Multimodal Discourse Analysis

Multimodal discourse analysis is a new approach for discourse analysis based on systemic functional linguistic. It investigates the meaning-making system of the combination of two or more than two semiotic resources within a text. Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) put forward Visual Grammar in 1990s which provides a theoretical foundation for multimodal discourse analysis. After that many researches have been done in this area both theoretically and practically. Not only language but other semiotic resources, such as visual images, color, typography, etc., are employed together to construct meaning in multimodal discourse analysis. It provides a new perspective for the study on textbook discourses.However, few studies have been made on college English textbook discourse by using multimodal discourse analysis, especially textbooks that applied to independent colleges. Therefore, this thesis attempts to analyze multimodal resources and the relations between images and texts in Applied College English II on the basis of Kress & Van Luuewen’s Viaual Grammar (1996) and Martinec and Salway’s Image-text Relation Framework (2005).Based on the multimodal resources in this textbook, the main contents of this thesis can be divided into three parts. The first part concerned with verbal modality in Applied College English II, which will be analyzed from the perspective of color and typography; then, based on Visual Grammar, images in this textbook will be analyzed from the aspects of representational, interactive and compositional meaning, which aims to study how images convey meaning in textbook discourses; finally, the relations between images and texts will be analyzed in detail on the basis of Martinec and Salway’s Imaeg-text Relation Framework (2005). The results show that (1) the arrangement of color and typography in Applied College English II is in accord with independent college students’cognitive characteristics, which can stimulate students’interest in participation in learning practice; (2) the images in this textbook have close relationship with social cultural contexts; (3) the text and image co-employ together to make meaning, but most images are subordinate to texts and function as auxiliary in this textbook.The results of this thesis have certain implications for college English teaching. It is significant for both the cultivation of multiliteracy and textbook design.