1st Edition

A Multimodal and Ethnographic Approach to Textbook Discourse

By Germán Canale Copyright 2023
    160 Pages 9 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    160 Pages 9 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book offers a new framework for analysing textbook discourse, bridging the gap between contemporary ethnographic approaches and multimodality for a contextually sensitive approach which considers the multiplicity of multimodal resources involved in the production and use of textbooks.

    The volume makes the case for textbook discourse studies to go beyond studies of textual representation and critically consider the ways in which textbook discourse is situated within wider social practices. Each chapter considers a different social semiotic practice in which textbook and textbook discourse is involved: representation, communication, interaction, learning, and recontextualization. In bringing together this work with contemporary ethnography scholarship, the book offers a comprehensive toolkit for further research on textbook discourse and pushes the field forward into new directions.

    This innovative book will be of particular interest to students and scholars in discourse analysis, multimodality, social semiotics, language and communication, and curriculum studies.

    1. Discourse, multimodality and ethnography: A partnership for researching textbooks
    2. Textbook, representation and communication
    3. Textbook and Interaction
    4. Textbook and Learning
    5. Textbook and the Media
    6. Discourse, Multimodality and Ethnography: pushing textbook research forward
    7. Index

    Biography

    Germán Canale is Associate Professor at the Institute of Linguistics in the Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación at the Universidad de la República, Uruguay.

    "A Multimodal and Ethnographic Approach to Textbook Discourse is a must read for anyone interested in textbook analysis. Beautifully written and theoretically robust, the book draws on multimodality and critical discourse analysis to explore how textbook meanings are produced, the ways in which they circulate within and beyond classrooms, and the manner in which they are interpreted. Methodologically rigorous and ethnographically vivid, this scholarly work is a major contribution to the materials literature."

    John Gray, Professor of Applied Linguistics and Education, University College London, UK