Communication Modes

The medium or channel through which communicative intent is expressed.

Typical communication modes include natural speech, facial expression and gesture.
Exceptional communication modes include the use of graphic symbols or synthetic
speech. Communication generally draws on multiple modes, such as vocalization, speech,
gesture and symbols, and is referred to as “multimodal”.
Five Semiotic Systems (Modes)
According to The New London Group (1996), there are five semiotic systems to make meanings
in a multimodal text:
A. Written or Linguistic meaning: for spoken and written language through the use of
vocabulary, generic structure and grammar.
Five Semiotic Systems (Modes)
According to The New London Group (1996), there are five semiotic systems to make meanings
in a multimodal text:
B. Audio meaning: for music, sound effects, noises, ambient noise, and silence, through use of
volume, pitch and rhythm.
Five Semiotic Systems (Modes)
According to The New London Group (1996), there are five semiotic systems to make meanings
in a multimodal text:
C. Visual meaning: for still and moving images through the use of color, saliency, page layouts,
vectors, viewpoint, screen formats, visual symbols; shot framing, subject distance and angle;
camera movement, subject movement.
Five Semiotic Systems (Modes)
According to The New London Group (1996), there are five semiotic systems to make meanings
in a multimodal text:
D. Gestural meaning: for movement of body, hands and eyes; facial expression, demeanors, and
body language, and use of rhythm, speed, stillness and angles.
Five Semiotic Systems (Modes)
According to The New London Group (1996), there are five semiotic systems to make meanings
in a multimodal text:
E. Spatial meaning: for environmental and architectural spaces and use of proximity, direction,
layout, position of and organization of objects in space.
What is a
multimodal
text?
A multimodal text combines two or
more semiotic systems.

Like picture book, in which elements

are arranged on individual pages that
contribute to an overall set of bound
pages.
What is a
multimodal
text?
Like webpage, in which elements such
as sound effects, oral language,
written language, music and still or
moving images are combined.
What is a
multimodal
text?
Like live performance, in which
gesture, music, and space are the main
elements.
It can delivered via different media or
technologies:
A. Paper (books, comics, posters).
It can delivered via different media or
technologies:
B. Digital (slide presentations, e-books, blogs, e-posters, webpages, and social
media, through to animation, film and video games).
It can delivered via different media or
technologies:
C. Live (a performance or an event).
It can delivered via different media or
technologies:
D. Trans-media (story that is told using multiple delivery channels through a
combination of media platforms such as book, comic, magazine, film, web
series, and video games).
Importance of Multimodality
According to Harste (2010), multimodality is substantial in constructing activities that go beyond
print-based literacies.

Based from Cope & Kalantzis (2009), it recognizes that the digital media affordances make
modes other than text increasingly valuable.

It also provides opportunities for students to bring existing literacies into the classroom (Mills,
2010; Curwood & Cowell, 2011).