(Luận văn thạc sĩ) gender bias through pictures in the new english textbook set for vietnamese primary schools a critical discourse analysis

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ NHUNG

GENDER BIAS THROUGH PICTURES IN THE NEW ENGLISH
TEXTBOOK SET FOR VIETNAMESE PRIMARY SCHOOLS:
A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Sự kì thị giới qua hình ảnh trong bộ sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh mới
dùng cho bậc tiểu học tại Việt Nam qua góc nhìn phân tích diễn ngơn phê phán

M.A. MAJOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 8220201.01

HÀ NỘI - 2019


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ NHUNG

GENDER BIAS THROUGH PICTURES IN THE NEW ENGLISH
TEXTBOOK SET FOR VIETNAMESE PRIMARY SCHOOLS:
A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Sự kì thị giới qua hình ảnh trong bộ sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh mới
dùng cho bậc tiểu học tại Việt Nam qua góc nhìn phân tích diễn ngơn phê phán

M.A. MAJOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 8220201.01
Supervisor: Dr. Huỳnh Anh Tuấn

HÀ NỘI - 2019


DECLARATION
I hereby state that the thesis, entitled “Gender bias through pictures in
the new English textbook set for Vietnamese primary schools: A critical
discourse analysis” was carried out in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Master of Art at the University of Languages and
International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. This work is
original and all the sources that I used in the paper were documented by
means of references.
Hà Nội, 2019

Nguyễn Thị Nhung


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To complete this scientific research, I owe profound indebtedness to many
people for their tremendous support during the conduct of my study.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards
my devoted supervisor, Dr. Huỳnh Anh Tuấn for his intellectual consultancy

and constant encouragement, which were the decisive factors in the
completion of this paper.
Second, my sincere thanks go to all of the lecturers at the University of
Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for
their invaluable lessons that have established a solid base for my research
work.
Last but not least, I would like to thank all of my beloved family members
and friends for their tremendous love, care and support during the time of
conducting this research paper.


 

ii


ABSTRACT
The attempt to combat gender inequality in textbooks has recently
attracted a lot of researchers’ concern. However, it is worth noticing that
research to date has tended to focus on gender bias in textbooks represented
through linguistic rather than other non-linguistic features such as visual
design. Educationalists have become gradually aware of the increasing role of
visual communication in learning materials of various kinds since they
believe that pictures and photographs present meanings of their own. Among
such attempts, this research investigates gender bias through pictures in the
new English textbook set for Vietnamese primary schools, which aims to
1/ examine how different genders are represented via pictures in the new
English textbook set for Vietnamese primary schools, 2/ find out whether
gendered visual representations illustrate gender bias in this textbook set. In
so doing, qualitative and quantitative content analyses were adopted, in light

of multimodal critical discourse analysis to study images involving men
and/or women from three English textbooks. By analyzing 1,534 images, the
research showed that there was a clear females’ visibility in the workplace
and social activities. Nonetheless, there appeared hidden manifestations of
gender bias, mainly towards women in their family roles as mothers,
occupational roles, domestic tasks, contribution to the education of children,
leisure activities, color representations, and positions of females in
illustrations.


 

iii


TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION .................................................................................................................. i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ii
ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................ iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................ vi
LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................vii
LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1
1.1. Statement of research problem and rationale for the study ........................................ 1
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study ................................................................................ 4
1.3. Research questions...................................................................................................... 4
1.4. Scope of the study ....................................................................................................... 4
1.5. Method of the study .................................................................................................... 4
1.6. Significance of the study ............................................................................................ 5

1.7. Structure of the study .................................................................................................. 5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................... 7
2.1. Review of theoretical backgrounds............................................................................. 7
2.1.1. Critical discourse analysis ................................................................................... 7
2.1.2. Fairclough’s three-dimention model.................................................................... 8
2.1.3. Multimodal critical discourse analysis ................................................................ 9
2.1.4. Visual images..................................................................................................... 10
2.1.5. Social semiotics ................................................................................................. 11
2.1.6. The grammar of visual images........................................................................... 13
2.1.7. Gender bias in school textbooks ........................................................................ 20
2.2. Review of related studies .......................................................................................... 39
2.2.1. Review of related studies worldwide ................................................................. 39
2.2.2. Review of related studies in Vietnam ................................................................ 43
2. 3. Summary of the chapter ........................................................................................... 46
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .............................................................................. 47
3.1. Research questions.................................................................................................... 47
3.2. Research setting ........................................................................................................ 47


 

iv


3.3. Sampling ................................................................................................................... 48
3.4. Research approach .................................................................................................... 49
3.5. Research design ........................................................................................................ 50
3.6. Data collection .......................................................................................................... 50
3.6.1. Data collection instrument ................................................................................. 50
3.6.2. Data collection procedure .................................................................................. 51

3.7. Data analysis ............................................................................................................. 51
3.7.1. Analytical framework ........................................................................................ 51
3.7.2. Data analysis procedure ..................................................................................... 54
3.8. Ethical issues ............................................................................................................ 54
3.9. Summary of the chapter ............................................................................................ 55
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ......................... 56
4.1. Frequencies of different genders in illustrations....................................................... 56
4.2. Gender representations in social references.............................................................. 60
4.2.1. Family status ...................................................................................................... 60
4.2.2. Level of employment ......................................................................................... 63
4.2.3. Occupations ....................................................................................................... 65
4.3. Gender representations in activities .......................................................................... 71
4.3.1. Domestic tasks ................................................................................................... 73
4.3.2. Contribution to children education .................................................................... 76
4.3.3. Leisure activities ................................................................................................ 78
4.4. Compositional values................................................................................................ 82
4.4.1. Colors ................................................................................................................. 82
4.4.2. Positioning ......................................................................................................... 85
4.5. Summary of the chapter ............................................................................................ 87
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ......................................................................................... 88
5.1. Recapitulation ........................................................................................................... 88
5.2. Pedagogical implications .......................................................................................... 88
5.2.1. For educational authority ................................................................................... 89
5.2.2. For textbook writers and publishers .................................................................. 89
5.2.3. For teachers ........................................................................................................ 90
5.3. Limitations of the studies.......................................................................................... 91
5.4. Further research ........................................................................................................ 92
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 93
APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................... I

 

v


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CDA

: Critical Discourse Analysis

EFL

: English as a Foreign Language

ESL

: English as a Second Language

MCDA : Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis
MOET : Ministry of Education and Training


 

RQ

: Research Question

US

: The United States

VG

: Visual Grammar

vi



 

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1

Table 2

Visual social semiotics (Adapted from Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006)
An analytical checklist for the identification of sexism (Adapted from
UNESCO, 1986)

Page
15

29

Table 3 Detailed information about English 3, 4, 5 textbooks

49

Table 4 Distribution of gender representations in illustrations

58

Table 5 Females and males’ family status

60

Table 6 Females and males in occupational roles

65

Table 7 Females and males in different activities

72

Table 8 Females and males’ outfit

82


 

vii


LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 1

Organization of the study

5

Figure 2

Fairclough’s three dimensional framework (1992)

9

Figure 3

The dimensions of visual space (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996)

19

Figure 4

Sexist and non-sexist illustrations (UNESCO, 1986)

38

Figure 5

Data collection procedure

51

Figure 6

Data analysis procedure (Adapted from UNESCO, 1986 & Kress &
van Leeuwen, 2006)

52

Figure 7

Data analysis procedure

54

Figure 8

Distribution of gender representations in illustrations

56

Figure 9

Examples of pictures representing genders in English 3, 4, 5

58

Figure 10

Examples of pictures depicting family roles in English 3, 4, 5

61

Figure 11

Females and males’ level of employment

64

Figure 12

Women at work

68

Figure 13

Men at work

70

Figure 14

Females with domestic tasks

74

Figure 15

Males with domestic tasks

75

Figure 16

Females’ contribution to the education of children

77

Figure 17

Females’ participation in games, sports, travelling and exploration

79

Figure 18

Females’ games

81


 

viii


Figure 19

Colors attached to females

84

Figure 20

Colors attached to males

84

Figure 21

Gender attributes in positioning

86


 

ix


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Statement of research problem and rationale for the study
Sociologists assert that the perception of gender is gradually developed
through observation and is predetermined by “gender agents” (Brym & Lie,
2007, p. 97), one of which is textbooks. Gender manifestation in textbooks
mirrors the attitude of a particular society towards gender that is
subconsciously acquired by learners and is likely to cause long-term negative
effects on their performances and social behavior. Considering the number of
264,000,000 children still having no access to schooling (UNESCO, 2017), it
seems that sexism in textbooks is not a critical educational issue. However,

the topic has grown in significance in light of recent studies, which have
proven the existence of gender inequality in numerous investigated ELT
textbooks all over the world (e.g. Sleeter & Grant, 1991; Sunderlan, 1992;
Jones, Kitetu & Sunderland, 1997; Ma, 1998; Cook, 2005; Paivandi, 2008; or
Nguyễn Thị Hương, 2004). As Blumberg (2009, p. 346) puts it, “this is an
important, nearly universal, remarkably uniform, quite persistent but virtually
invisible obstacle camouflaged by taken-for-granted stereotypes about gender
roles”. Indeed, students devote about 80 to 95% of their classroom time using
textbooks and a majority of teachers’ instructional decisions are based on
textbooks (Sadker & Zittleman, 2007). One’s perception and ideological
development is heavily affected by education, with textbooks as its integral
instructional medium. Even if largely unnoticed, needless to say, the influence
of sexism in textbooks can be a profound hindrance on the road to gender
equality in education. More importantly, exposure to ESL/EFL textbooks that
fail to correctly portray the movement toward gender equality in the society
students are part of and which contain elements that re-enforce sexism would
be greatly unfair to students.


 

1


American activists and educators during the 1970s were the pioneers to
systematically document gender bias beneath the camouflage in textbooks by
means of content analysis and other more qualitative methodologies. Their
attempt to combat gender inequality in textbooks soon attracted other
researchers’ interest, including Alrabaa (1985); Kalia (1986); Baldwin &
Baldwin (1992); Ross & Shi (2003); Clark & Mahoney (2004); Ahmed

(2006); or Blumberg (2007).
Nonetheless, it is worth noticing that research to date has tended to focus
on gender bias in textbooks represented through linguistic rather than other
non-linguistic features such as visual design. Educationalists have become
gradually aware of the increasing role of visual communication in learning
materials of various kinds. Kress and van Leeuwen’s book entitled Reading
images: The grammar of visual design builds on its reputation as the first
systematic and comprehensive account of the grammar of visual design,
examining the ways in which images communicate meaning. The authors
assert that they see images of whatever kind as entirely within the realm of
the realization and instantiations of ideology, as a means for the articulation
of ideological positions of complex and potent kind. To put it differently,
pictures and photographs present meanings of their own. This view is
supported by Fang (1996) who believes visual images utilized in textbooks
not only are meant to delight a lesson, to assist a passage or any kinds of
activities but also hold the transformative power to shape children’s attitudes,
beliefs and values. Therefore, misapplication of images in textbooks may
result in negative impacts on the ideological development of both teachers
and students, especially students at primary level whose cognitive
development is largely influenced by input data and critical thinking mindset
has started to be shaped. Despite Viet Nam’s progress to eliminate gender
disparities and achieve gender equality in education, gender discrimination


 

2


still remains prevalent in certain different forms, one of which is through

textbooks. Authors Trần Xuân Điệp (2005) and Nguyễn Thị Hương (2006)
were among the Vietnamese pioneers to confirm gender disparity in both
verbal and non-verbal forms. The most recent study focusing on the nonlinguistic features in English the national English teaching textbooks for
upper-secondary schools was carried out by Trần Thị Bích Ngọc (2017).
Following the critical discourse approach, the study also reveals that these
textbooks present a gender discriminatory attitude towards women. However,
one of the limitations with this study is that it has been not carried out in the
new set of English textbook, under the National Foreign Languages 2020
Project where marked renovation in curriculum design and textbook
development is claimed to be made in order to improve the quality of teaching
and learning foreign languages in general and teaching and learning English
in Vietnamese schools in particular.
This motivates me to conduct a research paper entitled “Gender bias
through pictures in the new English textbook set for Vietnamese primary
schools: A critical discourse analysis” to fill in the identified gaps in the local
literature. This study focuses on primary school level because according to
Kohlberg’s stages of gender development (1966), at the age around six and
seven, which is approximately the start of school age for Vietnamese children,
children reach the stage of gender consistency. This phase can be seen as a
chance to introduce non-stereotyped female and male images as well as
unconventional behaviors. Early intervention in the development of gender
bias can save effort in reducing their negative impacts later in life of children
(Zemore, Fiske & Kim, 2000).


 

3

1.2. Aims and objectives of the study
The research attempts to detect the presence of gender bias as a social
phenomenon through pictures in the new English textbook set for Vietnamese
primary schools in order to extract the ideology behind their constructions. To
be specific, it 1/ examines how different genders are represented via pictures
in the new English textbook set for Vietnamese primary schools, and 2/ finds
out whether gendered visual representations illustrate gender bias in this
textbook set. Based on the results, implications for combating gender
inequality in textbooks’ pictures were drawn out.
1.3. Research questions
To fulfill the research aims, this study seeks to address the following
research questions (RQs):
1/ How are different genders represented via pictures in the new English
textbook set for Vietnamese primary schools (English 3, 4, 5)?
2/ To what extent do gender representations in the new English textbook
set for Vietnamese primary schools (English 3, 4, 5) manifest gender bias?
1.4. Scope of the study
The data for this research were taken from three textbooks (English 3, 4,
5) in the new set of English textbooks for primary schools under the
Vietnamese’ National Foreign Languages 2020 Project. This primary
textbook set was completed by Hoàng Văn Vân et al. in 2012 and have been
undertaken the latest revision. This study focuses on the investigating visual
presentation involving females and/or males appearance.
1.5. Method of the study
The methodological approach was guided entirely by the foundation of
critical discourse analysis (CDA). The research method involved quantitative


 

4


and qualitative content analysis. Within the scope of this study, the threedimension model proposed by Fairclough (1992) was combined with the
gender identification framework of UNESCO (1986) and the grammar of
visual design by Kress and van Leeuwen (2006).
1.6. Significance of the study
Once completed, the study would bring about certain benefits to teachers,
education planners, and other researchers who share the same interest in this
topic. The research findings promise to offer teachers and education planners
a closer look at gender bias in textbooks for an appropriate approach to
combat gender inequality. Besides, researchers who take interest in the same
topic can refer to this paper as a source of updated and reliable information.
1.7. Structure of the study
The study includes five chapters, including this introductory section.

Figure 1: Organization of the study


 

5


First, Chapter 1 - Introduction will state the research problem, the rationale
for the study as well as the research aims and objectives, the RQs, the method,
the significance, and the scope of the study. Moreover, the RQs are also
clearly stated to act as the parameter for the whole paper. Chapter 2 Literature review will provide definitions of key concepts and lay the
theoretical background for the study and a thorough review of related studies
worldwide and in Vietnamese context. Chapter 3 - Methodology will then

describe the research setting, research approach, data collection, and data
analysis procedure in full detail. Chapter 4 - Data analysis, findings and
discussions will present, analyze, synthesize and discuss the findings revealed
from the collected data according to the two RQs. Finally, Chapter 5 Conclusion will encapsulate the main issues discussed throughout the paper,
draw out several pedagogical implications, acknowledge the limitations of the
study, provide and some suggestions for further studies. This part will be
followed by the References and Appendices.


 

6


CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Chapter 2 - Literature Review - provides the theoretical background for the
whole paper, in which the key concepts are thoroughly elaborated. Besides, the
review of related studies worldwide and in Vietnam will help to point out the
gaps that this study aims to bridge.
2.1. Review of theoretical backgrounds
2.1.1. Critical discourse analysis
CDA is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of discourse that has
rapidly expanded in the 20th century as a theoretical framework to question
the status quo, by detecting, analyzing, and also resisting and counteracting
enactments of power abuse as transmitted in private and public discourses.
What makes CDA different from other traditions in discourse analysis is that
it regards discourse as a social practice, and it should aim to explore and
uncover hidden power relations, ideologies as expressed in discourse. Critical
discourse analysts not only care about social goals of language and discourse
but also social maintenance and change (Bloor & Bloor, 2013). According to

Van Dijk (1998), CDA studies the way social power abuse, dominance, and
inequality are enacted, reproduced and resisted by text and talks in the social
and political context. CDA for Fairclough is an approach that investigates the
relationship between discursive practices and social structures. His model of
CDA is the cornerstone of CDA field. This model is based on the assumption
that language is part of social life. The relationship between language and
social reality is recognized via social events, social practices and social
structures (Fairclough, 2003). In general, CDA is considered one of the most
comprehensive attempts to develop a theory of the inter-connectedness of
discourse in order to uncover how language, power, and ideology are related


 

7


to each other and how these dependent relations are represented through texts.
Often, CDA deals with language, text, or discourse in many ways.
However, we had to wait for the various contributions in critical linguistics
and social semiotics, first and primarily in the United Kingdom and Australia
to get a more detailed view of the other side of the relationship, namely an
analysis of the structures of texts and images (Fairclough, 1989; Fowler et al.,
1979; Hodge & Kress, 1988).
2.1.2. Fairclough’s three-dimention model
Based on his assumptions that critical analysts should not only focus on
the texts, the process of text production and interpretation of the texts, but
also look into the interrelationship among texts, production processes, and
their social context, Fairclough (1989, 1992, 2003) developed his threedimensional framework. Accordingly, every communicative event comprises
three dimensions: 1/ the micro dimension which is the spoken or written text

(artifact), 2/ the meso dimension which deals with the processes of
interaction, i.e., production and consumption of that text (artifact), and 3/ the
macro dimension, which deals with the context, i.e., larger socio-cultural,
political and economic environment of dimensions. With these three
dimensions, Fairclough (1992) suggests that discourses can be analyzed at
three levels: 1/ description, 2/ interpretation, and 3/ explanation. His
framework for analyzing discourses and discourse instances is illustrated in
the following figure.


 

8


Figure 2: Fairclough’s three dimensional framework (1992)

At the first level, the analyst focuses on a discourse dimension and
describes its genre, type, category, or quality. At the second level, the analyst
directs the attention at interpreting and making meanings and inferences from
the genres, types, categories, or qualities of a discourse dimension. Finally, at
the third level, attention is devoted to explaining and making connections and
understanding implications of a discourse dimension for social practice.
2.1.3. Multimodal critical discourse analysis
So far, the term CDA has often been confined to language, manifested in
verbal texts or verbal section of texts that also use other semiotic modes.
Multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) is a relatively new extension
of CDA, which has been called “one of the most influential and visible
branches of discourse analysis” (Blommaert & Bulcaen, 2000, p. 447). After
Kress and van Leeuwen extended the CDA notion of text (which Fairclough

(1992) had initially used to refer primarily although not exclusively to spoken
or written language) to include and at times even to prioritize non-linguistic
semiotic elements, researchers began to use CDA methods to examine a much


 

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wider range of linguistic and non-linguistic semiotic components in a practice
known as MCDA. The research field has collectively been called
“multimodality”, where “multimodal” typically refers to the multiple modes
(e.g. spoken, written, printed and digital media, embodied action, and 3-D
material objects and sites) through which social semiosis takes place.
Considered as one branch of CDA, MCDA also purports to investigate how
visual components are used to construct and express social power and
ideologies. Ideological views of one text can be expressed in the choice of
different vocabulary as well as different grammatical structures. Visual
structures in the form of images do convey ideological meanings, too.
By linking the key principles of CDA with social semiotics theory,
researchers outside the specialty field of linguistics now have a valuable
theoretical and methodological tool to help them better understand how
language and other types of semiotic signs are used together to construct,
express, and challenge social power.
2.1.4. Visual images
Within the frame of this research, the term visual images will be used to
refer to pictures. As stated in the Oxford English Dictionary, a picture is a
visual representation of a person or scene as in a photograph or painting.
The history of visuality as a subject of scholarly enquiry can be traced to

the “late 1980s and 1990s when a number of authors who had been working
in linguistics began to realize that meaning is generally communicated not
only through language but also through other semiotic modes” (Machin &
Mayr, 2012, p. 6). The fact that the overdependence on verbal expression of
the past is being jettisoned for multimodal communication has given birth to a
new dimension for communication in the modern world. Communication is
hence becoming increasingly multimodal across different contexts since text


 

10


producers make use of semiotic resources for meaning projection. This
supports Natharius’s claim that “in human history, the visual image has never
been more dominant than it is now” (2004, p. 2). In this multimodal society,
people always communicate and pass on information through the coemployment of semiotic resources. Without doubt, the popularity of visuality
in contemporary human communication has contributed to the growth of
scholarship in visual communication. Pictures always have a profound impact
on the reader. In newspaper or magazines, where there are pictorials, people
usually look at the pictures first before starting to read the content. (Kress &
van Leeuwen, 2006). Apparently, images powerfully express a message and
none of them are created without purposes. The significance of visual images
can be briefly stated in Kress & van Leeuwen’s book “the image carries the
meaning, the words come second” (2006, p. 26). With their irrefutable roles
to play, visual images have become an indispensible element in different
communication channels, including textbooks.
2.1.5. Social semiotics
2.1.5.1. Definition of social semiotics

Social semiotics is a branch of semiotics coined by renowned linguist
Michael Halliday. In his book, Language as Social Semiotics, Halliday (1985)
defends the conventional view of separation between language and society by
exploring the implications of the fact that the “codes” of language and
communication are formed by social processes. Therefore, social semiotics is
an approach to communication that seeks to understand how people
communicate by various means in specific social settings. Halliday sets out
five premises of his linguistic theory, one of which refers to three purposes
(or metafunctions) of language, which will be thoroughly discussed in the
following section.


 

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2.1.5.2. The three metafunctions of meaning by Halliday (1985)
Michael Halliday asserts that a language evolves in response to specific
demands of the society in which it is used. The nature of the language is;
therefore,

directly

related

to

the

functions

it

has

to

perform

simultaneously. Corresponding to that, central to Halliday’s framework of
systemic functional grammar (1985) is the concept of “metafunction” to
analyze three fundamental functions of language to communicate meaning.
1) Ideational metafunction: Language is used to talk about people’s
experience of the world, including the world in our minds, to describe events
and states and the entities involved in them. To put it differently, language has
to be able to express how people see the world and what they consciously
know.
2) Interpersonal metafunction: Language is also a medium for people’s
interaction to establish and maintain their relationship, to influence their
behaviors, to express personal viewpoints on things in the world, and to elicit
or change theirs.
3) Textual metafunction: Last but not least, in using language, people
organize their messages in a way that shows how they cohere with other
surrounding messages and with the broader context.
In other words, every sign simultaneously tells people something about
“the world” (ideational meaning), position people in relation to someone or
something (interpersonal meaning) and produces a structured text (textual
meaning) (Halliday, as cited in Bezemer & Jewitt, 2011).
2.1.5.3. The three metafunctions of meaning by Kress and van

Leeuwen (1996)
Thibault (1991) points out that social semiotics focuses on social
meaning-making practices of all types, whether visual, verbal or aural in


 

12


nature. Accordingly, social semiotics field witnessed a shift from the
emphasis on language to other semiotic modes. The first serious discussions
and analyses of this emerged in the works of Hodge and Kress - Social
semiotics (1988) and Kress and van Leeuwen - Reading images: The
grammar of visual design (1996, 2006). In their volumes, which have led to
the subsequent emergence of multimodality, the principles developed with
regards to language were also applied to other different communicative
systems. Language represents the narrative world, while images illustrate the
displayed world. Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) propose that similar to
language, visual images and other semiotic systems can be used to serve the
three foregoing metafunctions. In the first edition of their book Reading
images: The grammar of visual design (1996), the two authors quote the
theoretical concept of “metafunction” from Halliday and put forward three
corresponding

metafunctions

in

Visual

Grammar

(VG),

namely

representational, interactive and compositional meaning. Specifically,
when being applied to visual systems, the representational metafunction
organizes the way that represented participants’ relate to each other to
represent the world around them. The interactive metafunction controls the
interaction between the represented participants and the viewers; and the
compositional metafunction represents the way in which semiotics modes
cohere into the kind of meaning whole called “text” (Kress & van Leeuwen,
1996).
2.1.6. The grammar of visual images
Because of the importance of visual literacy (the ability to interpret,
negotiate, and make meaning from information shown in the form of an
image), it is essential to understand visual language in order to be critically
literate. There are few agreed methods for articulating the way images and


 

13


composite texts are read (Anstey & Bull, 2000; Unsworth, 2004). This is
unlike the case for verbal texts where there have been several agreed ways of
breaking down verbal meanings. According to Thibault (1991), the primary

mission of social semiotics is to establish analytical and theoretical
frameworks that are able to explain meaning-making in a social context.
In response to this call, Kress and van Leeuwen are the pioneers to
develop a methodological tool named “The grammar of visual design” to
decode the messages behind the images. “Just as grammar of language
describe how words combine in clauses, sentences and texts, so our visual
grammar will describe the way in which depicted elements – people, places
and things – combines in visual statements of greater or lesser complexity and
extension” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006, p. 1). This (VG) is claimed to be “a
usable description of major compositional structures which have become
established in the course of the history of Western visual semiotics, and to
analyze how they are used to produce meaning by contemporary imagemakers” (p. 1). The authors have a number of key assumptions:
o The grammar of visual design plays a vital role in the production of
meaning.
o The visual means of communication are rational expressions of cultural
meanings.
o Visual language is culturally specific (no universal grammar).
o Visual communication is amenable to rational accounts and analysis.
In accordance with the three metafunctions introduced by Kress and
Leuwen, the grammar of visual design can be summarized in the following
table:


 

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