VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ----------o0o---------- NGUYỄN THỊ LAN AN SFL ANALYSIS OF MULTIMODALITY IN THE COURSEBOOK “ENGLISH FOR WATER RESOURCES” P “T A ” N. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Linguistics Code : 8220201.01 HANOI – 2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ----------o0o---------- NGUYỄN THỊ LAN AN SFL ANALYSIS OF MULTIMODALITY IN THE COURSEBOOK “ENGLISH FOR WATER RESOURCES” P “T A ” N M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Linguistics Code : 8220201. L Q Đ ng HANOI – 2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it are my own and have been generated by me as the result of my own original research.
I confirm that: This work was done wholly while I am in candidature for a Master degree at this University; This thesis has never been submitted partially or wholly for a degree or any other qualification at this University or any other institution; Where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always clearly attributed; Where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given. With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work; I have acknowledged all main sources of help; Where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself. I am fully aware that should this declaration be found to be false, disciplinary action could be taken and penalties imposed in accordance with University policy and rules. Hanoi, 2018 Author i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would have never been able to finish my thesis without the guidance of my supervisor, help from my friends and support from my family.
Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Assoc. Lam Quang Dong, my supervisor, for his support, enthusiasm, helpful advice and comments during the time of conducting this research. Without his enthusiastic assistance and instructions, it would have been impossible for the thesis to be completed. Secondly, I am also grateful to all lecturers of the Faculty of Post- Graduate Studies for their useful lessons which have inspired me and guided my research.
Furthermore, my thanks also go to my colleagues at Bac Bo Water Resources College who have helped me during the course. Finally, I would like to thank all my friends and my family for their love, support and encouragement which help me complete this thesis. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT Nowadays, studies of multimodal communication have grown rapidly to become a new trend of the 21st century. This multimodal analysis of the course book “English for Water Resources” fits in with that trend and is significant to teaching and learning ESP.
The analysis is based on a combined framework of Halliday‟s SFL and Kress and Leeuwen‟s Multimodality theory. The purpose of the study is to discover how multimodality is expressed in this material and thereby to find out the strengths and overcome weaknesses. Qualitative methods are applied to this study for the discussion of the verbal aspects that focus on Field, Tenor, Mode and in terms of representational, interactive, compositional meaning for visual elements. In analytic processing, verbal elements are represented by various linguistic devices, mainly material and relational processes.
Besides, images create full and new meanings for written texts, help readers understand the whole text easily. Results from this analysis will help the teachers and designers improve the quality of the book as well as the quality of teaching and learning when using the book. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES. vii PART A: INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the study.
Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Methods of the study. Organization of the thesis.
4 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW. Systemic Functional Linguistics. Review of previous research. 9 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURES.
Halliday‟s Systemic Functional Linguistics. Kress and van Leeuwen‟s Multimodal theory. 14 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. Analysis of the verbal elements based on SFL.
Analysis of the visual elements based on Multimodality theory. Limitations and suggestions for future research. I v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS SFL : Systemic Functional Linguistics ESP : English for Specific Purposes WRM : Water Resources Management WRC : Water Resources College vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 1: Summary of Transitivity Processes. 19 Table 1: The frequency of visual modes .11 Table 2: Material Process.
19 Table 3: Relational- Attribute Processes. 23 Table 4: Relational-identifying Processes. 24 Table 5: Illustration of the Mood of the texts. 28 Table 6: Summary of 8 pictures based on Multimodality.
37 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Today, in the period of industrialization and modernization, human life has greatly improved. Thus the ways people communicate have also dramatically changed and developed. It is highly possible that since their appearance as human, people communicated with one another through other visual means such as images, sounds, graphics, or colors before they developed their own languages.
Today, advancements in multimedia technology of the 4th industrial revolution have created possibilities for integrating different modes into textbooks. “English for Water Resources” is one among such textbooks. However, “English for Water Resources” is a very difficult technical material to be selected for teaching and learning at Water Resources College. So, the task of designers, educators is how to help students have the ability to read and understand specialized materials as well as create more motivations in learning.
The different communication channels, also known as multimodality/ multimodal communication, including writing, images, graphs, tables, etc., must be put to use as a necessary tool to support teaching. Therefore, using of multi-mode communication methods has great significance, not only consolidate source of knowledge but also create skills formation and develop students' thinking. How multimodal communication has been used in practice, especially in the course book “English for Water Resource”. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this use to promote to achieve higher results? Need to improve the multi-literacy for students how to understand and exploit information from polynomial means? This has given me the desire to conduct a small study entitled "An SFL analysis of multimodality in the course-book “English for Water Resources ".
1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Aims of the study As self-evident in the title, the study “An SFL analysis of multimodality in the course-book “English for Water Resources” analyzes multimodality in the course book “English for Water Resources” so as to identity the strong points and weak points of the book in this aspect, i. how information is rendered in various modes, including verbal signs, images, graphs, inter alia, as well as the interaction and mutual support among these modes. Results from this analysis will help the author and other concerned stakeholders improve the quality of the book, improve the quality of teaching and learning by teachers and learners when using the book.
Research questions To deliver those aims, the study seeks answers to the following questions: 1. What are the verbal elements based on SFL employed in the coursebook “English for Water Resources” ? 2. What are the visual elements based on Multimodality theory employed in the coursebook “English for Water Resources”? 3. What are the strengths and weaknesses concerning multimodality in the course book? 4.
Scope of the study The study is based on six lessons in the course book “English for Water Resources”, 1st edition, written by teachers in the English Department, Water Resources University in 2008. However, the researcher cannot cover aspects of language use; only focus on transitivity processes, tenses, mood to identity the language features and some typical images based on Multimodality theory to recognize the meanings and functions as well as the relationship between verbal and visual modes in the coursebook. 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Methods of the study This study is based on the SFL theoretical framework of multimodality to analyze multimodality in the course book and classify the modes into the concrete groups as verbal texts, images, pictures, tables.
The descriptive method is used in the description of lay-out, distribution, writing, images and tables in the course book. The analysis method is based on the SFL framework. Organization of the thesis This thesis consists of three parts, apart from References, Appendices and other necessary components of an M.A thesis: Part A: Introduction Presents the rationale of the study, aims, research questions, scope, methods of the study and the organization of the thesis. Part B: Development - Chapter I: Literature Review - reviews related analyses of textbooks using SFL multimodality framework and discusses the theoretical background relevant to issues of the study.
- Chapter II: Methodology and Procedures - describes the textbook and analytical procedures applied in the study. - Chapter III: Data Analysis and Discussion - presents findings to answer the research questions. Part C: Conclusion Summarizes the key issues and findings as well as the limitations of the study and makes suggestions for further research. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW The chapter I will review related literature and present basic concepts of multimodality as well as systemic functional linguistics to establish a theoretical framework for the analysis of the course book “English for Water Resources”.
The concepts chosen to be discussed are communication, multimodality, meta-functions. Communication Communication has an important role in our life. There are many different definitions of communication. According to Keyton (2011), communication can be defined as the process of transmitting information and common understanding from one person to another.
So communication is the process of conveying information from a sender to a receiver with the use of a medium thanks to which both the sender and receiver understand the communicated information in the same way. Today, the different categories of communication include spoken communication, written communication, and visualizations. Spoken/oral communication may be face-to-face, over the telephone, radio or television and other media. In communication process, a sender encodes a message and then uses a medium/channel to send it to the receiver who decodes the message.
In his/her turn, the receiver processed the information, and sends back appropriate feedback/reply using a medium/channel which could be the same as or different from the first one used by the sender. This is called two- way communication. However, written communication such as letters, e-mails, books, magazines, the Internet or via other media may not ensure instant interaction. Written communication involves any types of message that makes use of the 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com written words.
It also means one-way communication because the receiver listens to or reads the texts but may not respond instantly. Visualizations like graphs and charts, maps, pictures, images and other visualizations can also communicate messages. From the above definitions, we can see that all texts are multimodal. According to Kress and Van Leeuwen (1996) the written text is no longer structured by linguistic means, through verbal connection and verbal cohesive devices only but also visually, through layout, through the spatial arrangement of blocks of text, of pictures and other graphic elements on the page.