Among other things, we here look at the coherence between content given through the different resources and how they complement or overlap each other. If we return to the student text in Fig. 3.2, we can note that, apart from describing different aspects of the crab through image, and words, the student has used images and words to describe the bad weather during the excursion (a drawing of a sad sun combined with the words "grumpy wind and waves" (No. "*sur vin og bølge*"); here the student has also used arrows to mark the change in weather when the sun is disappearing and the clouds are coming into the picture). Apart from that, images are used to show what the pupils found during the excursion, while in words commenting on things such as the fact that a snail stuck to everything ("I have found a snail which stuck to everything" No. "*Jeg har funet en snegle som sugde sig fast på alt*"). Such information is hard to give through the image.

In the experimental report, the chemical formula that is written on top of the page is only implicitly connected to other parts of the content. Anyone who knows chemistry knows that "Mg" corresponds to the word *magnesium* which is given further down in the text, under the heading "The task" (Sw. *Uppgiften*), and that "HCL" (the gas hydrogen chloride) in this case must correspond to "an acid" (Sw. *en syra*) (HCl) in the same section. Furthermore, subject knowledge in the area of chemistry is also needed to be able to grasp that the formula only concerns one of the acids that are mentioned under "We need" (Sw. *Vi behöver*), here the solution hydrochloric acid (Sw. *saltsyra*) which corresponds to the chemical bond hydrogen chloride dissolved in water. The fact that the image is probably linked to the formula is not made clear (the formula should be the theoretical connection to the actual experiment). Hence, there is some degree of correspondence between the different resources, though on the whole this correspondence is only implicit.

Below the image of the experimental equipment, the text says "This is what we did:" (Sw. *Så här gjorde vi*) with an arrow pointing towards the drawing. The information given through writing here implies a description of a process. However, the drawing is implicit as to how the experiment was actually performed, and only a person who was present during the experimental work (or who knows how this kind of experiment is normally performed) will be able to understand what was done. On the other hand, the drawing works fairly well to illustrate what equipment was used, and how the different parts of the equipment were connected.

Thus, the drawing works well in relation to its potential for meaning-making, or *affordance*, in this case to illustrate spatial relations and to depict concrete objects. On the other hand, the caption "This is what we did" implies a description of a procedure, something which would have been easier to express through writing. Further down in the written text, under the heading "We need" (Sw. *Vi behöver*), some of the equipment depicted in the drawing is mentioned: "test tube", "burner", etc. Figures 5.1 and 5.2 in the drawing are not explained, and they do not appear in writing. Hence, we note that there is some coherence in the text, but the connection between the content given through the different resources is implicit.

Since we do not know the context in which the experimental report was produced, we do not know for sure who the intended reader of the text is. Presumably, it is written for the student himself, and if so, most likely to be used in preparations for a final test. Or perhaps it is supposed to be handed in to the teacher for assessment; or possibly a combination of the two.

Regarding the use of chemical symbols, the text is problematic if it is intended to be used as a basis for understanding the content area, since the chemical formula is not explicitly explained. For the same reasons, its usefulness can be doubted, if the text is intended to be used for assessing the student's content knowledge.

Regarding the image in relation to other resources, the text can perhaps be used to remember how the experiment was performed (however, here it is unclear what the numbers 1 and 2 stand for). If used as an assessment of how the experiment was performed, or as an instruction to someone else who is about to perform an equivalent experiment, it is less functional.

Furthermore, the written text presented in bullets is not unproblematic either, as regards content or genre expectations. What is given under the heading "Results" (Sw. *Resultat*) is expected to be connected to the actual experiment, for example, "there was a strong reaction in which oxyhydrogen was formed". Instead, the student wrote "I thought that the experiment was fun, and it went well". However, under the heading "Conclusion" (Sw. *Slutsats*), the student states that "the reaction between magnesium and the oxygen in the air is very explosive", which is more in line with what we can expect from the genre.

#### *5.4.3 Figurative Language and Values*

In this particular text, an analysis of figurative language or values is irrelevant. Regarding figurative language, we may note that such expressions are not used (in words or images), and values are hardly expected in an experimental report. Yet, values are relevant in science, too, for example in relation to the use of natural resources or if it is reasonable to kill animals in order to use them for dissection in the classroom.

In analyses that have previously been performed on student texts from chemistry classrooms (Danielsson 2011) and in lower school grades (e.g. Kress 2003), the use of figurative language has been noted. In those cases, the figurative language, such as "Noble gases are contented" or "the structure of the cells in the onion is similar to that of a brick wall" were inspired by the teachers' oral expositions. If figurative language is used in class, it is important to evaluate whether the metaphors used are in line with the metaphors used in the disciplinary discourse, as well as whether an analogy seems to be both relevant and transparent.

#### *5.4.4 The Subject Content*

From the perspective of the school subject, the subject content given in texts is central, and it is therefore natural to focus particularly on content when working with text creation in different subjects. In the experimental report, we have noted that many resources have been used in adequate ways, for example regarding genre expectations. Yet we still cannot be sure whether the student possesses the content knowledge that the teaching and learning activities staged by the teacher probably aimed at. The fact that the chemical symbols are used in line with subject conventions does not automatically imply that the student also knows the content behind the symbols.

Under the heading "The task" (Sw. *Uppgiften*), the student has written "What happens when an acid reacts with magnesium?" (Sw. "*Vad händer när en syra reagerar med magnesium*"), which is most likely the same expression as was used for this particular task. If connected to the use of chemical symbols, it could very well be that the student knows that "HCL" (correctly written: HCl) is an acid (probably the solution, if taken into account what is written under "We need", since hydrogen chloride, Sw. *väteklorid*, is a gas). But from the text it is not clear what acid "HCL" corresponds to (three different acids are mentioned in writing). Also, someone who knows chemistry can conclude that the chemical equation on top of the page is not balanced. The formula does not reveal how the sulfur ion was formed, or what happened to the chloride.

#### *5.4.5 Developing Multimodal Text Competence*

The analysis of the student text in Fig. 5.1 reveals that this student possesses a good knowledge of the structure of the experimental (school) report at a general level. When working with the development of this student's multimodal competence, this knowledge would be a natural point of departure.

A subsequent step could be to discuss in more detail what semiotic mode or specific text resource is best fit to express different aspects of the task at hand. One example could be to ask the student to reflect upon the use of a single image to describe the process "this is what we did". In this case, some information would clearly be needed to be given through words. Also, the text could be used as a basis for pondering on ways of making the text even clearer regarding the ways in which different text resources interact. One such example could be to complete the chemical equation with a description of what it shows, given through words. Here it is important to discuss different choices as to semiotic mode, or as to details of the text resource chosen in relation to the function of the text, and in relation to the intended reader. If discussing multimodal aspects of texts in such ways, the student will get tools to enhance the text in ways that will better show the teacher his understanding of content, as well as for himself when producing texts that can be used for developing his subject knowledge.

When using the student's text to discuss the content, it will most likely be evident to both the teacher and the student in what ways the student might need to develop his content knowledge in relation to the experiment, and to what extent he "just" needs to develop his multimodal text competence. Hence, these two aspects are interdependent. In classrooms practices where teachers support meaning-making in relation to multimodal texts, students will be supported in their development of content knowledge at the same time.

#### **5.5 Summary**

The multimodal text perspective has a direct relevance for students' own text production. Just as we need a deeper understanding of the ways in which students interpret multimodal texts, there is a need for a deepened understanding of *multimodal writing practices* and how students can be supported in their own writing development in relation to multimodality.

In schools numerous writing activities take place, such as memos, lab reports, logs, PowerPoint presentations, web pages, posters, and essays. These writing activities are related to subject content and the different genres or text types in the area. The lab report is usually relatively standardized, while other types of presentations of subject content, or the essay, can be more varied and contain personal reflections.

In the *multimodal text* the temporality of the verbal text is mixed with the spatiality of the image. Therefore, different kinds of information are given through different resources, and to *compose* a multimodal text thus implies something other than composing a verbal text.

By using our text model for analyzing and discussing an experimental report created by a student, we have seen that the student masters the genre at a general level. From a superficial point of view, the text looks like the way we are used to see such reports. However, by looking closely at the ways in which the student has used different semiotic modes and resources and how they interplay, potential obstacles for the student were revealed. We suggest that teachers proceed from what the student masters when discussing student texts. From there, they can discuss how the different semiotic resources are used (images, chemical language, verbal language, etc.) and why. With such a discussion, focusing on text *and* content, possible challenges for the student regarding the content can be revealed at the same time as the student's multimodal competence can be enhanced.

The ways of producing and handling texts in the digital world brings other aspects to the fore, as when other texts, images, or films are merged in new texts. As a teacher, you need to consider how to deal with references to other sources. Such questions will be even more important when new ways of using computers in schools become increasingly common, for instance in so-called "one-to-many" projects, where the students themselves can choose what digital resources to use to meet the standards in school.

#### **References**

van Leeuwen, T. (2011). *The Language of Colour. An Introduction*. Milton Park, Abingdon: Routledge.

**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

## **Part II Sample Texts Analyses**

## **Chapter 6 Close Reading of Multimodal Texts—Sample Analyses**

In the second part of the book we use our model as analytical tool for texts taken from various school subjects. Here we aim at revealing how a systematic close reading can be used for "wrapping up" a text, in order to make visible how different semiotic resources are used in ways that can both be facilitating and challenging in the meaning-making process around the content. However, we also want to show how teachers can work with a text to make it more accessible and easier to grasp for the reader (in this case, the student). In the analyses we focus more closely on different aspects of the model depending on what we find especially interesting or challenging in the various texts. Also, what the teacher might want to highlight in metatextual discussions must vary, and the same text might be discussed in many different ways, depending for instance on how experienced the students are when it comes to metatextual discussions and multimodal aspects of meaning-making. In the following we give some examples as to what can be highlighted in text discussions. Such comments are either given under a separate heading or in parallel with the analysis. However, these comments should be seen as suggestions and they are not extensive or given in relation to each and every text. In classroom practices, the teacher will choose what features to focus on in the texts used. Our suggestions as to what to discuss can then function as an inspiration.

This type of close reading will partly be very detailed, and it might acutally be perceived as "over-critical". However, it is not our intention to be critical in negative ways. Instead, we want to point out aspects of texts that are relevant for all kinds of multimodal texts. To write a text and to make decisions about the layout and choice of text resources is challenging, and a number of choices need to be made. Each choice will result in both gains and losses, something which is inevitable. But when teachers have a more robust approach to multimodal texts, they can better support students in working themselves through texts.

We suggest that you start reading the sections that deal with subjects that catch your interest. You can consider the sample analyses as a supply of resources for inspiration. Our examples are never fully exhaustive, and with the help of the model you might be able to find further interesting aspects that we might have neglected.

As already mentioned in the Introduction section, in our selection of texts for analyses, we have striven to include as many subject areas as possible, and we have used texts from different school levels, even though the emphasis is on texts used in upper elementary and lower secondary school. During these school years, texts are relatively complex. For lower school grades, texts in science are relatively similar to those analyzed here, even though they are less complex regarding verbal aspects (less complex clauses and terminology, etc.). Focusing on what information is especially emphasized through writing or image, as well as the use of figurative language, or values in texts can just as well be carried out in lower elementary school grades. The textbooks in upper secondary school, on the other hand, are of course more complex and they have a deeper content, but at the same time they do not differ from texts in lower secondary school in major ways. Also, our examples are mainly based on printed books. One reason for that choice is that printed textbooks (or digital texts based on printed versions) still dominate the market in many countries. Here, however, we can expect a shift in the near future. As regards examples from different countries and cultures, we have tried to find a variety. Since this book is written in English, quite a few of the examples have been taken from English-speaking countries (in this case the UK and Singapore), but we also use examples from Chile, Spain, and Sweden. We ourselves are Swedish, and thus we have access to a variety of teaching resources as well as an insight into the educational system. When examples with other languages than English are used, we provide the reader with translations of central parts of the texts.

The aim of the close reading of these texts is to provide the reader with detailed examples from a variety of school subjects. Yet this does not mean that the close reading is fully exhaustive. Our model is dynamic in the sense that different learning resources can be analyzed by means of the concepts used in the model. As said, this does not mean that there is one, and only one, way of analyzing or working with these texts or working with students' interpretations of them. Our close reading of these texts should be seen as a kind of modeled reading, where you can choose to put more or less emphasis on the different aspects, depending on the intention behind choice of text, or your planned meta-textual classroom discussions.

**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

#### **Chapter 7 Natural Sciences**

#### **7.1 Physics, Elementary School**

We have chosen a section dealing with the "the celestial bodies in the solar system, and their movements in relation to each other" as an example of a text in science for elementary school (students aged around 10 to 12 years). This particular text deals with how to explain day, night, months, years, and seasons, which is a central content area for Swedish school children of this age. Here we will make a close reading of a couple of pages in the textbook PULS*Fysik och Kemi* (Sjöberg and Öberg 2011) (Eng. "Physics and Chemistry"), and a chapter called "Astronomi—ett himla stort ämne" (approximate translation into English to preserve a wordplay: "Astronomy—a subject full of space").

To start with, we can conclude that to be able to grasp this content, the student must have an abstract understanding of the celestial bodies that we can experience in a concrete way in our everyday lives (the earth, the moon, and the sun). Therefore, in the close reading of this text, we will mainly concentrate on the *general structure and setting* and *the interaction between parts of the text*. We will, however, also comment briefly on figurative language presented in writing, since metaphors are central for science.

#### *7.1.1 General Structure and Setting*

Together, the images in Figs. 7.1 and 7.2 constitute an introductory book spread of the chapter. As regards the setting of the spread, we may note that the pages consist of a variety of text resources (various headings, an introductory paragraph, running text, etc.). The illustrations, comprising a photograph and some drawings, are prominent, and they take up a large part of the book pages. The drawings show, on the one hand, children (they reappear in the whole textbook, as interested experiencers, thinkers, etc.), on the other hand schematic images of the movements of celestial bodies.

**Fig. 7.1** Astronomy, elementary school. *PULS. Fysik och kemi 4–6 grundbok* (Sjöberg and Öberg 2011, p. 90, illustrations by Jenny Karlsson; re-printed with permission from Natur & Kultur)

Even from a quick description like this, it is evident that these are quite typical book pages considering the subject and the intended readers. We can also note that illustrations appear to be important, both for illustrating the subject-specific content, such as the drawings of day and night on the earth, and for alleviating the visual appearance (the children who are given various roles, at the same time as the readers can identify themselves as becoming scientists through them).

The chapter is structured *thematically*, in ways that give the reader an overview of the content, stated in the introductory paragraph in bold. Here, the point of departure is the reader's presumed everyday experiences of sunrise and sunset. Also, it gives a historical perspective, informing the reader that humans through history have used the celestial bodies to keep track of time. Such a historical perspective reappears in parallel to the scientific content all through the chapter. In Swedish curriculum documents, it is commonly stated that all subjects should give a historical perspective to the content area in question. The scientific content in this book spread describes how the earth is rotating around its axis, and how this rotation regulates day and night.

**Fig. 7.2** The earth is spinning around. *PULS. Fysik och kemi 4–6 grundbok* (Sjöberg and Öberg 2011. 91, illustrations by Jenny Karlsson; re-printed with permission from Natur & Kultur)

#### *7.1.2 Interaction Between Text Resources*

Regarding the interaction between the different parts of the text, a number of aspects are worth focusing on, not least in relation to *spatial proximity and coherence* between different types of written texts (text boxes, headings, captions, etc.) and other textual representations. The illustrations on the first page are only loosely connected to the introductory paragraph and the running text. The only clear connection between the resources on that page is the one between information in the introductory paragraph and the drawing of a squatting girl looking at a sundial. For a reader with no previous experience of sundials, this connection might not be clear.

On the introductory page, there is also a caption, placed between the two illustrations: "The earth and the moon move around the sun. When the moon comes in between the sun and the earth, there is a solar eclipse. Here we can see the shadow of the moon as a dark patch on the earth." There is no indication as to what illustration the caption refers to. For several reasons, it is possible that the "novice" will interpret the caption as part of the illustration of the sundial and the girl. First, that illustration is prominent, as regards placement, colors, and composition, while the section from the satellite image is diffuse and may be difficult to interpret. In the first sentence of the caption, three elements are mentioned. For the novice who is not yet familiar with the content, these three elements can be connected to three prominent parts of the illustration with the child and the sundial, namely, the sun, the child, and the sundial. To be able to read three elements into the section of the satellite image, the reader must imagine both the moon and the sun, and also their placement in relation to each other. The part of the text in the caption that says "Here we can see the shadow of the moon as a dark patch on the earth" (p. 90) clarifies that the text relates to the satellite image, and it is also clarified that the image depicts the earth. It is worth noting that the caption contains information about how solar eclipses arise, though this is not mentioned anywhere else in the chapter.

As said, the diffuse section of the satellite image can be challenging to interpret. However, using a photograph, which in this case is intended to show a solar eclipse, is an opportunity to depict a phenomenon which could be hard to grasp otherwise (the fact that the moon casts a shadow on the earth when placed between the sun and the earth). If the caption had been more explicit about the fact that the image was in fact a satellite image of the earth seen from far away, this could have supported the student trying to interpret the image.

The next page deals with the earth's rotation around its axis. Here the illustration has a concretizing function, where day and night are represented by two globes. Combined with the two stylized globes is an analogy that the earth rotates around an imaginary axis. In this case, the rotation around the axis is concretized through a stick supplemented with a curved arrow pointing in the direction of the rotation. Through this illustration, the student is supposed to imagine that the two stylized globes represent the earth at two different times, but also that the stick does not represent a concrete physical phenomenon. Instead, the reader is supposed to understand that the stick has been added as a way of visualizing the tilt of the earth in relation to the sun, as well as the way in which the earth rotates. Thus, the reader is supposed to not to take the stick into account as a real object. Another complication is the fact that the tilt of the earth is not real—there is no up and down in the infinite space to relate to. Instead this tilt concerns the relation between the earth and the sun, which, by the way, is not present in the illustration.

The *congruence* between the information given in writing and that given in illustrations is more apparent than on the previous page. First, in the running text there is an explicit connection to the illustration through the words "The images show how the rotation of the earth gives us night and day" (approximate translation, p. 91). Second, in writing, too, the analogy between the axis of the earth and that of the stick going from the North Pole and the South Pole is made explicit.

Apart from the assumption that the tilt of the earth should be seen in relation to the sun, there are other potential challenges both in illustrations and writing, and in the relationship between them. Here we will comment on a couple of such challenges. In the illustration there is a slightly curved arrow, a conventionalized symbol to depict a direction or movement.1 The arrow points towards the right and is therefore intended to show the direction of the rotation of the earth. In this case, the reader is supposed to make the connection between the arrow and a comment in the caption that we always are moving towards the east, as well as information in the running text about "the twist of the earth" (Sw. *jordens vridning*). The caption also says that we are either in or outside of the "shadow" (Sw. *skuggan*). How this shadow emerges is not made explicit, however, neither in writing nor in the illustration. Instead, the reader must imagine the sun and its position in relation to the earth. Furthermore, the reader is supposed to understand that the illustration is not supposed to depict two different globes, but instead that it is supposed to depict the earth at different points of time.

On the same page, there is also a toned text box. Text boxes are often used as a kind of "short facts" in pedagogical texts where the reader can expect to find key content. Here, however, the text box gives some "extra information". In this case the information deals with summer- and winter-time, which is used in large parts of the world, although this fact is not taken up in illustrations or in the running text.

#### *7.1.3 Figurative Language*

We have mentioned the use of an analogy between the axis (in itself a figurative description) of the earth and a stick through the globe. Here the authors have chosen to integrate the analogy in both the running text and the illustration. The choice to actually draw the analogical axis could be seen as a way of concretizing natural phenomena in science, to facilitate learning. In this case, in writing it is clearly expressed, through an explicite simile, that this is an analogy "we can think of […] as a stick", while in the illustration the depiction of the stick is integrated as a natural part of the earth.

It may be doubted whether the fact that the axis of the earth specified as a stick actually facilitates meaning-making related to the analogy. Instead, it is possible that the illustration makes the analogy more challenging, since it is unnecessarily concrete. Yet the fact that the analogy is explicitly explained in writing may be assumed to facilitate meaning-making for the student. The risk of coming to the wrong conclusion, that there is actually some kind of stick going through the globe, will then be diminished.

<sup>1</sup>Among other things, an arrow can also depict a process, such as the transformation from one thing to another, or a temporal relationship between entities.

The conventionalized use of "axis"—a metaphor which is integrated in scientific discourse—is less clear in the text. There is in fact no axis, but instead the term is used *as if* there was an axis going from one pole to another. Yet another complication is that in Swedish the word axis is homonymous with the word for shoulder (Sw. *axel*). In a Swedish context, it is likely that children of this age are only familiar with the word *axel* as part of the body. This is an example of how subject-specific terminology with another use in everyday language can be a challenge for meaning-making around subject content. It is especially important to be aware of such challenges regarding students who learn in a second or foreign language.

#### *7.1.4 Classroom Focus*

From an educational point of view, a number of aspects in this text are worth devoting attention to in the classroom. Already the general structure of the layout and the graphical choices open up for things to discuss in the classroom, in ways that can function as a model for how to approach new texts. A starting point can be a mutual examination of illustrations and text elements on the pages. In relation to such a general overview, the teacher can point to the usefulness of benefiting from one's previous ideas and knowledge about text resources such as introductory paragraphs, headings, text boxes, illustrations, or captions. It may be worth noting that such textual resources can be used in similar ways across texts, but also that they can have different functions in different texts.

With regard to the various illustrations, a starting point can be to try to make out what they might depict, and how the illustrations can connect to the content in question, in this case "astronomy". Our close reading above pointed out a number of potential challenges regarding the interaction between different text resources. One way of dealing with that could be to read the caption together to find out which illustration the caption relates to, and how to arrive at that conclusion.

For all of the illustrations that are connected to the subject content, it is important to examine how the running text and captions are connected to the illustrations. One aspect to highlight can be what is expressed through the different resources and if they give the same (overlapping), or competing, or perhaps even contradictory, information. In all texts where figurative language is used (in this case the axis of the earth which is compared to a stick), it is worthwhile reasoning about how far the analogy reaches: which parts of the analogy are relevant and which are not?

#### **7.2 Biology, Secondary School**

Here we will examine another Swedish textbook, *Spektrum Biologi* (Fabricius et al. 2011) which is a fairly extensive book, dealing with areas like "Life on earth", "Bacteria and viruses", "Ethology", "Our environment", and "Drugs". We have examined a couple of pages from the section "The human body". In a section on circulation in the human body we find the heading "The organs cooperate" (Sw. *Organen samarbetar*). At the left side of the book spread, the different organ systems are described. Here we take a closer look at the right side of the book spread, which is shown in Fig. 7.3.

**Fig. 7.3** The human body as a system. *Spektrum Biologi* (Fabricius et al. 2011, p. 247, with permission from Liber)

#### *7.2.1 General Structure and Setting*

Just like the bottom part of the page, the upper part, which dominates the page, consists of writing combined with an image. Both images on this page are prominent, the upper one perhaps because of its shape and the red color. To the left of this illustration, under the heading "This is how our body works" (Sw. *Så hålls vår kropp igång*) a quite long written text dealing with the ways in which the organic systems of the body "cooperate". This text is connected to a gray, egg-shaped illustration to the right. The image depicts four organic systems in quite an abstract fashion: digestion, perspiration, circulation, and secretion. The blood system is mainly depicted in blue, as opposed to the red color of the blood in the image at the bottom of the page. The gut and the intestines have, for some reason, the same color as the body cells.

At the lower part of the page, to the right, there is a short written text about "signal substances" under the heading "Messages with the blood" (Sw. *Meddelanden med blodet*). The wording of the heading and what it actually relates to is unclear. The illustration to the left of the text depicts a section of a blood vessel which looks like a red flood, with blue cells constituting some kind of end points.

What are the most prominent parts of the text on this page? Different emphasis is shown in different resources. In the upper part of the written text to the left, all of the different organic systems are italicized (*perspiration*, *circulation*, etc.). In the illustration to the right, on the other hand, the heart and blood circulation are centrally placed. Their prominence is further enhanced through the bright blue color. The other organs have been placed on the periphery of the "egg", in a somewhat paler pinkish-brown tone, green, and lilac, respectively. The fact that the blood system is prominent on this page is further enhanced by the vivid red color of the blood vessel at the lower part of the page.

We may presume that the author and the illustrator of this text want to enhance aspects that they perceive as especially prominent or important, within the different "systems". Naturally, not everything can be told or described, but the selection of information—in the form of facts in writing and illustrations—is not particularly easy to interpret in this text. Therefore, let us now go on to examine the interaction between different textual resources.

#### *7.2.2 Interaction Between Text Resources*

As mentioned previously, illustrations can be both facilitating or challenging for making sense of a text. In one sense, the "egg" in the upper right part of the page is concrete, since it depicts the interaction between *systems* in our body. But at the same time, the illustration is highly abstract, since it does not show what the organs look like, or their placement in relation to each other. Instead, the focus is on how the "systems cooperate".

The various systems have been placed side by side, with relative proportions which bear no resemblance to their real size. The small and the large intestines are placed at one side of the body, while the heart and the blood circulation system are shown as a more or less closed system in the middle of the illustration. Arrows placed between the blood circulation system and, for example, a kidney or intestine, reveal that there is some kind of connection or interchange between the parts. The body cells—where the size of each cell corresponds to approximately a fifth of a kidney—have been placed to the right in the illustration. Through their placement and heading style, they appear to be one organic system among the others.

From the right part of the illustration, it seems as if nutrition and secretion are connected, on the one hand, to the body cells, on the other hand, to the heart and blood circulation. At the same time, we find a digestive organ to the left, where something which gets into the intestines from the outside disappears as excrements down to the left. However, a kidney which is connected to the blood circulation through an arrow, and an arrow pointing towards the word "urine" (Sw. *urin*) can be found down to the right, though they do not seem to be connected to any kind of food or liquid intake. Eventually, the reader might realize that what is called the "secretion organ" (Sw. *utsöndringsorgan*) has something to do with the purification of the blood.

In the illustration, the word "blood circulation" (Sw. *blodomlopp*) is given, though in the text the word "blood vessel" (Sw. *blodkärl*) is used. Where the text mentions the circulation organ "heart–blood vessels", the illustration depicts the circulation organ "heart–blood circulation". Thus, here the text is in conflict with the *principle of congruence*.

Not only form, but color, too, carries information in the illustration. In this case, it can result in further challenges in the meaning-making process. The digestion organs to the left are depicted in a pinkish-brown color, just like the cells to the right. Here there is a congruence in the color coding, but does this mean that there is a connection between the digestion organs and the body cells? In line with the conventions of the particular subject area, it can be assumed that the red color depicts blood which is rich in oxygen, while blue depicts blood with a low level of oxygen.

The lungs have a pale lilac tone, while the kidney (why just one?) is light green. However, what does the gray shade in the background mean? Is it presumed to be a neutral background meant to separate the illustration from the white book page, or is it a depiction of "the body"? Thus, we can state here that even though color to some extent appears to carry meaning, this is not always the case.

On the whole, we may note that the relation between writing and image is complex in this text. Since the illustration in itself is quite abstract, the reader needs to have quite an advanced content knowledge to be able to interpret the illustration in relation to the fact-oriented information given in writing. The connection between the information in image and writing might be simple to make for anyone who is already familiar with the function of the organs of the body. However, for someone who comes across a text like this without previous knowledge, the information can appear to be incomplete, and to some extent even contradictory.

#### *7.2.3 Figurative Language*

This text contains an abundance of figurative language, not least metaphors, perhaps due to a presumption that the reader will be supported through connections to everyday experiences. However, such usage can also be potentially challenging. The text says that "the organs *cooperate*", and "[w]hen the digestive organ have *done their job*, it is time to *transport* the nutrition and oxygen to all body cells", which is "*taken care of* " by the circulation system". But what, for instance, does it mean that the digestive organs have "done their job"? And are the circulation organs waiting for a delivery from the digestive organ?

Further, the text says that the body is "a fantastic machinery" (Sw. *ett fantastiskt maskineri*). But a biological body is an organism governed by other principles than mechanical clocks or digital systems in a computer. In line with this, researchers in the area of brain research have left the analogy of the brain as a computer. Instead the brain is discussed in terms of a live organism which is dependent on a biological body which actively chooses and sorts information (Edelman 2006). Some adequate questions to pose in relation to this text are, for example: What are the gains of using the machine metaphor for the body, and what are the limitations? What possible misunderstandings can the machine metaphor give rise to?

At the bottom of the page, to the left, there is an illustration depicting how cells "talk" (Sw. *pratar*) to each other, a metaphor in line with the 1940s communicative model by Shannon and Weavers (1998). Here it is said that signal substances are *sent* to the other side, where there is a "*receiver* […] who *takes* the signal substances into nucleus of the cell". Here, the signal substances have become "messages" which are actively "taken care of" by a "receiver", who in turn "brings" the message into the nucleus of the cell (cf Pettersson et al. 2020, who showed how students used logistics metaphors to talk about the digestive system in a national test). The text humanizes the organs, thus depicting the body parts as having intentions. Such anthropomorphisms, as they are called, are known to create challenges for students, since the students sometimes mistakenly perceive natural phenomena as actually having intentions and feelings (for further discussions, see for instance Danielsson et al. 2018; Tibell and Rundgren 2010).

#### *7.2.4 Values*

In this text, no values are expressed explicitly. But are there any implicit values? In one sense, you can say that there is an underlying principle for organizing the subject content: a functionalistic model with cooperating entities possessing intentions.

Of course, it might be reasonable to use metaphors to present the function of our organs to the students. At the same time, such use can lead to other obstacles since the organs and their different parts are depicted as active objects. In one sense, such a depiction weakens the value of the system model presented at the beginning of this section of the textbook.

#### **References**

#### *Textbooks*

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#### **Chapter 8 Social Sciences**

#### **8.1 Geography**

Geography is a school subject that embraces both natural sciences and social sciences, as well as the crossroads between the two. A variety of multimodal representations have long been used in geography textbooks, such as different kinds of maps of nation states and cities, weather conditions and natural resources, or production and trade. Today we can also find digital representations of dynamic changes, for example, the development of the earth or the changes of contemporary local landscapes.

It is interesting to note that since a majority of the population on earth today live in urban areas, the city itself has become an important part of what geography is about—such as questions concerning the planning of urban development and the need to foresee, for example, overflow damage to the city structure. In the following, we will give examples from one Spanish and one Singaporean textbook.

#### **8.2 Geography—A Spanish City: Madrid**

In the following we will present a short textbook description of Madrid as an autonomous region, based on a bookspread taken from *Tierra 5. Medio Natural, Social y Cultural* (Botines et al. 2006) (Fig. 8.1).

#### *8.2.1 General Structure and Setting*

This book spread describes "Madrid, an autonomous region" (Sp. *Madrid, una comunidad autónoma*) (1 in Fig. 8.1.). On the left page, the main text is presented in the left column (2, 3, 4). The authors describe Spain and its 17 autonomous regions according to the legislation from 1978 (2) and that Madrid gained its independence 1983 (3).

**Fig. 8.1** Schematic image of Madrid, *Tierra 5* (Botines et al. 2006, pp. 178–179). Image changed for copyright reasons

The authors then describe different kinds of services available to the citizens, such as health care, schooling, and transports (4). In the right column, a green-shaded text box presents the legislative statutes for Madrid as an independent region (5). Underneath is a photo of houses and streets in central Madrid (7), with a caption explaining that this is a big city hosting most of the central institutions and official services (of the region as well as of the whole of Spain) (8).

On the right page, in the left column, we find two different illustrations. On top, there is a map of all the autonomous regions in Spain (10), and underneath a diagram with illustrated examples of public services financed by taxes (11): education (12), health care (13), public transport (14), communal parks (15), and sports arenas (16). A caption underneath the diagram says that a large part of the taxes go to public services (17). A yellow-shaded textbox to the right consists of a number of questions divided in three different areas: "Study the map", "Comment", and "Respond" (18– 20). The first area is connected to the map (18), the second one to the image of the network of services (19), and the third one consists of questions, the answers to which can be found anywhere in the text (20).

#### *8.2.2 Interaction Between Text Resources*

In this textbook, we note a fairly high degree of proximity between different text resources. In the example used here, on the left page there is a written text about autonomy, illustrated by an excerpt from the by-laws of the city (6). The description of Madrid is illustrated by a photo of the city (7), and the description of the city given in writing at the bottom of the page is connected to the diagram at the bottom of the subsequent page (11–17).

On the right page, the map (10) is linked to different questions under the heading "Observe the map" (Spa. *Observa el mapa*), explicitly requesting the student to use the map in different ways (18). These questions emphasize factual knowledge, such as the number of autonomous regions and their names. The diagram on the same page (11–17) is linked to questions about the commitments of the city, focusing on aspects such as the responsibility of the city (19). The questions on the bottom of the page (20) concern facts given somewhere in the book spread.

#### *8.2.3 Classroom Focus: To Create a Narrative*

In this example, it seems necessary for the teacher to create a narrative in order to explain the significance of the different factual pieces of information. Why, for example, was 1983 an important year for the city of Madrid, and what were the consequences for the city, the region, and the country? In doing this, the teacher can link the narrative to the illustrations on the right-hand page, for example to clarify public services (with the aid of the diagram at the bottom of the page), and also to compare Madrid as a region with other regions in the country (the upper map).

In other words, the multimodal resources in this book can be linked together by the teacher to present an overarching story about the historical and social significance of the information.

In the next example, which is from Singapore, we may note a narrative structure in the textbook, which can result in a more precise engagement of (possible future) actions by the student. Here the information is framed in environmental terms, not only in terms of political or administrative functions, and the role of the teacher might in this case be to support discussions among students, and to discuss different solutions to complex problems.

#### **8.3 Geography—Urban Living: Singapore**

The following example is from the textbook *All About Geography, Urban Living* (Goh et al. 2015), where we will focus on the example "Floods. How can cities prepare for flood?".

#### *8.3.1 General Structure and Setting*

We here begin our analysis with a book spread about "River floods" and "Flash floods" (Fig. 8.2). At the top of the left page we find a drawing—a cross-section of a river channel, and at the bottom two different aerial photos of the Mississippi River near Memphis in normal conditions (to the left) and during the flood in 2011.

The top of the right page shows a photo taken from the air during the flood in Brisbane, 2011, and at the bottom a flash flood in Kuala Lumpur, 2012. In the right margin there is an explanation of "Geographical Concepts—Scale" such as largescale floods (Brisbane in 2011) and small-scale floods (the flash flood in Orchard Road, Singapore, 2010). Here there is also a "Bookmark" with a link to a video film about "the experience of people during a flash flood".

Most of the space is dominated by visual illustrations, which underline severe effects of flooding throughout the world. These pages also underline that a flood can happen suddenly, and for different reasons.

On the following pages there are descriptions of different causes of floods, such as rainfall (intensity, duration, frequency), snowmelt, storm surge, and tsunami, height of land above or below sea level and proximity to water bodies, or the failure of manmade structures (such as dams, levees, and floodwalls, or an under-dimensioned channel capacity). Here the reader can also find out how floods affect people living in cities, such as the spread of diseases and loss of life, homelessness, disruption of

**Fig. 8.2** River floods and Flash floods. *All About Geography, Urban Living* (Goh, Yu & M.C. 2015, pp. 156–157, Reproduced by permission of Hodder Education, photographs blurred for copyright reasons)

**Fig. 8.3** How should cities prepare for floods? *All About Geography, Urban Living* (Goh et al. 2015, pp. 180–181, Reproduced by permission of Hodder Education, photographs blurred for copyright reasons)

clean water supply, damage to transport infrastructure, or disruption of energy supply. This leads to the question how cities then should prepare for floods (Fig. 8.3).

At the top of the left page in Fig. 8.3 we find a heading and a list of what "you will learn". Underneath we find two photos, one showing a flash flood at Lucky Plaza in Singapore in 2010, and the other showing people placing sandbags along a road in Bangkok in 2011. On the right page different "mitigation measures" are presented such as "Regulation", here exemplified by "Zoning". On the following pages we also find other examples such as "Elevated properties" and "Investment in infrastructure", "Forecasting and warning system", and "Evacuation drills".

#### *8.3.2 Interaction Between Text Resources*

In our first example from *Urban Living* (pp. 156–157, Fig. 8.2), the relations between visual illustrations and written text are close and congruent. The illustrations are the predominant resource, and they can function as a starting point for discussions. Central here is the phenomenon "floods", including different descriptions of "scales". However, through the sketch of the cross-section of a river channel, there is also an opportunity to start a discussion about causes (which can be followed up and taken deeper later in the book).

Our second example (pp. 180–181, Fig. 8.3) is focused more on the socioeconomic impact and the concern for communities that are affected by natural hazards. The central theme here is preparations to handle floods of different kinds, with a stronger emphasis on explanatory and descriptive texts. The teacher can of course, if necessary, clarify how the information, the descriptions, and explanations on the following page can be used to answer the questions on the upper left page (p. 180).

#### **8.4 Social Sciences as a Multimodal Challenge**

We have focused here on two kinds of representations of geography: one more traditional textbook focusing on political and administrative legislations, and one more modern focusing on overarching themes, which also has references to sources outside the book. However, by using these examples, we would not want say that the first is "wrong" and the second one is "right". What we want to underpin here is that the different resources present different affordances for the teachers and the students, as well as different opportunities to use the information: different resources give different opportunities for teaching and learning. In both cases, it is up to the teacher to frame the information so that the pupils will have an opportunity for meaningful learning. Therefore, it is not enough to (only) explain what the words as such mean; these words must also be framed in relation to other kinds of multimodal representations.

#### **8.5 History, Secondary School—A Matter of Values**

In our model for reading texts with a focus on multimodal and educational aspects (Table 4.1, Sect. 4.5), we differentiate between the overall structure and setting of the text, the relation between different parts of the text, as well as the role of figurative language and values. We have also stated that you do not have to use all the categories every time you analyze a specific text. In our analysis of history textbooks, we would like to emphasize the specific role of values, looking at two textbooks about the war in Vietnam: the Swedish book *Utkik, Historia, Grade 7–9* (in English "Lookout, History—History Grade 7–9", Nilsson et al. 2013) and*All About History. The Making of the Contemporary World Order, 1870s–1991,* Cheong and Huang 2015) from Singapore (Fig. 8.4 and 8.5).

**Fig. 8.4** The Vietnam War, *Utkik Historia* (Nilsson et al. 2013, pp. 270–271, with permission from Gleerups)

**Fig. 8.5** How did the Vietnamese succeed in getting the French to relinquish its control over Vietnam by 1954?, *All About History* (Cheong and Huang 2014, pp. 50–51, Reproduced by permission of Hodder Education, photograph blurred for copyright reasons)

#### *8.5.1 General Structure and Setting*

At a general level, one can immediately notice that the Singaporean book emphasizes "the making of nation states", whilst the Swedish book more vaguely focuses on "the time after the war". A closer look reveals that the heading in the Swedish book announces "Vietnam", and the subtitles focus on "History and statistics" and "Killed *Americans* in Vietnam" (our emphasis) respectively. In the Singaporean book, the heading talks about "Decolonisation of Vietnam", and the subtitles are phrased as follows: "How did the *Vietnamese* succeed in getting the French to relinquish its control over Vietnam by 1954?" (our emphasis): "To what extent was the establishment of an independent Vietnam in 1976 more a result of internal rather than external factors"? At the end we find the subtitle "Think like a historian: Causation: categorising factors" and "Practising history: Developing and concluding a causal argument".

Both the thematic orientation and the sequencing of information are obviously differently designed in these two textbooks. We can also notice that the Swedish book introduces the term "domino theory" (i.e. in the political language of those days in the West—if one country falls into the hands of the communists, others will follow), whilst the Singaporean book instead emphasizes the question of "anti-colonialism".

If we now continue with the question of what different semiotic resources offer, we will find the following caption in the Swedish textbook: "The Vietnam War", although most of this part talks about the different wars in Southeast Asia. This is followed by subheadings and short, descriptive texts. The map on the left page (Fig. 8.4, at the place of "the given" according to Kress and van Leuwen 2006) shows where in the world we can find Vietnam, whilst the information on the right page ("the new" information) shows American soldiers as active agents (those who do things), albeit with some negative hints.

The Singaporean textbook shows on its left page General Giap (at the place of "the given"), and on the right page (the "new" information) a subheading about "Vietnamese anti-colonial sentiments" (Fig. 8.5). In this book, the world map is not that necessary, since those who read the book probably know very well where in the world they are situated. Instead, the Vietnamese victory is the given starting point, and the Vietnamese people are seen as the active agent. And in addition, under the subheading "Background", we find different "Tasks" for the reader to solve.

#### *8.5.2 Interaction Between Text Resources*

Regarding the interaction between text resources we may notice interesting differences. In the Swedish book, the map is linked to the escalating war in Southeast Asia. It starts with the war with "the French" and the battle at Dien Bien Phu, followed by the war with "the US". The photo on the right page (Fig. 8.4) is talked about in terms of "severe sufferings".

The text book from Singapore emphasizes to a larger degree the war against the French colonial power. On the left (Fig. 8.5) we find, as mentioned, General Giap and the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. On the right side, we find different pieces of information: tasks, websites (and later also "sources", for example with quotations from books and speeches) and a text that describes the background to the anti-colonial movement. The war with the US comes much later in the book.

In this book, we also find a thematic thread from victories and anti-colonialism to the building of new nation states. Even though the Swedish book also talks about "The liberation of the colonies" (pp. 268–269, not shown in the figures), it is with a very distant voice: "The so-called de-colonization started in Asia at the end of the 1940's and spread to Africa 10 years later". Furthermore, the perspective of colonization is not directly linked to what then follows about the Vietnamese war.

#### *8.5.3 Figurative Language and Values*

We do not find a lot of explicit figurative language in these texts. However, the Swedish book refers to the "domino theory" or "crushing defeat", and in the Singaporean book expressions like "power vacuum" and "puppet government" are used. On the other hand, the values that are brought to the fore are quite obvious, even though they are not explicitly stated. For example, the Swedish book emphasizes that out of 2.5 million people that were killed during the Vietnam war, 58,000 were *Americans*, and on the following page we find a map showing how many Americans were killed in different provinces. In the book from Singapore it is instead the suffering of the *Vietnamese people* that is emphasized (during both the French and the American occupation)—when peasants lost their land and higher education was accessible only for students from privileged groups.

Obviously, the socio-political place in the world frames perspectives and the selection of facts—where the western hemisphere gradually seems to lose its control over different parts of the world, and where the eastern hemisphere grows in importance and self-government, and self-esteem. A way for teachers (in both countries) to highlight these aspects could be to compare multimodal representations, descriptions and explanations of the "same" historical situation from different points of view, as can be found in different learning resources—which also will reveal the underlying (often immanent and "natural") value statements.

#### *8.5.4 Representing History*

The discussed differences between the two books can of course also be found in other parts in each of them. For example, the captions on the following pages in the Swedish book highlight such themes as "Humans on the move", "The end of the Cold War" and "Towards a global world", whilst the Singaporean book focuses on "decolonisation" and "the construction of nation states" in Southeast Asia.

However, the fact that different textbooks have different perspectives does not need to be problematic. On the contrary, in a field like history, one can discuss different perspectives, different values, and different ways of representing the historical knowledge—and by doing so, deepen the historical understanding (cf. Insulander et al. 2016; Wheatly 2001).

Yet another aspect we would like to emphasize here is the question of *activity linking* (Selander 2018). In the book from Singapore, we find clear links between the kind of activities the pupils are supposed to perform, and the kind of information, sources, websites, etc. that can be found in the text. In other words, the text is modeled on how information is to be understood and used by the reader. The pupils are also encouraged to work collaboratively, to think like a historian, and it is clear which (in this case) four questions the pupils are supposed to focus on. The Swedish book is much more superficial and vague. One example: "From your geography studies, you are used to maps that show different places. In this case, the map is used to describe a certain kind of event. Can you think of anything else that you can show with the help of maps"? Hence, instead of a question that helps the pupils to deepen their understanding of historical processes and events, they are here suddenly moved away from the topic to something totally different.

#### **8.6 Religion, Elementary School**

In the Scandinavian countries the subject Religion has its origin in the subject Christianity. Today, this subject is supposed to be a guide to the stories, holy places, rituals, and symbols of different religions, and furthermore, to be an arena where ethical questions can be discussed. It might seem inevitable that in description of religions from a Western perspective there is a central, symbolic space—in Lotman's (1990) terms, a semiosphere1—in this case with Christianity as the natural point of departure. This can be explained by quite divergent things, such as the dominance of Christianity since the Middle Ages, or the historical roots of the school subject, but also the political discussion. Here we will examine how different religions are introduced in different ways in a Swedish textbook. The differences concern things like what facts to present and the different illustrations chosen with regard to the religions and those who practice the religion in question. We will return to these questions under "Values" (Sect. 8.6.4).

In the following, we will focus on the sections "Visiting a Christian home" (Sw. *På besök i ett kristet hem*) and "Visiting a Muslim home" (Sw. *På besök i ett muslimskt hem;* Figs. 8.6 and 8.7) in the textbook *Upptäck Religion* (Eng. *Discover religion*) (Ring and Sandin 2008), produced for elementary school years 4–6.

<sup>1</sup>Lotman (1990) describes the "semiosphere" as symbolic spaces that express aspects such as centre and periphery, demarcations, and power relations.

#### 8.6 Religion, Elementary School 89

**Fig. 8.6** Visiting a Christian home. *Upptäck Religion* (Ring and Sandin 2008, pp. 12–13, with permission from Liber)

**Fig. 8.7** Visiting a Moslem home. *Upptäck Religion* (Ring and Sandin 2008, pp. 72–73, with permission from Liber)

This textbook is also produced in an online version, with the same layout as the printed version.<sup>2</sup> The online version supplements the printed version through resources such as Internet links, the possibility to add notes to the text, or to have an electronic voice reading sections of the text. When you click a button for "extra resources", a page with a video film is shown. Apart from the film, the online

<sup>2</sup>The images in this section are screen shots taken from the online version of the textbook.

version contains links to other electronic resources connected to the textbook. We will comment briefly on the content of the video films in relation to the different sections examined.

#### *8.6.1 General Structure and Setting*

The general structure is similar in both chapters, but we also note differences in the ways that a number of phenomena are presented. In both sections, the central written text is placed in the middle of the book spread, and illustrations and text boxes are placed around this written text. In the presentation of Christianity, we find a book of prayers in the upper left corner. Under the book, the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father"—in a modernized version—is given in a blue-shaded text box. A large image to the right at the bottom of the left page shows a family saying grace before eating. Below that image, a yellow-toned text box explains words like "prayer" (Sw. *bön*) and "hallowed" (Sw. *helgat*). The text box has a heading "Word list" (Sw. *ordlista*) placed vertically to the left. Text boxes containing explanations of words are used throughout the textbook. Also, all the words explained in text boxes are italicized in the running text and the explanations are bolded.

The right page contains two headings: "The cross is an important symbol", and "Baptismal Candle" (Sw. *dopljus*). The cross is illustrated through hands clasped in prayer, holding a cross above a book (presumably the Bible). The baptismal candle is illustrated by two newly lit candles. Below that photo are two more explanations: "symbol" and "rise from the dead" (Sw. *uppstå*). In the rightmost lower corner is a yellow-toned text box "Did you know…" (Sw. *Visste du att*…), which explains the word "amen". Two of the illustrations depict things (a book and a candle), while the others depict people in some kind of action (praying).

In the corresponding section on Islam we find the heading "When the sun sets the fast is broken" (Sw. *när solen går ner bryts fastan*) on the left page of the book spread. The right page contains the headings "Then it is time to pray" (Sw. *Sedan är det dags för bön*) and "During Ramadan you are supposed to be particularly nice" (Sw. *Under ramadan ska man vara extra snäll*). The left page contains two illustrations, a photo of dates in a box with a hand taking one date, and a photo of "Muslim food" (Sw. *muslimsk mat*) with a text about halal in a blue-toned text box. On the right page, we find a photo showing a big table, and a small girl laying the table. Another photo depicts different kinds of prayer compasses. Here a text says "You can even use a mobile phone to show the direction to Mecca". At the bottom of the page, to the right, there is a text box toned in yellow: "What do you think?" (Sw. *Vad tycker du?*) with the text: "During Ramadan you are supposed to avoid having disputes with others. Among Christians it is common to try to be especially kind at Christmas. Is it a good thing that you are sometimes forced to be kind?".

In the online version of the textbook three short video films are connected to the sections above. In the section about Christianity the film "Talking to God" is introduced through a short sequence from a ceremony in a Swedish church. After that a longer sequence follows, where a woman explains her relation to praying. In the section about Islam, there are two films, "Religion at home" (connected to the left page in the book spread) and Ramadan (which is connected to the right page). In both films, informative sequences are mixed with short sequences with children's comments, and sequences showing people praying or reading the Quran.

#### *8.6.2 Interaction Between Text Resources*

Different semiotic modes interact in the section about Christianity. One theme is prayer: the main text on the left page deals with prayer, illustrated by a book of prayers and the text of the Lord's Prayer. The main image depicts a family praying at the table. Another theme is the cross (eternal life), sometimes used in prayer (the image to the right on top of the page). A third theme is the baptism (being christened) and a baptismal candle. The text box "Did you know…" deals with "amen" the final word in a prayer. Five central concepts are explained here: prayer, hallowed, symbol, rise, and amen.

In the Muslim home, fasting is a central theme. The text says that you break the fast with a date, which is illustrated by a hand taking a date. At the bottom of the page "halal"—in this case admissible food—is illustrated by plastic bags with chicken legs in a deep freezer. Another theme is prayer, illustrated by a prayer compass, and a third theme is the fact that you are supposed to be kind during Ramadan, which is compared to a Christian rule for Christmas. Three words are explained: fasting, prophet, and role model. There is no "Did you know…" text box in this section, but instead the reader is invited to ponder over calls for kindness.

#### *8.6.3 Figurative Language*

In the Christian home, the candle is a symbol of the transition from darkness to light, which in this case means the transition from not being Christian to becoming a Christian. The word 'symbol' is explained as something which is "used as a sign for something", and it is exemplified by a heart, which is "as symbol of love, to care about".

The text about Islam states that you cannot eat while the sun is up, and that you break the fast when the sun sets, then eating a couple of dates and drinking a few sips of water. The text also says that the reason why this is done is because Muhammad did so, and that many Muslims want to do "what he did". In what sense the position of the sun affects the fasting remains unexplained.

#### *8.6.4 Values*

If we once again use Lotman's (1990) concept of "semiosphere", we can clearly see the different perspectives that are used. In the Christian home we are invited to "an ordinary evening" (Sw. *en vanlig vardagskväll*) where the family say grace before having dinner. Here, the center is a (Swedish?) middle-class family, acting in a shared religious ritual (praying).

In the Muslim home, on the other hand, we are invited to a family celebrating Ramadan. In this case we (as viewers and readers) are not placed in the center, but look out from a distance. The text deals with fasting, and then prayer. No human beings are engaged in shared activities, instead the images depict individual activities: a hand taking a date, two arms lifting a packet of chicken from a freezer, and the young girl who is helping someone to lay a table.

In the Christian home, the different actions connected to a Christian's relation to God are described as a strong feeling of love. In the Muslim home, only the prayer ritual is described, and instead of love, the text focuses on the fact that you are supposed to be kind and helpful. It is worth pondering over how a Western reader would have perceived a description of "an ordinary day" in the Muslim home, with explanations of the relation to God, including a heart as a symbol for love, while the Christian home was described in terms of observable rituals during Christmas celebrations, and the expected kindness. Here we probably would not need any close analysis to experience where the center and periphery of the semiosphere are located.

In the films that are available in the digital version of the textbook, we can hear the voices of Muslim children. However, since the films have been created in an Englishspeaking country, Swedish children are reading translations from the original, which creates a distance. The title of the film is "Religion at home" with a subheading "Many girls pray and read the Quran at home". The film shows two sisters praying at home and how their mother teaches them about the Quran (while it is said that boys more frequently pray in the mosque among the other men, and that they go to Quran classes).

A couple of other things are worth noting in the films, for instance that the speaker says that the girls are learning Arabic "to be able to read the Quran". But is not the language a means of communicating at home or with relatives? In the film it is not clear whether the girls speak another language than Arabic at home (there is a Swedish voice-over when the children in the film talk during interviews), or if the film refers to the fact that the girls are learning the Arabic written language and classic Arabic, which differ from the spoken dialects. Of course, it might be asking too much if the film were to explain how the language of the Quran differs from spoken dialects, but the comment about learning the language contributes to maintaining a world of "us" and "them". That perspective is especially noticeable from a comment about the Arabic written language: "before you have learnt the language it looks really tricky". Does that mean that, for instance, the Swedish orthography looks less tricky for anyone not used to it? Also, "to know a language" (regardless of language) does not imply that it is easy to read the language, even though language knowledge is a prerequisite for reading with understanding.

The film titled "Ramadan" has (just as in the printed version) a sub-heading "During Ramadan you must not eat or drink until the sun has set". In the film a boy tells us how hungry and tired he is during Ramadan, while a girl comments on the fact that you then will experience how it can feel when you are poor (and that it is easier when Ramadan falls during the winter months, when the sun is up for a shorter time than during summer). The film also shows that in the children's school, there are two rooms where the Muslim children can pray.

As mentioned, the film connected to the section about Christianity is introduced with a short sequence from a ceremony in a Swedish church. The speaker voice says that in the Swedish church there are many different kinds of sermons, and that this particular sermon includes a lot of music. This is followed by a longer sequence in which a Swedish woman tells the viewer about her relation to prayer. She says that the prayer can be different depending on whether she is on her own or if she is praying in a larger context, and she also says that the actual location is of no importance. Instead she can pray wherever she can feel the presence of God and the deeds of God, for example by the sea. As a whole, Christianity appears to be a flexible religion.

If we compare the images we get through the video films, we note some clear features. For instance, Islam appears to be more distant for a Swedish reader than Christianity. The films about Islam haven't been made in a Swedish context; instead films from an English-speaking context have been used, in which children's voices are replaced with Swedish voices reading a translation. Also, these films focus on what is "different": the Arabic orthography "looks really tricky", and you learn the language to be able to read the Quran. The children in the films comment on how hard it can be during Ramadan, for instance when seeing "everyone else" eating.

The video film with the Christian woman was made in Sweden and we get a personal image of her belief, which is a flexible way of practicing your religion. Does that mean that a Muslim cannot be different in different contexts, or that you cannot speak to your God whenever you experience the presence of God? How would the relation to "the unfamiliar" have been affected if Swedish Muslims had been focused on, or if the film had examined why you are supposed to pray at specific hours (not to risk forgetting your belief in God), or the importance of always remembering that you are lucky to have food every day?

The fact that children of the same age as the supposed viewer are involved in the films about Islam could possibly diminish the distance between "us" and "them". At the same time, the Muslim children in the films do not live in a Swedish context, which might appear misleading. People practicing Islam, as well as Christians, live in all parts of the world and in many cultures. Is there any specific reason why the Muslim children in these films live outside of Sweden?

#### **References**

Insulander, E., Lindstrand, F., & Selander, S. (2016). Designing the Middle Ages: Knowledge emphasis and designs for learning in the history classroom. *Historical Encounters: A Journal of Historical Consciousness, Historical Cultures, and History Education, 3*(1), 31–42.

Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (2006). *Reading Images. The Grammar of Visual Design*. Routledge.

Lotman, Y. M. (1990). *Universe of Mind. A Semiotic Theory of Culture*. Indiana University Press. Selander, S. (2018). Can a sign reveal its meaning? On the question of interpretation and epistemic contexts. In S. Zhao, E. Djonov, A. Björkvall, & M. Boeriis (Eds.), *Advancing multimodal and*

#### *Textbooks*

*critical discourse studies* (pp. 67–79). Routledge.

**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

#### **Chapter 9 Language**

#### **9.1 English as a Foreign Language, Elementary School**

In Sweden, English is a language with high status, and digitization in particular has made English easily available so that many children learn English outside of school, what is called 'extramural English' (Sundqvist and Sylvén 2016), through commercials, music, and different digital media, including online games, YouTube clips, etc. Furthermore, Sweden has a long tradition of subtitling films rather than dubbing, apart from animated cartoons for the youngest, which are often released in two versions, one dubbed and one subtitled. Thus, Swedish children even in early grades could be expected to have learned English through various out-of-school literacy practices (cf. Street 2003).

In the Swedish school system, English is a compulsory subject from grade 3, elementary school (children aged around 9) though schools can choose to introduce English at any time during preschool class or in elementary school up to grade 3.

In the following, we analyze a textbook in English for Swedish elementary school, grade 4 (students around 10 years of age). The same textbook has been analyzed in an unpublished work by Maria Nilsson (2015), who concludes that this text—like many other textbooks in English—to a great extent consists of "atypical" genres in a kind of "school English". Some of the findings from that analysis are used here as well.

In our analysis we will look closely at two spreads from the textbook *Happy! Textbook Year 4* (Sutcliffe et al. 2009).<sup>1</sup>

<sup>1</sup>Exercises focusing on various aspects of English grammar are provided in a separate exercise book.

<sup>©</sup> The Author(s) 2021

K. Danielsson and S. Selander, *Multimodal Texts in Disciplinary Education*, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63960-0\_9

#### *9.1.1 General Structure and Setting*

At the start of the book, the reader is presented to the Best family, living inManchester, England. In the first chapter of the book, the readers learn some basic facts about Adam and Kate Best who are brother and sister: their favorite sport, food, and color, etc.

The book is structured in a number of chapters dealing with different content with the aim of letting students practice various aspects of the English language, such as grammatical constructions or word knowledge. The texts presented in the book spreads shown in Figs. 9.1 and 9.2 are supposed to give the students opportunities to practice constructions like "are/is wearing" and plural forms of regular nouns (Fancy Dress Day, Fig. 9.1). The reader is not provided with information about what structures or content areas the student is supposed to practice in the respective section. Instead this is implicit. Most book spreads have the same overall structure, with a heading given in a red text box, and with writing combined with—usually drawn—illustrations. Each spread provides the reader with a glossary with Swedish translations of a number of words, given in text boxes separated by dotted lines. For each section, there is an equivalent section in an exercise book.

What is particularly striking in this textbook is the ample use of dialogues, regardless of content. The text in Fig. 9.1 is an example of this. This is a kind of dialogue that would hardly be heard in natural conversation; instead it gives some kind of description of the illustration filling the top of the book spread. Thus, instead of

**Fig. 9.1** Fancy Dress Day, *Happy Grade 4* (Sutcliffe et al. 2009, pp. 34–35, with permission from Gleerups)

achieving the goals regarding dialogues indicated in the curriculum documents, the use of dialogues seems to be a way of structuring read-aloud activities in the classroom, where students can be asked to read different parts of the text (in this case Kate and Adam). This is a recurrent pattern right from the start of the book, where Adam and Kate have a dialogue presenting themselves (presumably to the intended reader).

#### *9.1.2 Interaction Between Text Resources*

As was mentioned above, each section provides the reader with a glossary. The words in the text boxes are presented in the same order as they appear in the text, which makes the words relatively easy to find. The illustrations given in each section are clearly connected to the writing on the same page, and they can therefore support a reader who is unfamiliar with the content of the text. However, the illustration of the rainbow shown in Fig. 9.2 can hardly support a reader who is unfamiliar with the physics of light. In writing, information is given about the ways in which different colors bend. Here the rainbow with a pot of gold gives no support for the reader who wants to know more about this phenomenon. This book spread is one of few examples with a content that is clearly connected to other subject areas—in this case science. Thus, here the students have an opportunity to actually learn more about light spectra at the same time as they practice their English in the area of science.

**Fig. 9.2** The colors of the Rainbow, *Happy Grade 4* (Sutcliffe et al. 2009, pp. 26–27, with permission from Gleerups)

Yet it is obvious that such a benefit is not the intention of the author, not least since it presents the golden pot at the bottom of the rainbow as it is in fact for real.

#### *9.1.3 Figurative Language*

There is no figurative language in the sections we use as examples of this textbook, apart from Adam's comments that the jugglers look like parrots and Kate's comment implying that Adam is "a clown". Given the difficulties language learners can have with figurative language, the lack of such expressions is more or less expected in a basic language textbook like this.

#### *9.1.4 Values*

The textbook as a whole reveals a number of implicit values. Examples are the traditional roles that boys and girls are given in the illustration in the text about the Fancy Dress Day. The illustration takes up the description of the only girl in the text as having dancing lessons and wearing a pink skirt and silver tights. In the illustration she poses in ballet fashion. In writing she is also said to be an acrobat, but that is not shown in the illustration. The boys, on the other hand, form a band and in the illustration they are remarkably active in their playing.

In other parts of the book, English people and their habits are described in quite stereotypical ways. In one section it is said that "In England many people have a full English breakfast", and that "Many people have a special Sunday lunch of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding", etc.

Less traditional is the description of the elderly in an overall section called "Friends". Here a band is presented, consisting of residents in a retirement home. They all seem to be quite healthy and active, for instance forming a band and being interested in motorbikes and the like.

#### **9.2 English, Secondary School**

Our second example regarding languages is taken from the Singaporean textbook *All About English* (Doyle et al. 2011). Thus, this example does not concern foreign language learning, although in Singapore, English is one of four official languages (the others are Mandarin, Tamil, and Malay). Therefore, Singaporean students—as well as students from other linguistic backgrounds—can be expected to not to have English as their mothertongue or strongest language. The textbook has four main sections: Listening and viewing, Reading and viewing, Speaking and representing, and Writing and representing, thus giving attention to meaning-making from reading

**Fig. 9.3** Improving pronunciation, *All About English*, secondary school (Koh et al. 2011, pp. 104– 105, Reproduced by permission of Hodder Education, photographs blurred for copyright reasons)

and creating texts, both paper-based and digital, including films, etc. Each section consists of a number of chapters. In the following, we will have a closer look at one chapter in the section on Speaking and representing: "Improving pronunciation". Figure 9.3 shows the first two pages of the chapter. In the following, we concentrate mainly on the general structure and values. However, since multimodality is the focus of our book, it is of interest to take a brief look at how multimodality as a theme connected to work with text is handled in this textbook. The textbook—just like the Singaporean textbook in science that was used as an example to present our model in Sect. 4.5—is in itself complex regarding the use of different visual representations (see Figs. 9.3 and 9.4). The layout is largely built on a variety of visual resources, such as photographs, text boxes, tables, and color, and recurring symbols indicate connections with, for instance, preceding chapters or textbooks or aspects of the content that the students are supposed to pay special attention to. But how is multimodality as a phenomenon treated in the text? First, the chapters dealing with speaking and writing are denoted "Speaking and *representing*" and "Writing and *representing*" (our italics) respectively, implying a possible multimodal focus on communication. However, a closer look at these chapters reveal a limited focus on other resources than speech or writing. Some comments are given on layout and the use of images in the chapter on writing, though mainly in a very general sense, for instance that photographs can be included in a travel report. In a section on how to write informative brochures some comments on layout are given, though commonly quite vaguely, like "Choose a layout and organization that is suitable for the information you are giving and that will help to achieve your purpose". However,

**Fig. 9.4** Improving pronunciation, *All About English*, secondary school (Koh et al. 2011, pp. 106– 107, Reproduced by permission of Hodder Education)

little is said about *how* to do that. Now let us take a closer look at one chapter in the section Speaking and Representing, namely Improving Pronunciation (Figs. 9.3 and 9.4).

#### *9.2.1 General Structure*

We can note that the chapter starts off by giving an everyday example of what is viewed as a common mispronunciation in the vernacular Singaporean variety of English: a boy, Ravi, pronounces "theme" as "team" which results in a misunderstanding. The reader is told that you need to have "good pronunciation" to avoid similar situations. Then the reader is given an introduction to pronunciation together with more arguments for the importance of correct pronunciation. The rest of the chapter has a thematic structure, first dealing with consonant clusters and then vowel sounds, including diphthongs. In these sections the reader is given overviews of the English sounds, combined with instructions about how to pronounce the sounds correctly, with examples of common mispronunciations to avoid. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is used, and symbols indicate that audio files are available through digital resources (in this case, a compact disc).

The text includes a variety of textual resources. Apart from printed words in headings, text-box-like sections labeled "Connection", and running text, the first introductory book spread contains a comic strip with school children and photographs of professionals working in areas where good pronunciation is important. In the succeeding pages, tables are commonly used to present English words with similar spelling or pronunciation in systematic ways, presumably based on sounds where the pronunciation in vernacular Singaporean English differs from Standard English. Throughout the book, symbolic images like a shackle (p. 105) for connections to another book in the same series or an image of a dictionary for definitions (p. 106).

Just as in the example from the Singaporean science textbook that we used to introduce our analytical model, the starting point of the chapter is an everyday problem followed by a movement towards systematic descriptions similar to the ones used in the discipline, in this case linguistics. In both of these textbooks, the movement towards the discipline concerns both content and text resources used: the comic strip and photos of people using spoken language on the first two pages, followed by tables containing subject-specific symbols from the IPA, with terminology such as 'syllables', 'consonant clusters', 'suffix, and 'phonemes' in the running text. These terms are all explained in the text.

#### *9.2.2 Interaction Between Text Resources*

Regarding the interaction between different text resources used, this chapter involves no apparent challenges. Images are placed close to the running text they refer to, for instance the two professionals who are placed to the right of the column about which professions involving a lot of verbal communication, even though it might not be completely clear what professional role the male sitting on a stool has. The tables with subject-specific symbols are integrated in the running text, with explicit connectors such as "the following tables show…".

#### *9.2.3 Values*

The theme chosen for this chapter clearly reveals underlying values concerning "right and wrong". A main point is that there is "good" and "bad" pronunciation, and that the Singaporean variety of English is not "good pronunciation". As mentioned, the starting point is a made-up problem, with a misunderstanding caused by a /th/ pronounced as /t/ in line with vernacular Singaporean pronunciation rules. The reader is told that you need "good pronunciation" for two reasons. First to avoid misunderstandings. Second to make sure that the listener "pays attention" to what is said. The second reason is clearly value-laden, implying that vernacular pronunciation—fully legitimate within the Singaporean community—would reveal you to be less cultivated, and that you would therefore be less inclined to be taken seriously by people who "count". Thus, this statement implicitly contains values about good and bad language. The next two pages, though, are explicit about what the student should and should not do as regards pronunciation, and here, all examples given are "mispronounced words" in Singaporean English. Such a normative perspective can be contrasted to the ways dialects and sociolects are treated as functional varieties of a language in much of modern sociolinguistics (e.g. Wardaugh 2006).

#### **References**

Nilsson, M. (2015). Engelska textböcker i årskurs 4. Ämneslitteracitet och språksyn. [English textbooks for grade 4. Subject literacy and language view]. Unpublished text, Stockholm University, Department of Language Education.

Street, B. (2003). What's "new" in New Literacy Studies? Critical approaches to literacy in theory and practice. *Current Issues in Contemporary Education, 5*(2), 77–91.

Sundqvist, P., & Sylvén, L. K. (2016). *Extramural English in Teaching and Learning. From Theory and Research to Practice*. Palgrave Macmillan.

Wardhaugh, R. (2006). *An Introduction to Sociolinguistics*. Wiley-Blackwell.

#### *Textbooks*

Koh, J., Cheng, E., and Doyle, P. (2011). *All About English: Secondary 2 Express*. Singapore: Hodder Education.

Sutcliffe, C., Thunman, I., Mälström Timling, M. (2009). *Happy. Textbook year 4.* Malmö: Gleerups.

**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

#### **Chapter 10 Subjects Focusing on Practical Work**

In this section, we use two Swedish examples from subjects focusing on practical work, one from textile crafts in lower secondary school, and one text explaining welding techniques in vocational studies (the Industry program) in upper secondary school.

Texts connected to subjects involving craft techniques are specifically interesting from yet another multimodal perspective: instruction for action. In the Swedish school context, such subjects can be found at all levels of the school system, in subjects like crafts (textile crafts or carpentry and metal crafts), as well as vocational programs in upper secondary school oriented towards industry or automotive engineering. In many cases those subjects are not perceived as theoretical, while instead the "doing" is in focus, and the texts used in these subjects would then function as instructions (Ekström 2010). Thus, the text becomes essential for the doing, and many illustrations carry important information. However, it is not always the case that the illustrations actually function as instructions, something which will become evident in the analysis of the text from welding technique below.

#### **10.1 Crafts, Secondary School**

The text we use here is one that was used in a textile crafts classroom which was investigated for its literacy activities by Eva Lindqvist (2014). In her description of the classroom activities it was evident that the students used a variety of texts. No textbook was used, but instead different kinds of compilations or texts produced by the teacher. Regarding sewing or knitting instructions, various descriptions of the process produced for education were used. When there were no pedagogic texts available for certain processes, the students were referred to quite complex instructions available from the Internet. The text that we use here consists of two pages from a three-page

**Fig. 10.1** Instructions for sewing an apron, p. 1. Secondary school (re-printed with permission from Kerstin Juhlin)

booklet produced for teaching textile craft.<sup>1</sup> It was used in the studied classroom as an instruction for those who chose to make an apron (Figs. 10.1 and 10.2). The third page—which is omitted here—is a drawn pattern which the student is supposed to enlarge and transform on to a piece of paper to use when cutting the fabric.

<sup>1</sup>An experienced teacher in textile crafts has produced the instruction and made it available on the Internet (the text is now taken away from the web page).

**Fig. 10.2** Instructions for sewing an apron, p. 2. Secondary school (re-printed with permission from Kerstin Juhlin)

#### *10.1.1 General Structure and Setting*

The writing is structured in bullets, and placed to the left on both pages, with headings in italics. To the right are drawn illustrations with no headings. Both the writing and illustrations are visually prominent. The stylization of the illustrations, with clearly marked contours in black, contribute to their prominence on the page.

The expected reading order might be to follow the bullets one by one and shift between writing and illustrations.

Apart from the first heading, "Apron" (Sw. *Förkläde*), which is centered and set in a bigger font, the headings correspond to different parts of the apron. The first part of the process—sewing the main part of the apron—has no heading. This instruction appears directly under the main heading.

#### *10.1.2 Interaction Between Text Resources*

The illustrations are central in the description of the process. The stylization contributes to the "doing" that is expected from the text: seams, hems, etc. become fairly distinct. The written text refers to the illustrations, though not explicitly, as might have been expected in an instructive text like this.

Furthermore, a number of concrete, subject-specific concepts are used only in writing and not in the illustrations. Thus, it is implied that the student either is familiar with the concept, or that a teacher is expected to support the process. Quite often you can guess what the term refers to, for example to pin lengthwise (Sw. *längdnåla*) or crosswise (Sw. *tvärnåla*) on the first page. However, there are also instances where there is nothing in the illustration that corresponds to the written instructions. One such example can be found on the second page, where in writing it is said that you should "zigzag the raw edges of the pockets" (Sw. *sick-sacka fickornas traskanter*). Neither "raw edges" nor zigzag stitches are shown in the illustrations. Instead, the illustration connected to this part of the instruction depicts the next stage, namely the folded edges along the sides of the pocket. Therefore, what corresponds to "raw edges" or the result of a zigzag seam is expected already to be clear for the student using these instructions.

The various illustrations lack headings or captions. Thus, the reader is expected to know when to use the illustrations and when only writing is expected to carry information about the process.

The illustrations function mainly to *depict* various parts of the process, or to *visualize* or *concretize* what is said in writing. One example is where it is said in writing that the edges of the curved part of the apron should be pinned lengthwise, and where the illustration depicts pins along a hem.

At times, the illustrations supplement the writing, for example when the illustrations only depict the "reverse" (Sw. *avigsidan*) or at the bottom of the second page, where the text says "Sew together using straight stitching. See illustration." This is the only place where the text explicitly refers to an illustration, although which one of them is implicit. What is probably referred to is the detailed illustration of the bib, where a cross marks the place where the tying strips are supposed to be stitched to the apron.

#### *10.1.3 Values*

There are no explicitly expressed values in this text. However, we may note an implicit discourse based on meticulousness and control. The expected accuracy is shown through the detailed descriptions of the process (exact distances between edge and seam, and instructions as to how to fold the hem). The same thing is shown in the illustrations depicting details in the process. The importance of control is shown in the recurring request "SHOW" (Sw. *visa*) in the writing. Thus, the teacher is supposed to check that central steps during the process have been performed correctly—and probably in a meticulous way—before the student is allowed to go on to the next step.

With a greater focus on creativity, the text might have included some encouragement to use your imagination regarding the choice of fabric, or perhaps urged students to make decisions regarding ways of designing different parts of the apron. Of course, nothing prevents the teacher from encouraging the students to be creative in the classroom practice, but if we only look at what the text encourages, meticulousness and control appear to be important. The same thing was noted in the welding text, which we will look at more closely in the following.

#### **10.2 Welding, Industry Program**

In vocational studies in Swedish upper secondary school a number of subjects involving practical processes are included. The Industry program includes a number of practical courses with direct relevance for future work in industry. However, to be able to pass such courses, a knowledge of subjects like physics is also required. In this particular case we will look closely at a course in welding techniques. According to the curriculum, students are supposed to develop knowledge about the risk of deviations in form and inaccuracies, and how to avoid and remedy the faults.

In a textbook on welding (Henriksson and Hällman 1999) one chapter deals weldability (Sw. "*Svetsbarhet*"). This covers aspects such as how shrinking and expansion in the metals are associated with temperatures, and how this has consequences for the welding process (Henriksson and Hällman 1999, pp. 95ff).

In a doctoral thesis, Pia Visén investigated text talk in upper secondary school. In her investigation, this section in the textbook was used (Visén 2015, also see Hallesson and Visén 2018 in which text talk during the same lesson is analysed). In her study she showed how the teacher in his exposition about welding stuck very closely to the textbook, though never referring to any sections in it explicitly. Her analysis also revealed that the teacher made no connections to the illustrations in the textbook.

#### *10.2.1 General Structure and Setting*

The book spread contains both writing and illustrations such as diagrams. The writing is sequenced in sections under a number of headings. The illustrations are placed either to the right of the written text or below it. Both writing and illustrations are

**Fig. 10.3** Welds. Facts about welds. *Bågsvetsning. Fakta om bågsvetsning* (Henriksson and Hällman 1999, pp. 96–97, with permission from Liber)

prominent, and the placement of the illustrations invites the reader to read from the top of the text and then down, shifting between writing and illustrations (Fig. 10.3).

The content is thematically arranged, starting with overarching content about how materials are affected by heat and cold. The headings in the book spread, "Expansion and shrinkage" (Sw. *Utvidgning och krympning*), "Tensions due to shrinkage" (Sw. *Krympspänningar*), and "The effect of shrinkage" (Sw. *Krympningens verkan*) support the reader in following the thematic structure.

#### *10.2.2 Interaction Between Text Resources*

The book spread contains different types of illustrations. One example is the schematic image, or sketch, of a weld on top of the left page. This illustration is more abstract than the other illustrations, and it is of a type that can be expected to be found in handbooks for welders, that is, for people working in the profession. The rest of the illustrations concretize the content given through writing, with a design that appears to be more in line with concretizing images in instructional pedagogical texts. Writing and illustrations are closely connected and the illustrations cannot be fully understood without the written information, while the illustrations *concretize* or *complement* the information given through writing.

Throughout the text, the images consist of concretizing images focusing on the weld and the material connected by the weld, which is fully congruent with the writing. Metal pieces are depicted in blue color while the weld is purple. It is particularly instructive that the more abstract depiction at the top of the page and the more concrete illustration at the bottom of the same page exhibit clear resemblances.

Thus, there is a clear *congruence* between illustrations and writing in this text. Further, the illustrations are closely connected to the writing on the whole. Also, regarding the layout of the book spread, illustrations are placed in direct relation to the written text. Moreover, the same concepts are used in both writing and illustrations, with one exception. This concerns the sketch at the top of the page, depicting a cross-section of a weld, presenting a number of terms. These terms are both subjectspecific (e.g. "Weld metal" [*Svetsgods*], "Weld face" [*toppyta*], "Weld Junction" [*smältgräns*]) and more general concepts ("Heat-affected material" [*värmepåverkat material*], "Base material" [*grundmaterial*]). None of these terms are mentioned in the corresponding written text. The same is true of the abbreviation HAZ, which stands for *Heat Affected Zone*, <sup>2</sup> an abbreviation which is not explained in the book. The meaning of the abbreviation is implicit in the abstract sketch, since the abbreviation is placed between brackets after "Heat-affected material". Later in the book (p. 139), the abbreviation is used in writing, although here too without an explanation: "In order to test the malleability of the weld and the area around the weld (HAZ) a bending test is made." In the textbook, the abbreviation is used in relation to both "heat-affected material" and "the area around the weld". In the latter case it is implicit that HAZ is connected to an area affected by heat (i.e. the area directly connected to the weld).

In relation to the image at the center of the left page, we note the conventionalized color coding for cold (blue) and heat (red). A welding nozzle directed towards the red bar also functions as a way of elucidating the heat.

The illustration in the middle of the left page is interesting in a number of ways. It is supposed to elucidate that metal expands when heated. According to the illustration, this means 9 mm per meter, if steal is heated to 600 degrees Celsius. For obvious reasons, the distances in the illustrations are fallacious. At the same time, the convention of marking exact distances between the ends of two arrows is used, as in the case of the meter length. In technical drawings, however, the relations between different dimensions or distances are usually scale models with conventions such as a broken or dashed line to mark broken lines, which could have been utilized in this text too, to elucidate that the figure is not drawn to scale.

<sup>2</sup>In the text talk that Pia Visén (2015) analyses, the teacher explains this concept using both the English term and a translation into Swedish (*värmepåverkat material*).

Moreover, the illustration contains a mixture of concretion and abstraction when depicting a welding nozzle heating the steel at the same time as conventionalized choices of red and blue for heat and cold are used. However, it is unlikely that the welding nozzle could heat a whole meter of steel up to 600 degrees Celsius.

The illustrations contain arrows denoting different things. In the uppermost illustration, arrows are used both to mark the labeling of different parts of a weld seam ("Weld metal" [*svetsgods*], "Weld face (reinforcement)" [*toppyta* (*råge*)], "Penetration bead" [*Rotvulst*], "Weld junction" [*smältgräns*]), and to mark a limit between the material directly connected to the weld "Heat-affected material [HAZ]" and the unaffected material. Here two arrows pointing two ways from the label are used. There appears to be no reason why no arrows have been used to mark "Base material" and "Unaffected base metal" (Sw. *Opåverkad grundmetall*). From the labeling no information is given as to whether the material on the other side of the weld is "base material" or something else. One may also wonder whether there is a difference between "metal" and "material" in the illustration.

Another way of using arrows can be noted in the middle of the page. Here the upper arrow, pointing two ways, is used in accordance with the convention of marking the beginning and end of a length, in this case 1000 mm (representing the metal before being heated). For some reason the same kind of arrow is not used to mark beginning and end of the 9 mm expansion that occurs during heating. Instead, that arrow points to the right line demarcating the end point for the metal balk during heating. Another way of showing the expansion, which would be more in line with the genre convention, would be to write 1009 mm at the red (hot) girder, by analogy with the length mark for the blue (cold) girder.

In the illustration at the bottom of the page, the arrows mark shrinkage. Here a number of arrows are used in different parts of the illustration. Some of them are placed in the depiction of the weld while some of them are placed in the different parts that are supposed to be connected by the weld.

Throughout this textbook, illustrations contain important information at the same time as they are quite demanding for the reader. The written text is demanding too, due to a style associated with the language of science. Examples of challenges in the language of science are a large number of subject-specific terms (*weld junction, HAZ*) and the use of so-called grammatical metaphors, such as converting verbal phrases into noun phrases (e.g. Schleppegrell 2004). One such example in this text is "a considerable *length increase*" (Sw. en betydande *längdökning*) (cf. "the steel girder becomes much longer"). One effect of such conversions of verbal phrases into noun phrases is that the text becomes denser. At the same time processes (something becomes longer) are transformed into phenomena (increase [noun]). Such linguistic choices have been observed to be challenging for students, and it is claimed that students might need help to "unpack" these grammatical metaphors (e.g. Fang and Schleppegrell 2008; Halliday 1998/2004). It is common for teachers to be aware that subject-specific concepts can be challenging, though the awareness of grammatical metaphors is less widespread among teachers.

#### *10.2.3 Figurative Language*

This text contains metaphors that are part of the language of technology or science, such as *tensions* (Sw. *spänningar*) and *stress relieving* (Sw. *avspänningsglödning*). We also note that the authors of the book make this explicit in a case where the metaphor about the way that a material can change its shape may be mistakenly understood as an everyday expression. In this case, the expression results in a homophone which means "warp" but can be understood as the colloquial phrase meaning "hurt oneself" (Sw. *slå sig*). The quotation marks and the words "we say" indicate that there is a the potential ambiguity in this expression, however.

#### *10.2.4 Values*

There are no explicit values in this text. However, as in the crafts text above, there is a clear message that within this discipline you need to be both knowledgeable and meticulous to avoid inferior results when welding.

#### *10.2.5 Classroom Focus*

This text functions as a basis for doing something (joining pieces of metal by welding) at the same time as it is highly theoretical. Also, the content is a prerequisite for the high quality of the final product (the weld). Taken together, in particular the scrutiny concerning the interaction between text resources reveals that this is a complex text, as regards both writing and illustrations. For such texts, text talk and mutual reading can be efficient for supporting the students in their text use. Hence, concerning texts like this, we would strongly encourage teachers to first make a close reading of the text to uncover possible challenges concerning the text resources used and the interplay between them. As a next step, the teacher and the students discuss the text, focusing on the different text resources and to clearly connect the discussion to the content and how to grapple with texts like this.

#### **References**

Ekström, A. (2010). Kroppsligt lärande i slöjdundervisning. In A. L. Rostvall & S. Selander (Eds) *Design för lärande*. (2nd edition). Stockholm: Norstedts.

Fang, Z., & Schleppegrell, M. (2008). *Reading in secondary content areas. A language-based pedagogy*. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.

#### *Textbooks*

Henriksson, I. & Hällman, T. (1999). *Bågsvetsning. Fakta om bågsvetsning* [*Arc welding. Facts about arc welding*] Stockholm: Liber.

**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

#### **Chapter 11 Mathematics**

Here we have chosen to analyse a section from*The Cambridge Primary Mathematics, Learner's Book 2* (Moseley and Reese 2014). It is an ambitious textbook launched as "a supplementary resource that consolidates and reinforces mathematical learning alongside the*Cambridge Primary Mathematics Teacher's Resource 2*". At the bottom of each page there is information that relates to a "core activity". The resource is "dedicated to helping schools develop learners who are confident, responsible, reflective, innovative and engaged" (*Introduction* page). In the following we shall here look closely at two pages, the one about *Patchwork*, the other about *Balls*, and in this, we focus on the interaction between text resources used.

#### **11.1 Interaction Between Text Resources**

At the top of the page about *Patchwork* there is text that directly leads the reader into the visual illustrations ("Look at the pictures"), followed by the questions: "What can you see?" and "Talk about what you can see." Here we can immediately see the intentions behind the book: look, reflect, think, and talk about it. Fig. 11.1.

The following text concentrates on squares and triangles, of the same or different size. However, by just looking at the page, it is not evident what the purpose is, and this shows clearly enough that the book is to be seen as a complementary resource to the teacher's introduction and instructions.

With this in mind, let us have a closer look at the text. In the upper left illustration we notice squares with lines, waves, and dots. The illustration in the middle is focused on squares and triangles, while the one to the right also contains some kind of extra information in the form of wave-like patterns (fishes or eels with eyes?). This extra information (lines, waves, dots, and patterns) might distract the focus on squares and triangles. From the book alone, then, it is not clear that you as a pupil should train to make comparisons between different geometrical forms. It also seems unclear what

**Fig. 11.1** Patchwork. *Cambridge Primary Mathematics Learner's Book 2* (Moseley and Reese 2014, p. 72, with permission from Cambridge University Press)

to *do* with this information, since there is no explicit instruction that asks you to do what the two pupils (at the middle/right illustration) are doing.

The following page about *Balls* seems to be even more complicated (Fig. 11.2).

This page starts with a "block graph", under which we find a basket with balls of different sizes and colors. These illustrations are then accompanied by a number of questions. But let us start with the illustrations. What might be a bit confusing is that there are no clear links between the colors of the bars in the graph and the colors of the balls you *can see*. So, after a while you perhaps think that the graphs are not about how many balls there are of each sort, even though the word "balls" under the graph may indicate this. Color is also a textual resource, and thus carries

**Fig. 11.2** Balls. *Cambridge Primary Mathematics Learner's Book 2* (Moseley and Reese 2014, p. 72, with permission from Cambridge University Press)

information. In this specific case, however, it might be confusing since you cannot see all the balls in the basket to which the graph refers: one light red ball (not four), one green ball (not five) two purple balls (not three), but two yellow ones (as in the graph).

One of the following questions is: "Which type of ball do you think is shown by the red bar?" You may even wonder if this question is linked to the following one: "Which ball bounces the highest and which ball bounces the least?" With these questions we have left the mathematical definitions, and the textbook here refers to the reader's own (culturally based) empirical experience or knowledge. If you do not have this knowledge, you are left to guesses only.

In sum, we could say that a rather reduced and focused text like this one contains a number of possible challenges. It therefore seems important that the teacher discusses some of the missing linkages between the written text and the visual illustrations, makes clear what the task is about and perhaps also introduces some experimental work, so that the pupils instead of guessing could explore different qualities of different balls, and make up new graphs themselves.

#### *Textbooks*

Moseley, C. & Rees, J. (2014). *Cambridge Primary Mathematics. Learner's book, 2.* Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

## **Chapter 12 Websites as Learning Resources for Young Learners**

Today there is a plethora of Internet sites aimed at young learners. In the following we comment on a website, National Graphic Kids, published by *National Geographic* as an example. However, due to copyright reasons, the figures used in the following derive from a similar Swedish website, Youngfacts. The interested reader is referred to the following link to get access to National Geographic Kids: https://www.natgeo kids.com/uk/category/discover/. We will not go through all aspects of the model, but instead give some general comments on that type of learning resource.

Figure 12.1 gives an image of a common overall layout of such websites. At the general level, they typically invite the user to explore the content independently, by using links given through images combined with written words.

In both National Geographic Kids (NGK) and the Swedish example, the starting page contains links through images inviting the reader to explore a number of "facts" related to, for instance, themes as science and history. Examples from NGK are a cartoon-like image of a woman combined with "The life of Rosa Park" in words, and an image of viruses combined with "What is coronavirus?". Through menus at the top of the page of NGK, the user can choose to focus on one theme at a time, in this case Animals, Science, History, and Geography. Here we note that Animals is a category separate from science, probably since visitors to the site may be expected to be especially interested in animals. Also, that page calls for some interactivity, with a quiz based on multiple-choice questions, though for the most part, links lead to informative sub-pages with texts to read, just like the Swedish website (e.g. Fig. 12.2).

As regards interpersonal aspects, it is obvious that the site has two expected audiences: the curious child and an adult (teacher or parent). The voice is direct, addressing the child as "you", and there is an extensive use of exclamations marks. Furthermore, facts are presented as "fun", "cool", or "amazing", in ways that are not expected in traditional textbooks. Also, colloquial expressions such as "ready to blast off?", or "this fab fruit?" (the tomato) are used, further enhancing the idea that learning is really fun. The images providing links are often based on indisputable facts rather than more complex problems, for instance "10 facts about…". The general tone

**Fig. 12.1** Screenshot 1 from website for young learners (UngaFakta 2020, printed with permission from UngaFakta)

is that it is fun to learn: from their website young learners "discover some incredible secrets, awesome theories and explore some bonkers experiments".

When clicking the links, the visual presentation of the texts is similar to that of textbook texts with images combined with writing (see Fig. 12.2). In NGK, the language style is a combination of colloquial expressions and specialized terminology, for instance in a text about the digestive system where expressions like "the chewed *grub*" are combined with "salivary glands" or "oesophagus" (https://www. natgeokids.com/uk/discover/science/general-science/your-digestive-system/).

 This is done by the use of clickable images leading to "Facts about …", often with photos and expressions displaying an overuse of exclamation marks and adjectives such as "awesome" and "exciting", often in combination: "10 fabulous facts about Diwali!". When clicking the links, a textbook like page appears presenting indisputable facts through the combination of colloquial style and a specialized language.

**Fig. 12.2** Example of text provided behind links: Egypt of the Pharaos (UngaFakta 2020, printed with permission from UngaFakta)

#### *Textbooks*

Ungafakta (2020) www.ungafakta.se [2020–11–18]

**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

## **Chapter 13 Educational Games and Online Resources**

The importance of games and simulations within education are increasing (Arnseth et al. 2019; Gallagher 2015; Mørch and Thomassen 2016; Squire 2011). In the following we have analysed one example of a game developed for educational purposes, namely *The Economy Game*. It is not a new one, and it appears as quite traditional. Then we will comment on the Swedish game *Minecraft*.

In applying our analytical model to games and other online resources, including such resources as the website commented on in Chap. 12, we are well aware of the difficulties related to multi-layered and dynamic representations, where the user's actions in many ways will steer which information will be brought to the fore and seen on the screen. At the same time, the architecture behind a game does not allow for any kind of actions, and, as we shall see, there might also be certain values embedded in a game.

We here want to emphasize three things: (1) games must be understood as a text that relates to the actions of the player, not as a fixed text; (2) therefore, the best way to study this type of text is to study gaming; (3) it is possible, however, to capture some salient aspect of a multimodal text of this kind, as well as some of the underlying values.

#### **13.1 The Economy Game**

This learning game is freely available from a website called "Young Facts" (Sw. *Unga Fakta*), where one section is labeled "Young Economy". In this section, the starting page tells the user that it is important to have some knowledge about one's own economy. The starting page of the game is shown in Fig. 13.1 and it reveals that there are three levels to the game. You are recommended to start at the first level, where you are supposed to pretend that you are going to live on your own for one year at upper secondary school.

**Fig. 13.1** Starting page Economy Game (UngaFakta 2020, printed with permission from UngaFakta)

#### *13.1.1 General Structure and Setting*

The structure of this game is fixed and the layout is relatively sparse. When starting the game you first have to go through a number of informative pages about how to play the game, for instance that you first of all need to make a budget. Here you also get an explanation of what a budget is.