Semiotic Systems Research Articles

Политические плакаты эпохи перестройки как социокультурное и коммуникативно-прагматическое единство

The paper is devoted to identifying the features of the interaction between signs belonging to different semiotic systems in the context of Soviet political posters of the perestroika period. The study aims to identify the specific (universal and individual) characteristics of posters of the perestroika period as polycode texts. These texts are considered as special formations that are perceived through the visual communication channel, they combine verbal, graphic and iconic codes. Scientific novelty is accounted for by the fact that Soviet political posters of the perestroika period are little-studied in terms of the structure, extralinguistic basis and the functioning of elements of a heterogeneous (nonlinear) text. The study is novel in that it is the first to choose Soviet political posters of the perestroika period for analysis, as their content provides information about a person’s value attitudes, political preferences and worldview, as a rule, they carry a pragmatic attitude, i.e. they act as an instrument of influence on an individual and entire social groups. As a result, it has been proved that the specificity of these texts is determined by the author’s linguopragmatics and extralinguistic factors.

Өнер генетикалық мәдени кодтың көрінісі ретінде (қазақ халық биі мысалында)

This article presents the results of the study of the genetic cultural code, reflecting the spiritual values of the people on the example of the traditional dance-plastic art of the Ka- zakhs. As a research method, the author uses a semiotic analysis of movements and pos- tures of traditional Kazakh dance, which is part of the Turkic culture. The article provides definitions and functions of such terms as «art», «figurative language in art», «arche- type», «semantics», «semiotics». It also gives an analysis of the art of dance as a semiotic system, based on the fact that the language of dance, expressed by body movements, is non-verbal, containing signs and symbols that reflect, among other things, the subcon- scious thoughts and feelings of the dancer. The author, based on the symbols of sacred geometry and sign language, compares Kazakh national patterns and movements of Kazakh dance with similar names with the interpretation of the meaning of symbolic forms reflecting the cultural code of the people. In comparison, the author relies on the fact that the basis of the Kazakh ornament is made up of signs-symbols, for the development of which the folk masters are the source of the phenomena and objects of the surrounding world. As a result, elements of Kazakh dance are identified, which are common not only for the eastern peoples but also for the dances of the peoples of the Middle East and Egypt, which is indirect evidence of the common roots of the above cultures. The conclusions are partially confirmed by research works in the DNA genealogy of mankind, as well as by the works of a number of Türkologists

К вопросу об использовании образа писателя в рекламном дискурсе

The article’s purpose is to identify the functional aspects of the use of а writer’s image in advertising discourse and to raise the ethical issues that arise in this case. Being at a junction of masscult and elitism, а writer’s image is exploited in advertising and becomes a brand, a stamp, a label. It becomes the part of what implements both functions of attracting attention and self-presentation. The ‘pleasure of recognition’ and the feeling of satisfaction from the involvement in cultural integrity are those positive emotions that advertising marketing focuses on. For this the advertising of consumer goods, catering establishments, shops, medical services, etc., uses literary classics texts. In this way, advertising refers to cultural memory as collective reconstructions of our common past image. The transfer of the classical text specific element into the advertising genre as into another semiotic system automatically simplifies and schematizes the meanings of the source text. At the same time, the range of images used in advertising as in a utilitarian genre demonstrates what fills the collective cultural memory, what is considered as necessary for its preservation. The analysis of advertising texts against the ethical permissibility-inadmissibility, the acceptability-redundancy (being extreme/over the line) gives grounds to draw the following conclusions: - advertising using а writer’s image, being only a small part of the general advertising discourse, creates a visual noise situation, ‘simplifying’ the classical text understanding impoverishes the process of its interpretation; - advertising built on the basis of the writer’s images desemantization and deformation, works towards the deformation and perception of the author, forms false meanings; - advertising, based on linguistic turns of phrase, like any joke, has the potential to cross the border of what is permissible when the writer’s image (name, text) as a result of carnivalization acquires additional vulgar and taboo meanings. The mechanisms that determine the flexibility of language matter also since its instability and aesthetic choice turns out to be inextricably linked with a moral choice.

The study of gesture in cognitive linguistics: How it could inform and inspire other research in cognitive science.

Cognitive linguists are increasingly extending their paradigm to include the study of gestures. The bottom-up, usage-based approach in cognitive linguistics has advanced the methods for identifying gesture functions, starting from a detailed analysis of gesture forms. Theoretical notions from cognitive linguistics also help explain the means by which the forms of gestures can be interpreted as meaningful functions. Principles of conceptual metonymy explain how gestures indicate referents through the partial representation of their features that are relevant in the context of use. Conceptual metaphor theory sheds light on how abstract notions can be represented in gesture via comparison with physical source domains. Furthermore, every gestural representation inherently requires the gesturing speaker to employ a specific viewpoint for their depiction-something which is normally not expressed verbally. These aspects of gesture provide insights into processes of thinking for speaking that can be exploited in various fields of cognitive science research. Referential gestures also normally combine pragmatic and interactive functions (showing stance-taking, for example) with representational or deictic functions. The multiple functions of gesture combined with those of speech raise questions for further research about how viewing-listeners interpret and combine information from the multiple semiotic systems employed by gesturing-speakers. Finally, gesture use has been shown to correlate not only with lexical concepts but also in some ways with grammatical constructions. This gives rise to fundamental questions about what constitutes the grammar of a language. Gesture analysis thus raises issues for consideration in any research in cognitive science that concerns spoken language. This article is categorized under: Linguistics > Cognitive Linguistics > Linguistic Theory Psychology > Language.

Dos versos aos palcos e dos palcos às telas: O processo intertextual do filme “O Auto da Compadecida” (2000)

The film Auto da Compadecida (2000), by Guel Arraes, is an adaptation of the play, which has the same name, written by Ariano Suassuna in 1955. Before reaching the screens of the movie theaters “O Auto da Compadecida” had already been converted to other compositions, as in films and tv shows. Therefore, far beyond being an adaptation based in a single hypotext, the movie end up incorporating characteristics of differents semiotics systems, recovering, specially, the traces of popular northeastern culture, particularly the cordel’s literature - a typical popular literature from the brazilian northeastern region, illustrated by xylography and written in verses. The script by Guel, in collaboration with Adriana e João Falcão, derives from this succession of textual transformations in this trajectory by different semiotics systems, demonstrated in verses, stages and screens. This article aims to analyze the movie script in transtextual perspective according to the theories of languages presented in the book Palimpsests by Gérard Genette. For this purpose, we describe the distinct narrative options that composed the script, in order to approach the adaptive process of the movie based on the classification presented by Genette. Our objective is to analyze the elements that construct the transmutation of the narrative structure of cordel and theatrical narrative in the screenplay of the film, the stylistic transformations and the way that the transtextual relationship of the hypertext under analysis occurs.

Biosemiotic Approaches in Cultural Studies: General and Specific

The article explicates new conceptual approaches to the study of culture, language, semantic, and communicative processes, focusing on the importance of the role of the natural environment and various living systems in cultural semiosis. The author substantiates the relevance of the main biosemiotic approaches in the study of sign systems of culture and the problems of semiosis, and also determines their specificity, main problems and prospects for use. The author explicates the biological roots of sign formation and meaning, establishes the main mechanisms for their formation, draws attention to similarities, rather than differences, in the manifestations of culture and the natural world, reveals the local contexts of the functioning of the process of semiosis, which are related to the interests of living organisms, their interactions with the environment. The article considers the possibility of using biosemiotics as an interdisciplinary basis that unites the natural and human sciences in the field of studying semiotic processes, identifies the main obstacles to the development of this direction. The perspective of the research proposed in the article allows us to talk about new prospects for the use of biosemiotic approaches in the study of culture and society, taking into account the influence of the natural environment and living systems on the process of sign formation. It also makes it possible to establish the integrative and explanatory functions of biosemiotic positions associated with the unification of the biological and sociocultural aspects of semiosis. The results of the study may be important for the development of modern cognitive sciences and non-classical epistemology, focused on the study of various forms of cognition, for the search for ecological methods and approaches to the study of sign systems of culture, for the creation of new hybrid methods and models for the study of semiotic systems, for the solution of a number of epistemological and metaphysical issues that require philosophical reflection.

Covid-19 and public responsibility

Abstract This paper offers an analysis of a British government publicity campaign during the third national lockdown, which began in England in January 2021. When it came to enforcing lockdown rules, the government’s messaging in the Linguistic Landscape (LL) and elsewhere focused on individualising responsibility for the pandemic. This framing favoured the political interests of the government by apportioning blame for the highest death toll in Europe to the British public’s reckless behaviour, which conveniently elides the government’s own role in the crisis. Drawing on data from social media and the LL, I analyse the publicity campaign according to a Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis approach, taking into account the multiple semiotic systems employed to communicate the campaign’s underlying neoliberal ideology.

The Mundhum Myth: A Semiological Perspective

This article aims to observe the Limbu Mundhum myth Yapmi Pongma Mundhum 'The Creation of Man' from the semiological perspective setting it in the second order tridimensional pattern developed by French semiotician, Roland Barthes. The objective of the study is to find out the process of interpreting myth through Barthean model of semiotic system. Basically, the analysis is based on linguistic theory of literary criticism. The theory proposed by Barthes is modeled upon Ferdinand de Saussure's linguistic 'sign' under the semiological system. In the process of analysis, the study has revealed that though Barthes' semiotic pattern follows Saussure's model of sign system, there are certain distinct features in the interpretation of myth than that of Saussuren linguistic sign, signifier and signified pattern. Especially, the component 'signifier' is differently perceived in Barthes' triple dimensional pattern. Likewise, the connection between 'signifier' and 'signified' is not the same in simple linguistic and mythical semiotic system. The article can be useful to create a way for interested individuals to deepen their understanding of language, literature and society.

Visualization of Digital Genres: Instagraming in English Political Communication

The article depicts the emergence of a new digital hybrid genre –instagraming.The research objective is to analyze the design of the genre Instagram at the text level and to determine the main linguistic and non-linguistic features of the genre design in the field of English political Internet-communication. Research methods and techniques.The material of the research includes 144 English publications obtained from the official accounts of Joe Biden and Boris Johnson. The qualitative and quantitative methods are used in the research namely: the methods of information analysis, synthesis, comparison, linguistic description,content analysis, and the semantic-syntactic method. The Voyant Tools program is used for data analysis. The content analysis of publications of the political leaders of the USA and UK on Instagram shows the difference in the number of their posts which indicates different attitudes of the politicians and their teams in the use of the social network when achieving their political goals. The genrestructure depends on the development of information technology, as well as on the type of device into which it is entered and which affects the order of heading placement, the format of the page, as well as the position of a text comment in relation to a video or photo. Results and discussion. The results obtained testify that both verbal and nonverbal constituencies of instagraming present inseparable parts of this genre. It is possible to speak about the hybridization of the digital genre as an inseparable feature. Conclusions. One can state that instagraming might be considered as a sort of container of multiple texts, combining video, audio and picture semiotic systems together. Additionally instagraming is rendered as a Goroshko, O., Poliakova, T. (2022). Visualization of Digital Genres:Instagraming in English Political Communication.Social Communications: Theory and Practice,Vol.14(1),148–163.DOI: 10.51423/2524-0471-2022-14-1-9149eISSN 2522-9125 pISSN 252—0471https://new.comteka.com.ua/subgenre providing communicativespace for various genres of political communication on the Net. One can argue that social media genre research requires the combination of linguistic and paralinguistic methods of analysis that develops a methodological base for linguistics 2.0 –a new approach in linguistic and communication studies of the ХХІ century.Keywords:digital genre, genre 2.0, Instagram, instagraming, social media, visualization, English-speaking political communication.

BEYOND FORECASTING AND PREDICTION: THE ROLE OF PHANTASMAGORICAL MEMORY IN IMAGINING THE FUTURE

Introduction. Forecasting and predication are influenced by the conventional perception of a reality that has been engulfed by a reaction to austerity and scarcity. Forecasting and linear projection toward the future are problem-solving trajectories that aim at maintaining the status quo. The future is inventable, not inevitable. A desired future cannot be achieved through forecasting and prediction, whether in dystopian fiction or utopian fancy, but can be accomplished through an imaginative future memory and by design. Memory is a phantasmagorical phenomenon, where present reality is constructed by past memory, it can also be transformed by future memory. Future memory requires a shift from being trapped by the gravity of the present to the weightless imaginary future and the freedom of toying with the real. Past memory is recalled to augment strategies for solving current problems, but future memory is imagined to explore design alternatives. Whereas memory of the past becomes our familiar path to forecasting the future, memory of thefuture provides a meaningful way to access a wide range of unfamiliar options for imagining a desired future.Purpose. The paper aims at explaining the possible ways of interpreting the language of future as semiology, which can be located within the larger scope of semiotics. Under this larger scope, there are three major semiotic systems: linguistics, kinesics, and objects.Methods. In cognitive semiotic perspective the paper highlights the methods of interpreting the semiological concept of future in literary text focusing on psychological and sociological data.Results. Going faster and acquiring material, physical things are considered winning the game of forecasting and projection. It is clear that postmodernity has been superseded by transmodernity. The core value of transmodernity, which embodies many integrative qualities and undissolved differences, emphasizes transparency between pre-modern, modern, and postmodern realities. Not only does transmodernity discard modernity’s insistence on autonomy and absoluteness, it also transcends modernism and postmodernity’s inclination toward dualistic rationality and an either-or position. A desired future in the transmodern world can be created through phantasmagorical memory and communicated by the notating and scoring process. Such future possibilities are emergent outcomes of the design process that teleologically reveals unlimited options.Conclusion. Notating the imagination of phantasmagorical memory transforms the status quo into a visceral experience of a desirable future in our transmodern world. This is the way we can transform the present reality into a desired future reality. Without such memory, it would be difficult to avoid the despair about the status quo and to go beyond utopianism and dystopianism. To imagine the future is to transform absoluteness and to participate in a process that seeks meaningful change. Imagining a desired future in the transmodern world is essential for rejuvenating cultural practices and renewing natural environments. And notating imagination – the unseen forces behind physical manifestations – reveals an integrated consciousness that highlights the reciprocal relationship between cultural ethos and environmental ethics.

A research framework to analyse visual persuasion of photographs in sustainability reports

PurposeThis paper aims to propose a theoretically informed and analytically rigorous research framework that sustainability researchers could use or further develop to examine visually persuasive messages in photographs.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the theoretical constructs of Peirce’s (1991) visual semiotic system of icon, index and symbol and Aristotle’s (1984) persuasive appeals of ethos, pathos and logos, the authors propose a research methodology that provides an explicit step-by-step guidance to examine visually persuasive messages in sustainability-related photographs. The sustainability-related photographs in The Coca-Cola Company’s 2018 Business and Sustainability Report are examined to illustrate the application of the framework.FindingsThis paper develops a research framework and provides empirical evidence of the use of the framework to enhance the understanding of visually persuasive messages depicted in photographs.Practical implicationsThe proposed framework serves as a springboard for further research into visually persuasive messages.Originality/valueThe research framework of visual persuasion is novel and can be used by sustainability researchers to analyse photographs in corporate reports. It can be extended/modified to capture visual representations in different contexts and other disciplines as well.

Functional characteristics of kinesic communicative components in the English fairy-tale discourse

The article is focused on the study of the organization of the English fairy-tale discourse, presenting a unique semiotic system, and kinesic components of communication manifested in it. The fairy-tale serves as a catalyst in the process of socialization of the personality. It is the first “gender ABC-book” for a child. It outlines explicitly the behavioral communicative patterns fixed in the society. In the article the situations of communicative interaction in the heterogeneous communicative dyad “woman – man” are analyzed. The gender parameters of the participants are taken into consideration. Based on the pragmatic settings of feminine fairy-tale discursive personalities, their strategic behavior is analyzed with the special attention to the functions of kinesic communicative components. In the communicative pair “woman – man” a gaze, smile, and head movements are most significant for female characters. They use these non-verbal components for the implementation of a cooperative or conflict communicative strategy and for the setting of the appropriate tone of communication. It has been established that the kinesic behavior of fairy-tale speakers is multifunctional: it may indicate a woman's willingness to interact or a desire to influence the interlocutor; due to kinesic communicative components, the contacts between speakers are established, and the necessary information is obtained from the communicative partner. They also can indicate the emotional state of the speakers. The analyzed functional and communicative characteristics of the kinesic components meet the expectations of the society regarding the performance of male and female gender roles.

Constructed Languages as Semantic and Semiotic Systems

The research aims to explore constructed languages as semantic and semiotic systems by analyzing various types of languages based on their lexical, syntactic, morphological and other features. In order to achieve this goal, the author examines the existing classifications of constructed languages and attempts to establish a connection between purposes of their creation and their linguistic features on various levels. The research topic relevance is determined by a substantial rise in popularity of constructed languages, the emergence of their new roles and functions as well as a multitude of new types of media available for communication in these languages and their distribution. The author argues that the recent development in technology provides constructed language creators and enthusiasts with new non-verbal ways of expression that were previously unavailable and thus facilitates communication. This hypothesis is confirmed by several case studies, including the one of “SolReSol: The Project”, an open-source computer program developed by the author, which automates and improves the implementation of semiotic systems designed back in the 19th century. Furthermore, attention is also drawn to the problem of eurocentrism in constructed languages. The research findings lead to the conclusion that on closer inspection both a priori and a posteriori constructed languages created by native speakers of European languages inevitably reveal a certain percentage of Standard Average European features in their semantic and semiotic systems.

Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis on the advertisement of Colgate

In semiotics there is an analysis called multimodal analysis. This study aimed to analyze the advertisement of Colgate in audiovisual formed, when Colgate advertisement is one of the Super Bowl commercial breaks in USA. This study applied on semantic approach focused on the multimodal discourse analysis. The method applied in this study was descriptive qualitative method. The result of this study was that Colgate Total advertisement covers five aspects in a multimodal semiotic system, namely linguistic, visual, audio, gestural, and location aspects. These five aspects come together to make the ad appearance very attractive and easy to remember. A product that is advertised, if many people are able to remember the words, visuals, accompanying music, and actors in the advertisement, it means that the message in the product has successfully reached the audience. It could be predicted that these products would be able to survive in the market. This ad for Colgate Total toothpaste products displays clear and interesting information about what people want from a product, namely its ingredients and the benefits of using it. Messages in the form of language carried out through spoken language and written language make the audience understand more about what is being promoted. This ad makes a unique impression on the audience because of its short duration but important overall message. The linguistic, visual, audio, gestural, and location aspects of a multimodal semiotic system were all addressed in this advertisement. These five elements combine to create a visually appealing and memorable advertisement.
 Keywords: multimodality, advertisement, analysis

Repertoire Construction for Critical Cross-Cultural Literacy of English Majors: Based on the Research Paradigm of Systemic Functional Linguistics.

The ambiguous development trend of cultural globalization brings both opportunities and challenges to China’s cultural development. English major in colleges and universities, a discipline of cross-cultural education, should look at the cultural communication of the target country dialectically based on the national consciousness of the home country. Since the end of the 20th century, administrators and scholars have paid attention to critical thinking, critical cultural awareness, and critical skills in cross-cultural communication, which are important components of the cross-cultural meaning system. Therefore, all these are collectively referred to as critical cross-cultural literacy (CCCL). On the basis of the research paradigm of systemic functional linguistics (SFL), a language is a semiotic system that creates meaning. Thus, to help students construct and improve their individual CCCL repertoire, teachers need to guide them to critically study and analyze the discourse purpose of the textbook author as well as their language methods and strategies to enrich their meaning potential.

SUBJECT CULTURE CODE "KAZAKH YURT": GENESIS AND SEMANTICS

The article includes the analysis of the semantics of the subject code Kazakh yurt. At present, the issues of content and semantics, functions, definitions of the term "cultural code" are the subject of scientific research in many branches of the humanities. In the scientific discourse there is a significant number of works, the authors of which put different ideas and meanings in the concept of "cultural code", which is due to its polysemantic and versatility features. But at the same time, the researchers are unanimous that cultural code is an integral part, semantic core, matrix of the cultural process; is an essential component of the national picture of the world. The location of functioning and self-presentation of cultural codes in the spiritual sphere are the so-called secondary sign systems (along with natural languages, recognized as the original "basic semiotic system", as primary sign system), namely: myth, religion, folklore, literature, art - painting , dance, architecture, sculpture, cinema, science, etc., which play a dominant role in the process of generation and transmission of socio-cultural knowledge, experience and values ​​of society. The source and context for the formation of cultural codes is the Universe: 1) objects and phenomena of the natural landscape environment surrounding a person, the near and far Universe; 2) a person – who is feeling, seeing, hearing, tactile, thinking, with his inherent higher forms of thinking and self-consciousness; 3) society, i.e. a community of individuals and individualities; 4) the world of objects and things created by human, i.e. realities of ethnic culture. In the system of cultural codes, an important place is occupied by the subject code, which includes an extremely wide list of objects and phenomena of nature, as well as the materialized results of human activity, which, as a result of semiosis, along with their immanently inherent properties, can be attributed with other qualities/ meanings / functions, i.e. acquire the status of a sign/symbol. It is concluded that the yurt archetype was formed on the basis of the most archaic stage of cosmological ideas about the multi-tiered Universe and vertical axis of the world connecting all its parts, as well as the cult of the sun, sky, the goddess Umai, the cult of ancestors, etc.

Narration and multimodality: The role of the human body and material objects in science teaching

<span>This article seeks to shed light on the semiotic approach to science teaching and learning. Essentially, the mental representations of learners are also affected by the sign vehicles employed to communicate ideas in the material world. Thus, any learning object also appears as a material representation, consisting of acoustic and visual forms, which affect its content. The human body’s kinetic modalities, spatial configurations (i.e., graphs, images), material objects, prosody, as well as the written and spoken word constitute the perceptual data that encode the concepts. This particular paper deals with the possibility that the more emphatic signifiers, i.e., the human body and material objects, can create narrative spaces and produce meaning during science teaching. It also discusses alternative uses of material objects along with the multiple interpretations their visual images can evoke. As regards the human body, iconic, deictic, and ergotic gestures are analyzed as forms that produce meaning and are autonomous and dynamic when working with the other semiotic systems. Both material objects and the human body rely upon the ability of the learners’ imagination to transport them to narrative worlds located outside the classroom.</span>

The Poesis and Politics of English-es in Singapore: Intersubjective Worlding in the Poetry of Joshua ip And Hamid Roslan

This research article discusses developments in contemporary Anglophone Singapore poetry where a proliferation of writers' groups and literary initiatives has led to efforts to define a localized Anglophone poetic tradition. Focusing on the debut collections of two young poets, Joshua Ip and Hamid Roslan, we argue that the presence of Singlish in their work functions as a site of hermeneutical openness that challenges a neocolonial articulation of Singaporean cultural formations centered on ideologies of standardized English usage, which have homogenized ethnic identities and supported a narrative of national progress. This article theorizes the heteroglossic potentialities of the intersubjective lifeworld found in Ip's and Hamid's poetics by discussing how they eschew any naturalized relationship between language as a semiotic system and sociohistorical being, in favor of a renewed query into Anglophone writing as an accumulation of asymmetrical and uneasy cultural relations.

Logonomic signs as three-phase constraints of multimodal social semiosis

Abstract The article introduces the concept of the logonomic sign as an elaboration on Hodge and Kress’s promising yet under-examined ideas about logonomic systems. Logonomic signs are defined as socially devised signs that constrain multimodal semiosis by restricting who is able to produce what signs under what circumstances. Based on the Peircean categories, the functioning of logonomic signs is modeled as a three-phase process of (1) logonomic understanding (production of the meaning that is the Initial Interpretant of a logonomic sign), (2) logonomic actualization (production of the actual semiotic event that is the Dynamical Interpretant of a logonomic sign), and (3) logonomic reproduction ([re]production of the semiotic Habit that is the Final Interpretant of a logonomic sign). Based on Kull’s theory of evolution of semiotic systems, logonomic signs are theorized as mechanisms of retention and standardization of semiotic Habits. The mechanism of reproduction of logonomic signs is modeled as a sign in which past logonomic semioses function as Objects by being iconically represented by similar current logonomic semioses functioning as Representamens, and in which future logonomic semioses are produced as Interpretants. The methodological potential of the proposed concept is discussed in the context of the integrative transdisciplinary capacity of semiotics in social research.

Teaching Multimodal Metadiscourse in English for Academic Purposes

On the one hand, metadiscourse consists of discourse markers that do not add propositional content to discourse. On the other, multimodality is based on a functional analysis of language and includes all semiotic systems and resources. The two fields of knowledge make up multimodal metadiscourse. As both text and images are useful to guide readers in English for academic purposes (EAP), I included them in this analysis on multimodal metadiscourse performed for teaching purposes. The main objectives of this paper are, first, to identify the textual and visual metadiscourse devices used by EAP learners enrolled in an engineering degree and by engineers in research papers. The second is to compare the frequencies of the multimodal metadiscourse devices used by engineering learners and researchers in order to propose some hints that may be useful for EAP teachers. To this end, I compiled and analysed two corpora: one made up of research papers and the other consisting of material written by English learners, both on engineering. The results showed the features of multimodal metadiscourse still to be acquired by EAP learners. After that, some tips were suggested for the design of activities taking into account the results and examples extracted from the analysis of the two corpora. Finally, conclusions were drawn on the most frequent multimodal metadiscourse devices used and their possible use in teaching EAP.