Abstract
Textbooks have an essential function to guide students’ activities in learning English language and also to provide the materials for teachers in teaching English language. In a textbook, a text is also accompanied by images which can be used to explain the content of the text, or the function of the image is to make the text understandable for the readers. This study investigated visual metafunctions of the images in supporting linguistics metafunction of the texts in students’ textbook. The objectives of this study were to explain the representation of representational meanings of the images in supporting the ideational meanings of the texts. Using the framework of Grammar of Visual Design by Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006) and Systemic Functional Linguistics by Halliday (1994) and Eggins (2004), this study used discourse analysis as the research approach. The source was reading texts in English in Mind: Students’ Book on Culture in Mind sections. The objects of this study was reading texts which were supported by images. The units were clauses in reading texts and visual items, including vectors, colours, image acts, gazes, size of frames and social distance of the images.The findings revealed that the representational meanings of the images supported the ideational meanings of the texts because the images tried to give depiction of the verbal texts to make the readers could comprehend the texts easily. The presence of narrative representational meaning and the presence of material process inform the situation happened in the stories.
Highlights
Textbook is a stimulus or instrument for teaching and learning (Graves, 2000). They can be one of the best source if prepared appropriately in terms of both internal and external structures and visual design, it could be thought as a proficient tool in processes of teaching and learning (Aslan, 2008)
To analyse, describe and interpret the data. It is a Multimodal Discourse Analysis which focuses on the visual metafunctions in supporting linguistics metafunctions
O’Halloran (2011) stated that Multimodal Discourse Analysis is an emerging paradigm in discourse studies which extends the study of language in combination with other resources, such as images, scientific symbolism, gesture, action, Using the Grammar of Visual Design theories proposed by Kress and Leeuwen (2006), representational meaning related to the internal relations between the represented participants, things, and the actions they perform as well as the setting of the circumstances
Summary
In line with Grammar of Visual Design (GVD) draws on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as theoretical and methodological background for the study of language resources, directly related to the communicative function of language and to the context of communication in which meaning-making processes are constructed (Heberle & Constanty, 2016). Both theories construct three metafunctions which almost same: ideational, interpersonal and textual in Systemic Functional Linguistcs, while in Grammar of Visual Design has representational, interactive and compositional metafunctions. According to Pourrajab and Rabbani (2015) stated that images in the textbooks influence the learning process and they revealed that pictures in textbooks could increase students’ creativity
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
