Modeling Language, Gestures Space in the Classroom

摘要

Teaching and learning in the classroom is a multimodal experience. The teacher uses a range of modalities such as language, gestures and classroom space to construct a classroom experience for students. This paper investigates the multimodal orchestration of these three modalities in the classroom of the film, Dead Poets Society. A detailed micro-analysis of the modalities is achieved by applying Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse Analysis (SF-MDA) and using the interface of the Multimodal Annotation and Analysis Tool developed in the Multimodal Analysis Lab, National University of Singapore. As the study of gestures in Systemic Functional Theory is still at a developmental stage, this paper also proposes an approach to annotating gestures and mapping the meanings made. This paper explores the applications of SF-MDA to classroom research and considers how Systemic Functional Theory can offer a viable perspective to understand the co-deployment of the various modalities in pedagogic semiosis.