Network English Teaching: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis

With the rapid development of the informational age and the increasing tendencyof cultural diversity, language varieties emerged continuously. Language study will notmainly show the traditional communication or the language text any more, but it willstudy on the multimodal discourse including images, color, sound, dynamic images,diagrams and they mixed together. Network English teaching happened conforming tothe request of the informational age. It is a new teaching and learning method to makeuse of the network resources and technology. This approach can effectively improvestudents’ multiliteracies and their competence of using the language.The theory of multimodal discourse analysis can provide the educator withcompatible way to analyze the images, music and words of network teaching. So far, theresearch on the multimodal analysis on network teaching is still at its starting stage,because most studies are on static images, while other dynamic images studies are onthe film discourse. After consideration, this paper chooses dynamic English teachingdiscourse as the analyzing objects. From the perspective of social semiotics, derivedfrom Halliday’s Systemic functional linguistics, Kress&van Leeuwen’s (1996,2006)“Visual Grammar”, we cut out the static frames from different types of NET classes andanalyze the feasibility of MDA in multimodal NET. Then according to O’Halloran’s(2004) segmentation approach to the dynamic filmic discourse, and combined withBaldry&Thibaul’s (2006) theoretical framework for analyzing the dynamicadvertisement discourse, this paper takes shots as the basic unit of analysis, tries toconstruct a integrative framework on a multimodal discourse analysis on networkEnglish teaching discourses, which can be applied to any case of network Englishteaching. This thesis attempts to study the “meta-functions” of different modalitiesappeared in the frame of shots selected from “Looking Ahead”, thus the conclusion isthis: in different kinds of NET context, the proper use of different modalities whichsignify different meaning potentials can obviously achieve different teaching aims. Itprovides the theoretical and practical foundation for the “teaching” and “learning” ofmultiliteracies. At The Theoretical Level, this study does not only expand the aspects ofmultimodal analysis, testify the feasibility and operability of multimodal analysis onnetwork English teaching with dynamic images and sound, but also provides people fora new perspective of improving their multiliteracies. The study provided has animportant academic and practical significance in improving students’ comprehensivequality and educators’ teaching level.