Weninger, Csilla

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the connections between and across Goffman’s sociological theories of social life and sociolinguistic theories of language use as communicative action. That there should be numerous points of convergence is quite obvious; Goffman’s scholarly attention was focused on the social organization of everyday life, which he conducted largely through detailed explorations of mundane interactional encounters. Sociolinguistics, particularly in the tradition of interactional sociolinguistics and the ethnography of communication, is also centrally concerned with how language use is tied to elements of social organization. In this chapter, we elucidate links between how Goffman and sociolinguistic scholars have approached the study of everyday social behaviour with reference to two aspects of social life that seem central both to (micro)sociology as well as sociolinguistics: selves/identities and situations/contexts. First, we review Goffman’s dramaturgical approach to the study of the social self and link it to how the concept of identity has developed within sociolinguistics as a relational orientation expressed through speakers’ linguistic-semiotic acts. Second, we draw connections between the microsociological concern with situations, Goffman’s development of frame analysis and sociolinguists’ long-standing interest in the significance of context. Our discussion will touch on the scholarly trajectory of these concepts in microsociology and sociolinguistics and draw out similarities and differences among them. Overall, the chapter will argue that although Goffman maintained a ‘principled refusal’ (Becker 2003:660) to discuss issues of method to guard against inevitable misinterpretations of any proposed approach, sociolinguists in the last four decades have drawn enough inspiration from his theories to develop analytic constructs as well as methodological tools for the empirical study of communicative action.

This paper introduces a Peircean semiotic approach to analysing the cultural content of EFL textbook materials. It argues that while traditional content analyses may provide valuable insights, they fail to provide a comprehensive picture of the cultural meaning potential of textbooks since they ignore a key element: how language learners interact with texts and visuals imbedded in the framework of a pedagogic task. We demonstrate how cultural meanings can emerge through processes of unguided semiosis, supported by sharing and reflection in a complex, non-linear and essentially dynamic learning environment. For this to happen, however, teachers may need to reconsider their current approaches to teaching culture, embrace complexity, and allow order to emerge from chaos in their classrooms. The paper suggests that collaboratively negotiated and shared (re)presentations of cultural meaning contribute to the development of the learners’ global cultural awareness and prepares them for intercultural citizenship in our globalized world.

Media literacy has become a central concern for educators and researchers in many different contexts around the globe. While researchers have produced a growing number of situated accounts of teachers’ media literacy instruction, few studies have examined the impact of a range of factors on teacher beliefs and professional practice. Drawing on quantitative survey data from 200 Singapore teachers, this article discusses how teachers’ beliefs, media use and aspects of their pedagogic practice interact with key individual and contextual variables and thus impact how media literacy is taught in classrooms, with implications for policy and practice.

Drawing on scholarship on affective-discursive practice and employing a critical multimodal analytic approach, this paper examines how an official vaccination campaign video from Singapore affectively engages with audiences through the construction of various social relationships and identities. Analysis of the multimodal images identifies four salient themes in the video: (1) a harmonious neighborhood comprising inter-ethnic friendships, (2) a paternalistic father-child relationship, (3) a male-dominant family model, and (4) a nostalgic past-present relationship. The analysis shows that affect is discursively mobilized in the orchestration of embodied modes, auditory, and visual modes via strategic filming and editing techniques. Based on the analysis, the authors argue that the video not only functions to subtly persuade the public to get vaccinated but should also be seen as part of a broader move toward an ‘affective politics’ which aims to mobilize the public, reinforce social cohesion and manage the global pandemic crisis in contemporary Singapore.

We report on the Phase 2 research activities and findings of the NIE/OER Educational Research Funding Programme and MOE CORE 3 project titled 'Integrating Multiliteracies into the English Language Classroom'. The project has two Phases: Phase 1 from March 2019 to December 2019 and Phase 2 from January 2020 to December 2021.

The purpose of this project is first to understand how multiliteracies, specifically multimodal literacy, are currently taught in the English Language subject classroom in Singapore schools and then second, to develop an instructional approach, informed by Systemic Functional Theory, multiliteracies, and multimodality studies, to teach multimodal literacy for upper primary and lower secondary students.

The study adopts a design-based research approach which involved the team of researchers working closely with the teacher-participants in the co-design of lesson packages. The goal of design-based research is to develop contextually-sensitive pedagogical practices and instructional strategies with a focus on the teacherparticipants’ professional learning and growth in the process.

Given the extraordinary pace at which especially new media technologies have developed in the last five to ten years, as well as the unprecedented amount of leisure time youth spend engaging with media such as television, Facebook, or games, there has been greater recognition by scholars, educators, and policymakers of the importance of incorporating media education and media literacy in schools and curricula. Current curricular approaches have moved away from a protectionist rationale toward a concern with supporting youth to become active media users (Buckingham, 2002). This shift towards recognizing youth’s agentive role particularly through digital social media has also led to a focus in media literacy programs on both production and consumption; in other words, fostering youth’s critical and reflective capacities in relation to both their consumption and production of media texts/content. Learner-centered pedagogies that draw on students’ everyday understanding, experience, and use of media in and out of school are advocated (Hobbs, 2011b). Recognizing and building on students’ media experiences is a key principle of media literacy curricula that aim to empower students to become active, reflective, and critical users of contemporary media.

Multiliteracies has been incorporated in the curriculum of many education systems around the world. Beyond the broadening of focus in literacy to include multimodal meaning‐making, multiliteracies pedagogies are also associated with certain pedagogical shifts, such as a focus on bridging the students' out‐of‐school literacy practices with what and how they are learning in school. This often involves appropriating social media as well as introducing popular culture topics in the classroom. This article discusses the students' perspectives of these ideas to inform the teacher's design of multiliteracies learning. Drawing on data collected through surveys and focus group discussions from a multi‐phased research project on multiliteracies in Singapore, we reflect on the students' expressions of their experiences and expectations on multiliteracies learning. In particular, we surface an instrumental view of learning where concerns over examinations and future career prospects cloud the students' learning. We also identify a desire among the students to keep their worlds of home and schools separate. While the discussion of the students' perspectives is anchored in the context of Singapore, the implications contribute to the global discourse among curriculum planners, educational researchers and teacher practitioners who are interested in improving the design of multiliteracies learning in their contexts.