Lesson 3: Evaluating Messages and Images of Different Text Types

Learning Outcomes
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to achieve the following:
1. Evaluate multimodal texts critically to enhance receptive skills (i.e. listening, reading,
viewing).
2. Convey ideas through oral, audio-visual and/or web-based presentations for different
target audiences in local and global settings using appropriate registers.
3. Adopt awareness of audience and context in presenting ideas.

EVALUATING MESSAGES AND/OR IMAGES OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEXTS REFLECTING

DIFFERENT CULTURES

As discussed in Lesson 1, the advancements in digital technology paved the way to innovative
modes and platforms of communication. The massive and rapid developments in digital
communications ushered in a new era of communication that does not simply rely on words,
but also on images and other semiotics of the channel used to convey the message.

The effects of cultural and global issues to communication were highlighted in previous
discussions, as well as the impact of effective communication to society and the world. This
has highlighted the importance of exploring the concept of World Englishes, or as defined by
Celce-Murcia (2014), the regionally distinct varieties of English that have arisen in parts of the
world where there is a long and often colonial history of English being used in education,
commerce and government.

There is no debate that the English language has become the most widely used language for
most purposes of communication in international diplomacy, business, science, education
and entertainment. Over time, this widespread use of English – spoken side by side with local
languages – has given rise to local varieties of English with their own standards. Examples of
World Englishes are Indian English, West African English, Singapore English, and Filipino
English.

One major issue that has been raised with respect to these established varieties is that they
are often not fully intelligible to users of other varieties of English. For example, a Filipino
ordering food in a restaurant in Singapore for the first time would be confused when he is
asked, “Having here, or take away?” because in the Philippines, they are more accustomed to
“Dine in, or take out?” Kirkpatrick (2007) proposes a scale with two extremes that characterize
this problem:
Extreme 1: The goal of national or regional identity. People use a regional variety of English
with its specific grammar, structure and vocabulary to affirm their own national or ethnic
identity (e.g. Only Filipinos use the terms “senatoriable”, “congressman”, “chancing”, and
“bedspacer”, among others, and use these when communicating with other Filipinos).
Extreme 2: The goal of intelligibility. Users of a regional variety should ideally still be readily
understood by users of English everywhere else in the world to fully participate in the use of
English as an international language (e.g. Users of Filipino English have to understand that
they have to use “bin” instead of “trash can” or “lift” instead of “elevator” when in a country
using British English).

The challenge is to find a good balance between the identity-intelligibility extremes. Hence,
speakers of the English language may resort to code-switching (i.e., using English and another
language in the same statement). For example, Filipinos may use a strongly local version of
Filipino English to communicate with fellow Filipinos using English as medium, but they
should use a weaker and more formal version when communicating with users of other
varieties of English, especially when international intelligibility is necessary.

The Power of Words and Images

Look at the illustration on international arrivals below. Answer the five key questions that
follow.

Five Key Questions:

1. What is the message?
2. What is the purpose of the message?
3. How is the message conveyed (by the text and/or image)?
4. Who is the target audience of the message?
5. What other ways of presenting the message are there?

Before effectively engaging in multicultural communication, people have to be ready and

knowledgeable for situations such as the one demonstrated in the illustration. If anything
unplanned or unanticipated comes up, there must be alternative ways of communicating the
same message without being offensive.

The illustration above sends a relatively vivid and powerful message not just through the use
of a careful juxtaposition of text and illustration, but also because of the other semiotics or
elements such as color combinations. This is called a multimodal presentation.

Multimodality

Multimodality is a fairly new concept in the general academic setting, but can be a very
powerful tool in light of digital and multicultural communication. A text or output is
considered multimodal if it uses two or more communication modes to make meaning. It
shows different ways of knowledge representations and meaning-making, and investigates
contributions of semiotic resources (language, gestures, images) that are co-deployed across
various modalities (visual, aural, somatic, etc.). Most importantly, multimodality highlights the
significance of interaction and integration in constructing a coherent text.

A multimodal text can either be one of the following:

Paper (books, comics, posters, brochures)
Digital (slide presentations, blogs, web pages, social media, animation, film, video games
Live (performance or an event)
Transmedia (A story is told using multiple delivery channels through a combination of
platforms, such as comics, film, and video games all working as part of the same story with
the same message.)

The creation of multimodal texts and outputs requires a creative design concept that
orchestrates the purposive combination of text, color, photo, sound, spatial design, language,
gestures, animations and other semiotics, all with the unitary goal of bringing meaning to life.

The following are examples of posters that showcase good multimodality.

This is a poster entitled “Run for Rio”, a run-for-a-cause
event organized for the benefit of the Philippine
International Volunteers for the 2013 World Youth Day
which was held in Rio de Janeiro Brazil.
The inclusion of the multi-colored bird, the official
mascot of that year’s World Youth Day, is crucial in
juxtaposing it with the actual text on top of the photo.
Since Blue is used as the poster’s dominant color, the
multi-colored symbol is highlighted that even if the
onlooker fails to read the text, the purpose of the event
will still be obvious.
The same reason goes with the use of the silhouette of
a man running (suggestive of the nature of the event)
and the Christ the Redeemer statue on top of mountain
(the symbolic representation of Rio de Janeiro.)
The use of Red in the text for the amount aand the
running distance puts attention to the event details
without overshadowing the other details. The inclusion
of the biblical quote and the cross also add to the
religious motive of the event, thus making it coherent.
The poster is titled “Concert for Kids”,
which is fund-raising concert for the
New Jersey (NJ) Kids Foundation in the
U.S.
The dominant photo is that of a guitar,
suggesting the music-inclined nature
of the event. The use of candies is
suggestive of the concert’s
beneficiaries, who are kids with special
needs. The use of various colors adds
to the notion on the playful nature of
kids.
The font used is also playful rather than
sharp, and the dominant color of light
blue is light on the eyes, as well as the
other color palettes used in the poster.
Both posters, Run for Rio and Concert
for Kids, demonstrate purposive use of
semiotics to forward a specific
message. These are successful in
meaning making through the interplay
of various elements.

In creating a multimodal text, the Purpose, Audience, Context must all be considered.
As to purpose, the creator of the text must be clear on the message and the reason(s) why
the message has to be delivered.
As to audience, the nature, interests and sensitivities of the target audience must be
considered so the text will not be offensive and hurt people’s sensibilities.
As to context, the message should be clearly delivered through various semiotic resources,
and in consideration of the various situations where and how the text will be read by different
people having different cultural backgrounds.