Multimodality of scientific discourse in technological explanations included in university textbooks of Physics

Authors

  • Carla Inés Maturano
  • Carina Alejandra Rudolph

Keywords:

Multimodality; Physics; Technological explanations; University textbooks; Technological devices

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the relationships between the semiotic systems that are combined when presenting technological explanations in university Physics textbooks with the aim of characterizing them for didactic purposes using the contributions of Systemic-Functional Linguistics. We selected the explanation of a technological object -printers- in six textbooks. We organize the study in three stages: analysis of the genre of the verbal text, analysis of the ideational meaning constructed by the images, and analysis of the logical-semantic relationships between the verbal and visual modes. The results show in the verbal texts a predominance of a sequence of events that explains the process of printing interrelated with a compositional report that pre-sents the components of the technological object and in visual texts an emphasis on the stages of the process or its components. The interrelation between verbal and visual texts is predominantly complementary, which requires that the reader implements specific inferential processes to overcome possible obstacles. This could be accomplished through tasks that guide students to unpack and link the typical semiotic systems of Physics.

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Published

2020-11-18

Issue

Section

Trabajos presentados a SIEF

How to Cite

Multimodality of scientific discourse in technological explanations included in university textbooks of Physics. (2020). Journal of Physics Teaching, 32, 241-249. https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/revistaEF/article/view/31000