Week 7 of EDU5457 at UWO - A pedagogy of multiliteracies

1. Semiotics
+
Critical
Literacy

2. agenda
2
semiotics
semiotics &
critical literacy
semiotics &
multimodality

3. 3
semiotics

4. What
is
semiotics?
the study of signs
examines how symbolic, written, and
technical signs construct meaning
look at how meaning is made and
understood
4

5. Stop means stop
Apple means apple
Crown means crown
Signs are important because they can mean something other than themselves
Stop means danger
Apple means healthy
Crown means royalty

6. sign =
6
signifier+
signified

7. what you see
Signifier Signified
7
Sign
what you think
dog

8. what you see
Signifier Signified
8
Sign
what you think
exclamation
mark

9. Signifier Signified
9
Sign
red traffic light

10. 1 0
resembles the real thing
iconic
closely connected to the
real thing
indexical
no obvious relation
symbolic
types of signs

11. 11
scale model0 1
portrait0 2
sound effects0 3
iconic
directly resembles the real thing

12. 1 2
natural signs0 1
signals0 4
medical
symptoms
0 2
pointers0 5
measuring
instruments
0 3
indexical
directly connected in some way

13. 1 3
alphabetical
letters
0 1
traffic signs0 4
punctuation
marks
0 2
national flags0 5
morse code0 3
symbolic: does not resemble

14. Numerous
relationships
same signifier with
different signifieds
different signifiers with
the same signified
1 4

15. Could be a
word, colour,
image, sound
Signifier
The concept/
meaning/
associations
that the sign
refers to
Signified
1 5
Sign
apple

16. Could be a
word, colour,
image, sound
Signifier
The concept/
meaning/
associations
that the sign
refers to
Signified
1 6
Sign
rose

17. 1 7
buzzfeed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=THl9kJGYne0

18. 1 8
ellen
degeneres
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=vF9c5RE6c7c

19. 1 9
semiotics &
critical literacy

20. signs &
cultural
differences
the interpretation of a sign is
dependent on the context in
which it is used, its relationship
to other signs, and its
environment
2 0

21. 2 1
White
In Western culture, we associate
the colour white with innocence,
purity, weddings.
White
In China, white is the colour
of mourning and is worn at
funerals.

22. OK
OK in USA and UK
Money in Japan
Sex in Mexico
Homosexual in Ethiopia
Swearing in Brazil
Zero in Southern France
2 2

23. what you see
Signifier Signified
2 3
Sign
what you think
september 11

24. 2 4
big bang
theory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=qeefWS8YrDw

25. 2 5
trevor noah
https://youtu.be/Z3XCxV_pSBA?t=2m47s
start 2:51
end: 7:00

26. 2 6
stein and
newfield
Stein, P., & Newfield, D. (2007). Multimodal pedagogies,
representation and identity: Perspectives from post-
apartheid South Africa. In Cummins, J. & Davison, C.
(Eds.), International handbook of English language
teaching (pp.919-930). New York, NY: Springer.

27. 2 7
semiotics &
multimodality

28. 2 8
signifier
denotation
what you see
signified
connotation
what you think

29. 2 9
signified
what you think
signifier
denotation
what you see

31. 3 1
emoji dick
The first full book written in the modern
emojis was Emoji Dick, this 736-page
book is a direct translation of Herman
Melville’s American classic Moby Dick.

32. Multilit’ is fabulous 🤩 , with all the Modes
I’m sUrisped😱 I didn’t know:
Linguistic✍ , Spatial👣 , Gestural🙌 , Visual👀 , Audio🗣 .
I will incorproaTe them in my lessons( ,
to meet students) * needs and demonstrate in ✖ multIple✖ ways
how KnowLedge🏛 is conveyed.
I must say🎤 , language cannot be the only way
To understand social💃 🕺 and cultural 0 contexts.
With advanced tEchnology🖥 📱 💻 , students need to learn to decode💡 meaning
and decipheR🔍 what is accurate and true.
I can help teach them criticAl literacy📖 skills, so they do well 💁 8 and not get the blues.9 🙍
Teachers ( ; must use multiliteracies in all classes
to set the futurE generation< = up for success against the masses.

33. 3 3
explain the
emoji explode
https://youtu.be/2Xx4PV0kBdU?t=2m10s
start 2:12
end: 5:00

34. 3 4
Create an emoji story: Subject
Groups of 2-3
- Create an emoji story to teach something from your
teachable (a definition, a concept, an objective)
- choose a platform you will be using to show the story to
the class (whiteboard, screenshot on phone)
- determine what students will need to know in order to
decipher the message
- present to class

35. 3 5
Portfolio
Micro-
Teaching
Online
Resource

36. thank
you
3 6