Len Unsworth – författare

The unprecedented rate of global, technological, and societal change calls for a radical, new understanding of literacy. This book offers a nuanced framework for making sense of literacy by addressing knowledge as contextualised, embodied, multimodal, and digitally mediated.In today’s world of technological breakthroughs, social shifts, and rapid changes to the educational landscape, literacy can no longer be understood through established curriculum and static text structures. To prepare teachers, scholars, and researchers for the digital future, the book is organised around three themes – Mind and Materiality; Body and Senses; and Texts and Digital Semiotics – to shape readers’ understanding of literacy. Opening up new interdisciplinary themes, Mills, Unsworth, and Scholes confront emerging issues for next-generation digital literacy practices. The volume helps new and established researchers rethink dynamic changes in the materiality of texts and their implications for the mind and body, and features recommendations for educational and professional practice.

The unprecedented rate of global, technological, and societal change calls for a radical, new understanding of literacy. This book offers a nuanced framework for making sense of literacy by addressing knowledge as contextualised, embodied, multimodal, and digitally mediated.In today’s world of technological breakthroughs, social shifts, and rapid changes to the educational landscape, literacy can no longer be understood through established curriculum and static text structures. To prepare teachers, scholars, and researchers for the digital future, the book is organised around three themes – Mind and Materiality; Body and Senses; and Texts and Digital Semiotics – to shape readers’ understanding of literacy. Opening up new interdisciplinary themes, Mills, Unsworth, and Scholes confront emerging issues for next-generation digital literacy practices. The volume helps new and established researchers rethink dynamic changes in the materiality of texts and their implications for the mind and body, and features recommendations for educational and professional practice.

This book establishes a new theoretical and practical framework for multimodal disciplinary literacy (MDL) fused with the subject-specific science pedagogies of senior high school biology, chemistry and physics. It builds a compatible alignment of multiple representation and representation construction approaches to science pedagogy with the social semiotic, systemic functional linguistic-based approaches to explicit teaching of disciplinary literacy. The early part of the book explicates the transdisciplinary negotiated theoretical underpinning of the MDL framework, followed by the research-informed repertoire of learning experiences that are then articulated into a comprehensive framework of options for the planning of classroom work. Practical adoption and adaptation of the framework in biology, chemistry and physics classrooms are detailed in separate chapters. The latter chapters indicate the impact of the collaborative research on teachers' professional learning and students’ multimodal disciplinary literacy engagement, concluding with proposals for accommodating emerging developments in MDL in an ever-changing digital communication world. The MDL framework is designed to enable teachers to develop all students' disciplinary literacy competencies. This book will be of interest to researchers, teacher educators and postgraduate students in the field of science education. It will also have appeal to those in literacy education and social semiotics.The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This innovative volume provides a new analytic framework for understanding how meaning-making resources are deployed in images designed for knowledge building in school science.The framework enables analyses of science images from the perspectives of both their complexity and recognizability. Complexity deals with the technical and abstract knowledge of school science (technicality), evaluative dispositions in relation to that knowledge (iconization) and the condensation of the technical and dispositional meanings as ‘synoptic eyefuls’ in discipline-specific infographics (aggregation). Recognizability concerns the relationship between the appearance of phenomena in reality and the reconfiguration of this reality in images (congruence), the perceptibility or discernibility of the features and contexts of phenomena in images (explicitness), and how images engage their viewers (affiliation). The framework is illustrated by more than 100 images in colour in the e-book and black and white in the paper version and will inform research into multimodal literacy pedagogy that incorporates an understanding of the role of images in the teaching and learning of school science.This book will be of particular interest to scholars in multimodality, semiotics, literacy education and science education.

This innovative volume provides a new analytic framework for understanding how meaning-making resources are deployed in images designed for knowledge building in school science.The framework enables analyses of science images from the perspectives of both their complexity and recognizability. Complexity deals with the technical and abstract knowledge of school science (technicality), evaluative dispositions in relation to that knowledge (iconization) and the condensation of the technical and dispositional meanings as ‘synoptic eyefuls’ in discipline-specific infographics (aggregation). Recognizability concerns the relationship between the appearance of phenomena in reality and the reconfiguration of this reality in images (congruence), the perceptibility or discernibility of the features and contexts of phenomena in images (explicitness), and how images engage their viewers (affiliation). The framework is illustrated by more than 100 images in colour in the e-book and black and white in the paper version and will inform research into multimodal literacy pedagogy that incorporates an understanding of the role of images in the teaching and learning of school science.This book will be of particular interest to scholars in multimodality, semiotics, literacy education and science education.

As ICT continues to grow as a key resource in the classroom, this book helps students and teachers to get the best out of e-literature, with practical ideas for work schemes for children at all levels. Len Unsworth draws together functional analyses of language and images and applies them to real-life classroom learning environments, developing pupils’ understanding of ‘text’. The main themes include:What kinds of literary narratives can be accessed electronically?How can language, pictures, sound and hypertext be analysed to highlight the story?How can digital technology enhance literary experiences through web-based 'book talk' and interaction with publishers' websites?How do computer games influence the reader/ player role in relation to how we understand stories?

As ICT continues to grow as a key resource in the classroom, this book helps students and teachers to get the best out of e-literature, with practical ideas for work schemes for children at all levels. Len Unsworth draws together functional analyses of language and images and applies them to real-life classroom learning environments, developing pupils’ understanding of ‘text’. The main themes include:What kinds of literary narratives can be accessed electronically?How can language, pictures, sound and hypertext be analysed to highlight the story?How can digital technology enhance literary experiences through web-based 'book talk' and interaction with publishers' websites?How do computer games influence the reader/ player role in relation to how we understand stories?

Researching Language in Schools and Communities is designed for those who intend to carry out and/or study research in children's language development, teaching English as a second language, children's literature, casual conversation, social class and language variation, classroom discourse, reading processes, teaching writing, literacy and curriculum area learning, critical literacies and related areas. The contributors are among the foremost researchers in these fields. In this book they introduce approaches to help investigate such areas in applied language research using systemic functional linguistics (SFL). A key purpose of this text is to facilitate the further engagement of language researchers with SFL perspectives, encouraging more collaborative transdisciplinary work across different fields of study and theoretical approaches in projects of mutual concern. The first two chapters outline the key aspects of SFL descriptions of the relationships between language and social context and the inter-related descriptions of text structures and grammatical systems.This provides sufficient background to enable those coming new to SFL to make productive, critical use of the research reviewed, studies described and advice on project design provided in the following chapters. Nevertheless, the book is an introductory resource and particular attention has been paid throughout to the extensive provision of clear references to more elaborated accounts of the important issues discussed. Len Unsworth is Professor in English and Literacies Education at the University of New England, Australia.

This volume presents an overview of new developments and applications of social semiotic theory. Pioneered by M.A.K. Halliday, social semiotic theory sees meaning as created through the interaction of texts (including writing, images, sound and space) within a given context. Divided into five sections, the contributors use social semiotic theory to analyse a range of contexts, including the classroom, the museum and cinema. The case studies show the range and scope of this method of analysis, and include: the school curriculum; literacy; print media; online resources; film; and advertisting."Multimodal Semiotics" will be of interest to academics researching social semiotic theory, systemic functional liguistics and applied linguistics.

This book establishes a new theoretical and practical framework for multimodal disciplinary literacy (MDL) fused with the subject-specific science pedagogies of senior high school biology, chemistry and physics. It builds a compatible alignment of multiple representation and representation construction approaches to science pedagogy with the social semiotic, systemic functional linguistic-based approaches to explicit teaching of disciplinary literacy. The early part of the book explicates the transdisciplinary negotiated theoretical underpinning of the MDL framework, followed by the research-informed repertoire of learning experiences that are then articulated into a comprehensive framework of options for the planning of classroom work. Practical adoption and adaptation of the framework in biology, chemistry and physics classrooms are detailed in separate chapters. The latter chapters indicate the impact of the collaborative research on teachers' professional learning and students’ multimodal disciplinary literacy engagement, concluding with proposals for accommodating emerging developments in MDL in an ever-changing digital communication world. The MDL framework is designed to enable teachers to develop all students' disciplinary literacy competencies. This book will be of interest to researchers, teacher educators and postgraduate students in the field of science education. It will also have appeal to those in literacy education and social semiotics.The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This book provides a re-conceptualization of grammar in a period of change in the communication landscape and widening disciplinary knowledge. Drawing on resources in systemic functional linguistics, the book envisions a ‘functional grammatics’ relevant to disciplinary domains such as literary study, rhetoric and multimodality. It re-imagines the possibilities of grammar for school English through Halliday’s notion of grammatics. Functional Grammatics is founded on decades of research inspired by systemic functional linguistics, and includes studies of grammatical tools useful to teachers of English, research into visual and multimodal literacies and studies of the genre–grammar connection. It aims to be useful to the interpretation and composition of texts in school English, portable in design across texts and contexts and beneficial for language development. The book will be of interest to researchers and teacher educators, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students and practicing teachers committed to evidence-based professional development.

This book provides a re-conceptualization of grammar in a period of change in the communication landscape and widening disciplinary knowledge. Drawing on resources in systemic functional linguistics, the book envisions a ‘functional grammatics’ relevant to disciplinary domains such as literary study, rhetoric and multimodality. It re-imagines the possibilities of grammar for school English through Halliday’s notion of grammatics. Functional Grammatics is founded on decades of research inspired by systemic functional linguistics, and includes studies of grammatical tools useful to teachers of English, research into visual and multimodal literacies and studies of the genre–grammar connection. It aims to be useful to the interpretation and composition of texts in school English, portable in design across texts and contexts and beneficial for language development. The book will be of interest to researchers and teacher educators, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students and practicing teachers committed to evidence-based professional development.

English Teaching and New Literacies Pedagogy: Interpreting and Authoring Digital Multimedia Narratives is about the fusion of media and narrative, and explores theoretical and practical dimensions of young people’s engagement with contemporary forms of text. It showcases a range of critical interpretative approaches for integrating multimedia narratives into English teaching contexts, including animated films such as Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing, digital novels such as Inanimate Alice and 5 Haitis, and a virtual treatment of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. English teachers across grade levels will recognize the valuing of literature and will appreciate the practical pedagogy and fostering of creativity as students are encouraged to explore new forms of narrative. In the context of developing expertise in knowing how multimodal texts work, students can apply that knowledge in their own authoring of digital multimedia narratives.

English Teaching and New Literacies Pedagogy: Interpreting and Authoring Digital Multimedia Narratives is about the fusion of media and narrative, and explores theoretical and practical dimensions of young people’s engagement with contemporary forms of text. It showcases a range of critical interpretative approaches for integrating multimedia narratives into English teaching contexts, including animated films such as Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing, digital novels such as Inanimate Alice and 5 Haitis, and a virtual treatment of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. English teachers across grade levels will recognize the valuing of literature and will appreciate the practical pedagogy and fostering of creativity as students are encouraged to explore new forms of narrative. In the context of developing expertise in knowing how multimodal texts work, students can apply that knowledge in their own authoring of digital multimedia narratives.

In an age where the use of electronic media is expanding and the nature of traditional texts and text-based learning is changing, new literacies are becoming increasingly important in the school classroom. This volume examines how new literacies can be used in the English curriculum, and presents a series of research-based studies applied to every level of school-age education. The chapters examine: early literacy; picture books; the internet; secondary school English; and the problems of assessment in the new literacy age. This forward-thinking volume will be of interest to teachers and academics researching education, literacy, applied linguistics, and social semiotic theory.

This volume presents an overview of new developments and applications of social semiotic theory. Pioneered by M.A.K. Halliday, social semiotic theory sees meaning as created through the interaction of texts (including writing, images, sound and space) within a given context. Divided into five sections, the contributors use social semiotic theory to analyse a range of contexts, including the classroom, the museum and cinema. The case studies show the range and scope of this method of analysis, and include: the school curriculum; literacy; print media; online resources; film; and advertising. Multimodal Semiotics will be of interest to academics researching social semiotic theory, systemic functional linguistics and applied linguistics.

This book examines educational semiotics and the representation of knowledge in school science. It discusses the strategic integration of animation in science education. It explores how learning through the creation of science animations takes place, as well as how animation can be used in assessing student’s science learning.Science education animations are ubiquitous in a variety of different online sites, including perhaps the most popularly accessed YouTube site, and are also routinely included as digital augmentations to science textbooks. They are popular with students and teachers and are a prominent feature of contemporary science teaching. The proliferation of various kinds of science animations and the ready accessibility of sophisticated resources for creating them have emphasized the importance of research into various areas: the nature of the semiotic construction of knowledge in the animation design, the development of critical interpretation of available animations, the strategic selection and use of animations to optimize student learning, student creation of science animations, and using animation in assessing student science learning. This book brings together new developments in these research agendas to further multidisciplinary perspectives on research to enhance the design and pedagogic use of animation in school science education.  Chapter 1 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book examines educational semiotics and the representation of knowledge in school science. It discusses the strategic integration of animation in science education. It explores how learning through the creation of science animations takes place, as well as how animation can be used in assessing student’s science learning.Science education animations are ubiquitous in a variety of different online sites, including perhaps the most popularly accessed YouTube site, and are also routinely included as digital augmentations to science textbooks. They are popular with students and teachers and are a prominent feature of contemporary science teaching. The proliferation of various kinds of science animations and the ready accessibility of sophisticated resources for creating them have emphasized the importance of research into various areas: the nature of the semiotic construction of knowledge in the animation design, the development of critical interpretation of available animations, the strategic selection and use of animations to optimize student learning, student creation of science animations, and using animation in assessing student science learning. This book brings together new developments in these research agendas to further multidisciplinary perspectives on research to enhance the design and pedagogic use of animation in school science education.  Chapter 1 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.