Paul Fanning

H5965494
EE818-19J TMA02

EE818: Language, literacy and learning

TMA02

Part A, Task 2 – Reflection on the multimodal transcription (300 words)

Be sure to include highlighted section of Cowan!

From a multimodal perspective, communication can be understood as the

engagement of participants in a context with the semiotic resources available to

them, and texts as the combination of these resources – including movement and

gaze, as well as speech and text (Jewitt, 2007).

You should answer all questions, but may choose to focus on one more than

others.

1) Which extract did you choose, what takes place during it, and why did

you choose it?

The extract

2:27-2:56Choose an extract that includes the students utilising a variety

of modes , and guided by the research question, how the technology used

may be shaping learners’ interaction patterns

The extract was chosen to investigate how technology shapes learners’

interactions. It shows a sequence where learning takes place across various

modes, mediated by technology: 1)student 1 typing question on personal

Paul Fanning
H5965494
EE818-19J TMA02

digital assistant2)3)4)

2) What challenges or decisions did you face when carrying out the

transcription, and how did you resolve them?

Transcription challenges and decisions

a) Choosing the extract and

b) Choosing what to focus on impossible to include all modes in one

transcription (Creer, 2017)- both guided by the research question, how the

technology used may be shaping learners’ interaction patterns. Focus on

specific modes – not, for example, colour, as colour was not utilised in the

tech use. Also 야우’ㅅ include all screenshots, rather screenshots

representative of interactions.

Focused on the students and their relation to each other, and the technology

c) Choosing how to represent the modes in the table – leftmost column

prioritises (cowan p.14 for kress and leeuwen 2006 or halliday 7?)

Made a choice to summarise written and spoken texts, not present in full. Full

transcription of speech, a traditional approach (Flewitt et al. *

the fixed nature of transcription limits representation/interpretation to an

incomplete snapshot of a dynamic and complex event (Leander and Rowe, 2006,

p,431)

choice of tabular vs timeline layout (cowan)

Too much written text: only included one thread of interactions in transcript
Paul Fanning
H5965494
EE818-19J TMA02

Question of what to focus on is somewhat resolved by starting with a clear

research question (how is technology shaping learners’ interaction patterns)

3) Based on your transcription, how do you think the use of digital

technologies is having an impact on interactions in this context, and

what are the potential implications for learning?

The impact of digital technology on interactions and implication for

learning

The tech in particular facilitates an interaction whereby between the boy

and girl where her reading and his repetition realise an interpersonal

function of girl as teacher and boy as student, and she is scaffolding his

reading, and possibly the understanding of the third student who is not

reading himself.

The way the informaiton is approached because of the digital technologies

– presented as hints and info needed for completed a current task, give it

relevance and urgency (frame this with hallidayan ideas)

Analysis findings!

Mention the project’s goal (presentations?

4) How might you draw on your multimodal transcription to adapt the

activity for a teaching and learning context with which you are familiar?

Adapting the activity for use in a Korean high school

The multimodal transcription highlights the integration of the platform into

teaching and the rhizomatic nature of the students’ learning, how they learn by
‘finding their own pathways’ between various modes. The transcription reveals
Paul Fanning
H5965494
EE818-19J TMA02

most speech occurences as read from screens, so in adapting the activity for
my learning context I would =
Appendix, Part A, Task 1: Multimodal transcription

Screenshots Time/participant(s) Location/action Gaze Written language Spoken language

NARRATOR: Using the forums and

the instant messenger on the
MESSAGE: Could you
2:27-2:33 / Classroom desk / learning platform meant that they
at PDA screen send us some information
Student 1 uses stylus to type on PDA didn‘t have to (..) pause from
about Diseases and cures
whatever they were doing to
communicate with the rest of their
group or to find.. things out from
other people in other groups. And
there was people sending questions
MESSAGE: Could you to the computer suite and then the
send us some information people in the computer suite were
Computer suite / (..) finding it out and sending it back.
about Diseases and cures
- opens messages on PC
From: (Student’s name)
2:34-2:50 / - reads message
at PC screen, moving
Student 2 - scratches face
HIGHLIGHTED TEXT: {Students talk in background,
- highlights article paragraph
While large Tudor
- pastes into message unclear}
shipswould carry a
surgeon...

STUDENT 3: While large tudor

Classroom desk / ships would carry a surgeon,
diseases still ran (.) rampant.
Student 1
Dysentery was (.) commonplace”
- fidgets
- leans forward
Students 1, 3 STUDENT 1: Com..mon..place
- reads from PDA
at PDA screen
2:51-2:56 /
Not shown
Students 1, 3, 4 Student 3 STUDENT 3: [As was] scurvy
Student 4
- reads
at water bottle
- gives space to student 1 STUDENT 1: [As] As was
scurvy.
Student 4
- fidgets
- changes position uncertainly
References
Creer, A. (2017) ‘Communicative interactions in everyday and college-assessed
digital literacy practices: transcribing and analysing multimodal texts’ Research in
Post-Compulsory Education, Vol. 22 (3), pp.315-333.
Flewitt, R. S., Hampel, R., Hauck, M., and Lancaster, L. (2009) ‘What are multimodal
data and transcription?’ In: Jewitt, C. (ed) The Routledge Handbook of Multimodal
Analysis. London, Routledge, pp. 40–53.
Jewitt, C. (2007) ‘A multimodal perspective on textuality and contexts’, Pedagogy,
Culture & Society, Vol. 15 (3), pp.275-289.
Leander, K.M. and Rowe, D.W. (2006) ‘Mapping literacy spaces in motion: a
rhizomatic analysis of a classroom literacy performance’, Reading Research
Quarterly, Vol. 41 (4), pp. 428–60.
The Open University (2020) ‘Digital connections and rhizomatic learning through
language’ [Video], EE818: Language, literacy and learning. Available at
https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1483015&section=3.1
(Accessed 5 April 2020).