodal discourse analysis. Washington, DC: Georgetown
University Press.
Voithofer, R., & Foley, A. (2007). Digital dissonances: Structuring
absences in national discourses on equity and educational
technologies. Equity & Excellence in Education, 40(1), 14–25.