خلاصة:
The main objective of this study was to investigate how Iranian EFL learners used their literacy practices and multimodal resources to mediate interpretation and representation of an advertisement text and construct their understanding of it. Fifteen female adolescents at an intermediate level of proficiency read the"ن ن "("Brelian Furniture") advertisement text and re-created theirunderstandings in pictures and sentences. The data was analyzed based on Kress and Van Leeuwen’s (1996, 2001) theory of social semiotics. The findings suggest that students situated the meanings of the advertisement texts in specific contexts that reflected their own social and cultural experiences. Furthermore, the students demonstrated that the use of multimodal resourcesEmail address: mzsouzandeh@gmail.comCorresponding address: Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics, College of Literature and Humanities, Eram Campus, Eram St., Shiraz, IranZip Code: 7194685115, Tel: (071) 36288721had the potential to enhance language and literacy learning in a way that was transformative and was affected by their identities. In addition, the use of multimodal/multiliteracies pedagogy permitted the students to enter into text composition from different paths. Finally, multimodal/multiliteracies pedagogy could foster critical literacy practices by offering EFL students the opportunities to create new identities and challenge discursive practices that marginalize them. The implications of the findings are also discussed.
ملخص الجهاز:
Student of TEFL, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran Mahboobeh Saadat Assistant Professor of TEFL, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran Rahman Sahragard Associate Professor of TEFL, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran Received 21 March 2014; revised 4 June 2014; accepted 25 June 2014 The main objective of this study was to investigate how Iranian EFL learners used their literacy practices and multimodal resources to mediate interpretation and representation of an advertisement text and construct their understanding of it.
As a result, Ajayi (2010) stated that the urgent task for researchers is to develop a framework for critical multimodal analysis: how students use the social and cultural contexts to critically interpret multimodal texts such as videos, images, and websites that typically integrate language and other modes for meaning making.
Furthermore, even if there are sporadic studies that have tried to explore the feasibility and practicality aspects of the multiliteracies pedagogy (Ajayi, 2009, 2010, 2011; Jank, 2010; Jewitt, 2008; Lemke, 2005; Pei-Ling Tan & Mc William, 2009;), they are mainly concerned with general education and children’s literacies, or have merely focused on the multimodality aspect of the multiliteracies pedagogy without the implementation of the basic principles underlying multiliteracies pedagogy in the context of the classroom.
This study employs Kress and van Leeuwen’s (1996, 2001) theory of social semiotics to analyze the texts produced by Iranian EFL learners of English language and see how the use of signs can mediate message representation and how the choice of a specific sign for representation is shaped by the identity of the sign maker.