TY - JOUR
T1 - Evaluating a children's television show as a vehicle for learning about historical artefacts
T2 - the value of multimodal discourse analysis
AU - Zhang, Kunkun
AU - Djonov, Emilia
AU - Torr, Jane
PY - 2022/11/2
Y1 - 2022/11/2
N2 - Television, like other media, can work as a platform for promoting learning. This article illustrates the value of multimodal discourse analysis for evaluating the potential of a children’s television show as a vehicle for fostering knowledge and skills in a specific subject area. Drawing on social semiotic principles and systemic functional genre theory, we examine the use of language and other modes in Teacup Travels–a show designed to introduce young viewers to historical artefacts. The analysis demonstrates that both story structure and particular semiotic resources contribute to how these objects are represented, and thus shape the TV programme’s potential to engage children in learning about the past. Our findings suggest that multimodal storytelling strategies used in Teacup Travels encourage some aspects of children’s historical consciousness and thinking, while backgrounding others.
AB - Television, like other media, can work as a platform for promoting learning. This article illustrates the value of multimodal discourse analysis for evaluating the potential of a children’s television show as a vehicle for fostering knowledge and skills in a specific subject area. Drawing on social semiotic principles and systemic functional genre theory, we examine the use of language and other modes in Teacup Travels–a show designed to introduce young viewers to historical artefacts. The analysis demonstrates that both story structure and particular semiotic resources contribute to how these objects are represented, and thus shape the TV programme’s potential to engage children in learning about the past. Our findings suggest that multimodal storytelling strategies used in Teacup Travels encourage some aspects of children’s historical consciousness and thinking, while backgrounding others.
KW - recontextualisation
KW - multimodality
KW - children’s culture
KW - historical consciousness
KW - Teacup Travels
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85104390679&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/01596306.2021.1913995
DO - 10.1080/01596306.2021.1913995
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85104390679
SN - 0159-6306
VL - 43
SP - 866
EP - 885
JO - Discourse
JF - Discourse
IS - 6
ER -