Exploring The Application Of Positive Values In English Textbooks Based On Multimodal Theory

Systemic functional linguistics regards the meaning of language as its object of study,and regards language as a resource for creating meaning.However,with the diversification of communication modes,Kress and Van Leeuwen inherited and developed Systemic Functional Grammar and created Visual Grammar.They believe that language is a social symbol,and other social symbols(such as dance,works of art,color,song,body language,etc.)have the same function of expressing meaning as language.The expression of different meanings embodies different values.In primary school English textbooks,meaning is expressed mainly through text modal and image modal,among which the meaning of picture modality is seldom studied.Based on the theoretical framework of multimodal discourse analysis,the research explores how image modal and text modal construct positive values together in PEP primary school English textbook(the latest edition).By discussing the characteristics of the application of positive values in textbooks,the mainstream positive values in textbooks are summarized and counted.In this research,case analysis is used to discuss and demonstrate the following:1)the combination of image mode and text mode makes the content of textbooks more vivid and three-dimensional,so that it is easier for elementary school students to understand and induce emotional input.2)The application of multimodal discourse analysis theory can effectively interpret the positive values hidden behind the text.Then,through the combination of qualitative research and quantitative research,the positive values in each textbook are counted and summarized.And then the positive values in the eight textbooks are integrated and classified.As a result,the mainstream positive values in PEP primary school English textbooks are obtained.The 17 main positive values in PEP primary school English textbooks are as follows:politeness,love of animals and plants,importance of family(the view of Kinship),sense of competition and the sense of rules,love of labor,cherishing friendship,maintaining health,reasonable view of time,reasonable view of money,correct career conception,good personality,attaching importance to learning,all-round development,observing public order,enjoying life,learning to grow up and love the motherland.The results show that(1)the combination of image modal and text modal is more stereoscopic than that of single modal.Analyzing the content of textbooks by using the theory of multimodal discourse analysis can effectively reveal the positive values hidden behind the content of textbooks;(2)by multimodal discourse analysis,it is found that the same or different positive values are often reflected by different perspectives,different interaction methods,or different composition methods.In the process of primary school students learning the content of textbooks,these different ways of reflecting positive values guide students to understand positive values from different angles,which cultivate students' ability to recognize positive values.