009. Critical Reading in Everyday Texts

This e-learning task was attempted as a pairwork by Jess and I.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Voloshinov (1986) mentioned that,
"written texts are not neutral, transparent windows
on the realities of the social and natural world."

This is agreed upon Allan Luke (1995) as he says that written texts are refractive in the way that they "actively construct and represent the world." Thus construing the fact that being able to read critically is an important skill to acquire such that one will be able to uncover the underlying ideologies, reality and relationship depicted by the text makers in a particular cultural context.

Following Freebody and Luke’s (1990) four‐part model for “Reading as Critical Social Practice”, I will attempt to analyse a multimodal advertisement that was found at bus-stop stands in Singapore using the 4 elements of the model - Coding, Semantic, Pragmatic, and Critical Competences.

Coding Competence (How do I crack this?)
Firstly, there is a danger sign pasted right in the middle of a popular handheld game set, and even if one is illiterate, there is a icon with an exclamation mark, which non-arbitrarily relates to the action of 'warning'. Furthermore, the danger sign made use of colours like yellow and black to emphasize the warning as the two colours have a non-arbitrary relationship with danger (Just like bees). Framing was used to separate the word 'Danger' and the icon from the rest of the text. The word 'Danger' and the icon are emphasized through the use of a larger font size and it is placed right at the top of the whole text. The next most prominent message has the second largest font size and the two-liner text is placed right in the center of the whole text. Textually, the message is to be read in a left-right directionality, which is usually the norm for texts.

At the bottom left, there's a small logo belonging to Health Promotion Board, the initiators of the advertisement.

Semantic Competence (What does this mean?)

On the danger sign, we can see the following message,

DANGER
PROLONGED USE MAY HARM CHILDREN'S EYES.
Minimise time spent on unnecessary near work such as playing handphone or handheld computer games. Instead, encourage your child to spend more time outdoors.
Keep myopia at bay, go outdoors and play.

Armed with a basic alphabetic, spelling, punctuation knowledge and phonemic and phonological awareness, one will be able understand that the message is trying to say that devices such as handheld computer games and handphones may harm children's eyes in the long run and lead to myopia. Children are better off playing outdoors.
Pragmatic Competence (What do I do with this, here and now?)

By pasting the danger sign on the handheld game set, the advertisers are trying to show that there is some sort of danger lurking in the handheld game set. But is the gaming devices really so dangerous to children that it deserves to be pasted with a ‘Danger’ sign? From the message, it does not seem to be that dangerous since only ‘prolonged’ use MAY harm children’s eyes. Maybe the message has less to do with myopia than getting parents to let their children lead a more active lifestyle. The reason for saying so is based on the advice given by the Health Promotion Board that parents should “instead, encourage your child to spend more time outdoors. Keep myopia at bay, go outdoors and play”.

Critical Competence (What is the text trying to do to me? In whose interests?)

This illustrates the multimodality of this advertisement which uses image and text to achieve the effects they want on its audience. The image is cleverly used so that the ad makers do not need to explicitly spell out what is harmful, the audience can see for themselves. The likely target audience of this advertisement is parents/caregivers of children as they are usually the ones who indulge their children in these devices, which results in their children’s addiction to these gaming devices. Due to the authority of parents, it is also assumed that they have the ability to remove such harmful devices from their children’s life.

The power play in this advertisement is between the Health Promotion Board and the parents/caregivers, who are supposedly the target audience. The Health Promotion Board, being a government body, is seen to be more knowledgeable in this particular domain than the general public, thus when they are trying to appeal to the parents/ caregivers to take care of their children’s eyes, their message is given in the form of a warning. This can be seen from the prominent use of imperatives in the text.

It seems like the text is genuinely based on the interests of the children as they are the pillars of the nation, therefore, their general health and even possible addiction to gaming (which is seen as a vice here) will affect the productivity of the country in future.

Critical reading activities (Sec 2 students)

Firstly, to start off a critical reading session with this target audience, the selection of the everyday text(s) must be one that is relevant and of interest to them. We also recall the concept of ‘hybridity’ in our selection of the texts. In this case, three texts bearing messages of anti-drug abuse have been selected. They were selected because the intention and message of the writer of these texts have been made known in secondary schools but in different modes (usually in the form of speeches or presentations). It would then be interesting for the students to decode and make meaning of these texts that are presented in a different form.

It is clearly shown that these texts bear a resemblance to some children narratives that are sold in the bookstores. A possible interpretation could be that children narratives have always been seen as fairytales/far-fetched stories, imaginative etc. Basically, these stories do not have an impact or influence on readers. Such thinking could be perceived by many non-drug users these days whereby they think that drug abuse does not concern them or there is no possibility that they could be one. However, this text, with the type of words and semantic structure seem to suggest otherwise. It gives the possibility that anyone could be a drug user, and when you are one, the good life you had previously would be gone. The names and characters portrayed by the images bears relation to anyone who shares the same lifestyle as the characters mentioned.

The critical reading model that was mentioned above could be used to help the students critically read this message as they seek to learn their roles as a code breaker, text participant, text user and text analyst. The teacher first introduces what each element of competence entails and uses simpler texts to illustrate. Next, for the actual activity of the above selected texts, the ‘Jigsaw’ approach could be used. The students can be grouped into the respective four competencies to discuss what the text means in each element of competency. Next, the four groups are re-grouped to form smaller groups which comprises of a member of each competency group. They can then, together, form their interpretation or meaning of the text.

Some questions that the students may ask when they are in their element of competency group are:
-What message does the image gives?
-What genre of text is this text similar to? Why does the writer choose to use this similarity?

-What message is he trying to bring across through this similarity?
-What is your first impression of this text?
-Does the intended message of this text match the first –impression of this text? What is the meaning and reason behind this mis-match?
-What is being foregrounded and backgrounded in the texts?
-What kind of function do the words in the text do?

008. Literacy and Hybridity in the classroom

"Seize the teachable moments!"

The above tagline is not uncommon to many in the teaching profession. This point has been told to us by our lecturers, Cooperating Teachers and supervisors and it seem to be reinforced in Gutierrez's article in his concept of third spaces in the classroom.

The classrooms of today are more diverse than ever, especially so with widening income gaps among the SES levels and influx of foreign students who bring with them their cultures. As such, we can see that the background of each child is different and this has a bearing on their perspectives of their worldview and learning abilities. There are times when these differences may cause conflicts or embarassing moments in the classroom and instead of just solving the conflict at hand, the teacher can turn it into a teachable moment for the class. For example, there was a boy from Bangladesh who joined my class mid-term. His caregivers at home do not speak English and he could barely speak a proper sentence in English. This gave him much difficulty in communicating with his classmates. To add on, there was this particular way of moving his head as he speaks which caused him to the subject of ridicule from many of his local classmates.

Looking back at this scenario and if I have read this article then, the concept of third spaces and teachable moments can be applied. His friends ridiculed or avoided him because they did not have a proper understanding of his background and cultural differences. I could have created a 'space' for that understanding to occur by asking him to share about his life in India and practices that are different from the local practices. In this case, both parties of children gain new insights and understanding, and hopefully learn to accomodate each other in the classroom.

007. Same message but different modes

Extending on the example shared by my group in class using a biblical text, I have found another passage (in written text) presented in another 2 different modes (still images and moving images).

1) Written Text























2) Still Images (with written text in it too)




















3) Moving Images (with written text)




In the examples above, it can be seen that the same message can be presented in more than one mode, and in the later two examples, they are multi-modal where the logic of space and time is used. As one who is a user of this text, I can't say that one form is better than the other because they serve different purposes and target audiences. The latter examples would benefit and appeal to audiences who are not within the discourse community of this text (in the first example). It also helps to complement users of the first text by facilitating understanding of the written text alone through making meaning from the images.

Hope I am making sense =p

005. Spider Lily

This is a picture of a spider lily. With its stark white petals foregrounding the flower, it stands out as the most salient object in the picture. The flower is also in the centre of the picture and the petals appear to be ‘reaching out’ to fill up majority of the page. The green blurry grass is being set as the background in contrast to the crisp and vivid foregrounding of the flower.

As mentioned by Nelson, this picture of a spider lily was taken within the NIE compound. On a usual school day when one is rushing for classes, breaks and project meetings, this object is often bypassed and needless to say, seldom would one stop and take a moment to ponder what significance or meaning this spider lily can bring. Interestingly, when one does take a moment to ponder (like now!!), this ordinary picture of a spider lily can bring forth many potential meanings (to me).

1. The whiteness of the spider lily gives a connotation of innocence, purity and peace.


2. Spider lilies grow in clusters, as evident from the picture, and it reminds me of a family unit. From the picture, we can see that majority of the flowers are in bloom and in the ‘pink of health’. However, there are some at the bottom of the picture which have wilted and have passed their prime. This is similar to a family, where the wilted flowers may represent our family members (usually the grandparents) who have passed the prime of their years, into retirement age or may have passed on. The flowers in bloom represent the children at present and the orange bits (which I think is the stigma or pollen? =p) represents the continuation of the family unit till future generations.

3. Being a plant, the spider lily is subject to various weather conditions and at times, unfortunate unforeseen circumstances. Yet, in the midst of such adversity, they are able to grow and bloom. This shows the resilience of this flower despite threatening circumstances. I liken this to human beings and life. We are often subject to difficult situations that we have no control over and many times, they threatened to bring us down. However, if we are able to rise above our situations, we will find our characters being molded and strengthened. When we develop resilience in our characters and lives, we are able to stand tall and bloom.

These meanings mentioned are not exhaustive and the list can go on, it all depends on our imagination to look a bit closer and think a bit more. =)

004. Semiotics Talk

In this week’s reading on semiotics, two aspects (framing and typography) caught my attention.

The concept of framing in advertisements, books etc are not new as they have been learnt during previous modules. However, it was interesting to me that the author mentioned that framing can occur not only in visual images but also in physical spaces like offices and classrooms. The concept of framing in a classroom arrangement is one that I can apply in my future classroom to achieve certain objectives that I want to meet. For example, a closed-plan and an open-plan classroom would serve different purposes and ‘atmospheres’ that I want to set in my class. Using the open-plan approach would give me, the teacher, more autonomy in how I want to arrange the seats and furniture in my classroom to facilitate learning for my pupils and complement my teaching. However, I must also bear in mind that the interests of the pupils must always be a priority when planning the framing of my classroom.

Next is typography. It was interesting to read how typography has evolved and found its place in social semiotics over time. Being an avid scrapbooker, I often use different types of fonts in different layouts to complement the meaning that I want to bring across in my work. Very often, the choice of font can make or break a layout.

Here are two examples.

In this layout, I wanted to create a classical and vintage look. The use of the fonts in the word ‘EMBRACE’ helps to bring across this feel.

The layout below is meant to be a fun and wacky one. If the fonts that were used for the previous layout was used here too, it would not be able to bring across the fun theme of the layout. To bring out the theme, I have then chosen casual and more ‘fun-looking’ fonts for the phrase ‘SILLY FACES’.

The use of typography and the potential meaning-making it brings with it can be extended to many different uses and aspects of life and society. And in the above two examples, I have just shown how I used typography as a resource for meaning making.