| In recent years,with the development of information technology,the education field has reformed itself and given birth to Massive Open Online Courses(MOOCs).Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,distance learning and online teaching will be a norm of education in the foreseeable future.Therefore,in this context,it is necessary to study the teaching methods and interactive model of MOOCs.Based on the theories of Systemic Functional Grammar and Visual Grammar,this paper conducts a comparative analysis of visual and verbal modes in Chinese and foreign MOOCs on English for Second Language Learners(ESL MOOCs)with the aid of software ELAN 6.0 and Ant Conc 3.5.7.It mainly explores similarities and differences between Chinese and foreign MOOCs in the following aspects: the frequency and distribution of different modes,the mode collocations and relationships,and most importantly,the functions of various modes in constructing communicative meaning between MOOC teachers and students.The underlying reasons for the differences are also analyzed.It is found that there are similarities between Chinese and Foreign ESL MOOCs in use of gestures,facial expressions and modality,while they perform differently in employing Mood,intonation,background surroundings and size of frame.The annotation results also demonstrate that Chinese and foreign MOOCs adopt different semiotic modes in different teaching phases of lead-in,presentation and summary.These differences may be closely related to the discrepancies between China and foreign countries in their development history of MOOCs,their cultural background,and their understanding of teacher-student relationship.In terms of mode combinations and relations,Chinese and foreign MOOCs share six mode combinations,which are spoken language and gestures,spoken language and facial expression,spoken language and image,spoken language,image and texts,spoken language and visual texts,and spoken language and embedded video and animation.There are also two different mode collocations between the two corpora: spoken language and background,and spoken language and size of frame.Chinese MOOCs teachers prefer to use premade virtual background with changeless middle shots,while foreign MOOCs are often recorded in a casual and real environment with constant changes of frame size.All the above eight mode collocations embodies different mode relations of reinforcement,coordination,foreground-background and whole-part(abstract-specific).As far as the teacher-student communicative meaning construction is concerned,both of the Chinese and foreign MOOCs use many median-value and low-value modal expressions to adjust assertiveness degree of teachers’ tone,and use many gestures to help students understand the teaching content,which shows MOOC teachers’ kindness and creates a harmonious class atmosphere.However,compared with Chinese MOOCs,foreign MOOCs employ more short sentences of falling intonations,which is easier for students with weak language foundation to keep up with the teaching pace.Additionally,in comparison with Chinese MOOCs that are mostly recorded against virtual and formal background with the unchangeable middle shot,foreign MOOCs are mostly recorded in topic-related casual settings with constant changing sizes of frame.This practice contributes to narrowing the power gap between teachers and students,and effectively reducing the visual fatigue of students.Finally,the author puts forward some suggestions for the deficiency of Chinese MOOCs in using semiotic modes.By integrating of the theory of multimodal discourse analysis and the teaching practices of Chinese and foreign MOOCs,this study provides beneficial enlightenment for improving Chinese MOOC design,promoting students’ interaction and participation in online courses,and speeding up the “going global” process of high-quality Chinese MOOCs. |
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