An SFL analysis of multimodality in the coursebook english for water resources

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES o0o NGUYỄN THỊ LAN AN SFL ANALYSIS OF MULTIMODALITY IN THE COURSEBOOK “ENGLISH FOR WATER RESOURCES” “T P ” A N M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Linguistics Code : 8220201.01 HANOI – 2018 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES o0o NGUYỄN THỊ LAN AN SFL ANALYSIS OF MULTIMODALITY IN THE COURSEBOOK “ENGLISH FOR WATER RESOURCES” P “T ” A N M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Linguistics Code : 8220201.01 Supervisor : Ass P f.D L HANOI – 2018 Q Đ ng DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it are my own and have been generated by me as the result of my own original research I confirm that:  This work was done wholly while I am in candidature for a Master degree at this University;  This thesis has never been submitted partially or wholly for a degree or any other qualification at this University or any other institution;  Where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always clearly attributed;  Where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work;  I have acknowledged all main sources of help;  Where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself I am fully aware that should this declaration be found to be false, disciplinary action could be taken and penalties imposed in accordance with University policy and rules Hanoi, 2018 Author i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would have never been able to finish my thesis without the guidance of my supervisor, help from my friends and support from my family Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Assoc.Prof.Dr Lam Quang Dong, my supervisor, for his support, enthusiasm, helpful advice and comments during the time of conducting this research Without his enthusiastic assistance and instructions, it would have been impossible for the thesis to be completed Secondly, I am also grateful to all lecturers of the Faculty of PostGraduate Studies for their useful lessons which have inspired me and guided my research Furthermore, my thanks also go to my colleagues at Bac Bo Water Resources College who have helped me during the course Finally, I would like to thank all my friends and my family for their love, support and encouragement which help me complete this thesis ii ABSTRACT Nowadays, studies of multimodal communication have grown rapidly to become a new trend of the 21st century This multimodal analysis of the course book “English for Water Resources” fits in with that trend and is significant to teaching and learning ESP The analysis is based on a combined framework of Halliday‟s SFL and Kress and Leeuwen‟s Multimodality theory The purpose of the study is to discover how multimodality is expressed in this material and thereby to find out the strengths and overcome weaknesses Qualitative methods are applied to this study for the discussion of the verbal aspects that focus on Field, Tenor, Mode and in terms of representational, interactive, compositional meaning for visual elements In analytic processing, verbal elements are represented by various linguistic devices, mainly material and relational processes Besides, images create full and new meanings for written texts, help readers understand the whole text easily Results from this analysis will help the teachers and designers improve the quality of the book as well as the quality of teaching and learning when using the book iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims of the study Research questions Scope of the study Methods of the study Organization of the thesis PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Communication 1.2 Multimodality theory 1.3 Systemic Functional Linguistics 1.4 Review of previous research CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURES 11 2.1 Data collection 11 2.2 Procedures 12 2.3 Analytical frameworks 13 2.3.1 Halliday‟s Systemic Functional Linguistics 13 2.3.2 Kress and van Leeuwen‟s Multimodal theory 14 iv CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 17 3.1 General information 17 3.2 Findings 18 3.2.1 Analysis of the verbal elements based on SFL 18 3.2.2 Analysis of the visual elements based on Multimodality theory 30 PART C: CONCLUSION 39 Main findings 39 Limitations and suggestions for future research 41 REFERENCES 42 APPENDICES I v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS SFL : Systemic Functional Linguistics ESP : English for Specific Purposes WRM : Water Resources Management WRC : Water Resources College vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 1: Summary of Transitivity Processes 19 Table 1: The frequency of visual modes 11 Table 2: Material Process 19 Table 3: Relational- Attribute Processes 23 Table 4: Relational-identifying Processes 24 Table 5: Illustration of the Mood of the texts 28 Table 6: Summary of pictures based on Multimodality 37 vii PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Today, in the period of industrialization and modernization, human life has greatly improved Thus the ways people communicate have also dramatically changed and developed It is highly possible that since their appearance as human, people communicated with one another through other visual means such as images, sounds, graphics, or colors before they developed their own languages Today, advancements in multimedia technology of the 4th industrial revolution have created possibilities for integrating different modes into textbooks “English for Water Resources” is one among such textbooks However, “English for Water Resources” is a very difficult technical material to be selected for teaching and learning at Water Resources College So, the task of designers, educators is how to help students have the ability to read and understand specialized materials as well as create more motivations in learning The different communication channels, also known as multimodality/ multimodal communication, including writing, images, graphs, tables, etc., must be put to use as a necessary tool to support teaching Therefore, using of multi-mode communication methods has great significance, not only consolidate source of knowledge but also create skills formation and develop students' thinking How multimodal communication has been used in practice, especially in the course book “English for Water Resource” What are the advantages and disadvantages of this use to promote to achieve higher results? Need to improve the multi-literacy for students how to understand and exploit information from polynomial means? This has given me the desire to conduct a small study entitled "An SFL analysis of multimodality in the course-book “English for Water Resources " Figure Figure This image is taken from the lesson and it shows that water has an important role in our life and we need to conserve water resources Representationally, the participant in this picture is a black boy This boy is a narrative image because the boy is bending down to drink water, so it can be seen that water is scarce in many places or also can understand that water is being used indiscriminately Interpersonal or interactive meaning, the contact between the viewer and the represented participant, in this case we can see that the gaze of the boy not directly looking at the viewer, the viewer is an observer of the boy in the image Thus this image is an “offer” types of gaze In addition, for the social distance, this image is located at the close up position indicating relative intimacy between the represented participant and viewer The third aspect is the interpersonal attitude that is constructed by the vertical angle This image is taken from the parallel horizontal angle and the viewer is “front on” to the represented participant, the effect is to maximize the viewer‟s involvement or identification with the world of the represented participants (Kress and Van Leeuwen, P.103) Why not choose a girl or other people instead of a boy? may be this nation that has a male-dominated thought Man is always more important than women Gender inequality 33 always happens in this country The authors also choose black boy instead of white boy because black people often have extreme life, lacking, so we can see that water shortage is the typical situation of the people here In terms of compositional meaning, the most salience of this image is black boy on the left and hydrant is on the right The placement of hydrant on the right is visually more salient than black boy on the left (Given- New), thereby water becomes the valued thing that we need to preserve and save Figure Image in the unit is windmills This windmills is also conceptual image, the windmill only can be operated by wind power It used to pump water or drainage Behind is a hut which people in the hut have the duty to monitor the change of wind direction, water level to be able to control the mill and fan blades when necessary Interpersonally, this image is “offer” because the viewer becomes the subject of the look than the object We can see that this image is shown from a low camera angle of photographer and the location of the image is taken at a distance to capture the view of the vast sky If this image is taken at a near position, the photographer will not take the entire windwill as well as the clouds in the sky Moreover, the windwill is placed in frond of tower because it can see better and can receive more wind to operate Thus, the object has higher position and power than the viewer For textual meaning, information value is shown by placement of objects in the figure The right is dominated by large and salient image and the left contains the smaller image, so, information value in the figure is Given-New In addition, the windmill is placed in the foreground are more salience than hut in the background, so it is obviously more important The authour used the white colours to show salience of the windwill, at the same time, the white windmill coordination 34 with the white clouds in the sky brings a close relationship between them, but creates a far away from the viewer According to Kress and van Leenwen ( 2002, p 348) the selection of colours normally has an impact on the feelings of the reader, drawing an emotional response to the text However, it is difficult to determine where the image came from and how the windmill operated Thus, it is necessary to have specific information for these image to help the reader or viewer understand well the content of the images as well as messages conveyed Figure The figure is breakwater image Representationally, we can see that the breakwater is a conceptual image since this is no action, this work is built to protect the coast, but waves are narrative because they are hitting the breakwater that represents action Interpersonal/ interactive meaning, this image was taken from a horizontal angle, the photographer must stand from one side to look at the other, so this side is quite close, clear and dominat over the other side This makes the photo not only beautiful but it also shows the strength of the dam, the waves here are obstacles, dangers that threaten human life So, it is impossible to see the strength of the dam as well as to realize the long-lasting beauty of the image without white waves Compositionally/ textually, information value in this image is the most prominent feature in the picture is the white waves that hit the breakwater However, this picture has not been arranged in a symmetrical way Perhaps due to the intention of the author wants to say that the waves as obstacles are also terrible If the author can provide some additional information such as the name of the breakwater, its length, the width of the surface, the learners and teachers will understand better 35 Figure For this image, we can see that the wind turbine is used to generate mechanical or electrical energy The image of the wind turbine is conceptual image since there is no action The image illustrates - the parts of the turbine and dedicates that all parts make up the power generation plant Interpersonal meaning may represent a close- up shot and eye level, so it is very obviour Textually, the image used the red numbers to mark parts of the wind turbine, using the red colour to stand out the most important parts as well as to create the viewer‟s attention Moreover, blue frame is placed on the right angle of the image that have the specific names of the parts At the same time, the rotation of the blades can be represented by the arrows, but the sound of the rotation blades cannot be shown If in the above part only verbal elements or visual elements are separated each other, in this part images and texts are not two independent elements, they are mixed together to convey meanings These images (see the figure 5, 6, 7, 8) are derived from lesson “types of dams” The most prominent features of the images are to describe types of dams which illustrate in the reading, so the readers can understand the content of the readings easily In general, the similarity of these images is that each picture has two images that go parallel An overall picture contains the image of the dam and a more detailed illustration of the dam The second is the lack of information such as name of dams, place and size, consequently readers/ learners cannot understand them thoroughly The third is the same in terms of placement means that the left is an overall picture, on the right is only the image of the part of the dam Looking at what is placed on the left and what is placed on the right in other kind of visual has confirmed this generalization: when pictures or layout make significant use of the horizontal axis, positioning some of their elements left, the element placed on the left are presented as Given, the element placed on the right as New (Kress and Van Leewen, 1996) 36 Table 6: Summary of pictures based on Multimodality Representational meaning Narra tive Conceptual actio n Interactive meaning Contact Social Distance Offer close symbolic Offer long symbolic Offer long analytic Offer close analytic Offer long analytic Offer Medium analytic analytic Offer Offer long Medium Attitude +Involvement +Eye level +Involvement +high angle +Detachment +Eye level +Involvement +Eye level +Detachment +Low angle +Detachment +long angle + Detachment + long angle + Detachment +Eye level Compositional meaning Informational Value Salience Given-New; Ideal-Real Minimum Given-New Maximum Given-New; Ideal-Real Minimum Real- Ideal Maximum Given-New Real- Ideal Given-New Real- Ideal Given-New Real- Ideal Given- New Real- Ideal Minimum Maximum Minimum Minimum Framing Minimum connection Minimum connection Maximum connection Maximum connection Minimum connection Minimum connection Minimum connection Minimum connection From the summary table of pictures based multimodality, it can see that for representational meaning the majority of images in the course book are conceptual process which relates to more stable things, objects, except for the figure is narrative process The conceptual process represents mainly in term of analytical (see pictures 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) and symbolic process (see picture 2, 3) The interactive meaning is classified into three types: contact, social distance and attitude No image is “Demand” and “Offer” images of contact are the most salient elements in this material because viewer becomes the subject of the look than the object For social distance, the images indicates distances from close shot to long shot The attitude can be subjective or objective in which elements Involvement and Detachment are mentioned in the course book, but Detachment factor is more prominent Frontal angles relate to Involvement and oblique angles associated with Detachment Moreover, these images is produced from the different angles such as low angle, eye level, high angle In term of compositional meaning there are three 37 main elements: informational value, salience, framing Given- New and RealIdeal are the popular elements of the value information Salience is the fundamental function of layout which attract the viewer‟s attention to different level from Minimum to Maximum Elements of framing may be strongly or weakly connected; however, weak connection is used more 3.2.2.2 Other modes: tables, diagrams Tables, graphs are one of the popular semiotic modes which using in this material The producers of the book used tables with frequency times in the practice, mainly ask student to write the other part of speech of the words or match a word in column A with an explanation in column B The researcher thinks that using tables in the material is suitable way to help the learners/ viewers easily receive knowlegde However, the designers should have tables with numbers as geography or should build more some tables with number about dams as sizes, datas Althought it is quite poor, simple way, but it is one of the means to convey multimodality in this material In short, multimodality is reflected in many channels, especially writings and images in any documents The combinations between the verbal and visual elements are the effective method in the multimodal texts 38 PART C: CONCLUSION Main findings This study provides a preliminary understanding of multimodality in the course book “English for Water Resource” Multimodality is analysed mainly Verbal and Semiotic Visual which based on the three major functions of Systematic Functional Theory (SFL) framework: representational functions, interpersonal functions, textual functions It can see that material and relational processes are the most commonly applied The purpose of the material process is to show the most authentic view of the irrigation sector as well as to help the reader access information exactly For the relational, the most typical verbs are “be” in the attribute relational clause because Relational processes are processes about what things are, what they are like, and what they possess (Lock, 1996: 126) Thereby, the characteristics of the Carrier are recognized through the attribute Additionally, Circumstance elements are presented in many different aspects such as location, manner, direction, in which Location used the most On other hand, most clauses are in the simple tense They used in both passive and active form For visual elements, this study analyzes representative images based on three main meta-functions of Kress and Leeuwen‟s Multimodality theory representational, compositional and interactive meaning This can provide readers with different reception for interpreting visual images such as how objects organized and located in the visual image and how they interacted and coordinated with other elements which relate to the objects and participants in the image The strength of multimodality is to help teachers to revise the three meta-functions of SFL They may apply the procedure of text analysis in 39 terms of transitivity, mood, theme in language teaching to get a better view of language in general and text analysis in particular Thus, the features of texts will be identified more effectively This study can also helpful to writers of scientific text They may take this text analysis in consideration when they produce their own text so that their texts would clear, coherent and communicative Moreover, the unity between size, type-face, fonts, colours that make it easier for the viewers to access the knowledge Besides the advantages need to promote and highlight such diverse uses, combining between the different multimodality methods, putting these methods into textbooks to support for teaching and learning are still limited Firstly, there is an unequal distribution between the verbal channel and the visual channel The use of text is major factor in the readings, with each reading quite length and without illustrative images that make the reader feel depressed The visual channel is unevenly used In the material, there are only lessons that use images to illustrate, while others not Secondly, this document has not fully met in terms of level of proficiency, skills development, content and topics related to irrigation Thus, designers should balance the study program, the content as well as the multimodality method in a harmonious and reasonable way To ensure that the content of knowledge is not overwhelming for learners, not too little is a difficult problem for producers Besides that is ability of student or multiliteracy is an important factor that the designers must put on top Understanding this will help textbook educators make the right choices when choosing to use any multimodal means as a powerful tool in teaching and learning Furthermore, improving the layout of this material is an urgent task of the material designers to make the material more vivid, more beautiful to create interest for viewers At the same time, it is necessary to add more illustrations so that 40 viewers can easily acquire knowledge, however these images must be selective In short, in the process of compiling the coursebook, it is necessary to use a variety of multimodal modes and to have appropriate strategies such as providing multimodal content from easy to difficult, from basic to advanced For learners who need to give them the habit of using the multimodal method to communicate from the beginning to form the skills as well as multiliteracy Limitations and suggestions for future research In this thesis, we have initially conducted an analysis of multimodality in the course book “English for Water Resources” based on Kress and Van Leeuwen's multimodal theory and Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics However, in the scope of a minor thesis and because of the limitation of time, this paper does not cover all aspects related to SFL as Theme, Cohesive devices, Conjunctive Thus, the researcher only focuses on analysing the document in terms of transitivity, Mood and some representative images based on multimodality theory Moreover, the material used for the study is not an original document therefore some images are collected from the Internet source which may more or less affect the result‟s objectivity For further research we propose some suggestions as follows Firstly, should look for the documents to study the multimodality on the internet or in the magazines Secondly, further study should focus on other ESP texts which have many different modes to attain the better results 41 REFERENCES Abuya, E John (2013) Reading meaning through the visual images: Social semiotic 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UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES o0o NGUYỄN THỊ LAN AN SFL ANALYSIS OF MULTIMODALITY IN THE COURSEBOOK ? ?ENGLISH FOR WATER RESOURCES? ??... document, determining the requirement of topic ? ?an SFL analysis of multimodality in the course book ? ?English for Water Resources? ??, the researcher analyzes concepts to establish the theoretical framework