A visual analysis of English textbooks: Multimodal scaffolded learning

This paper investigates how multimodality in English textbooks may scaffold learning through visual texts. It provides a multimodal analysis of images, integrated with verbal texts and proposed language activities, in order to explain how the visual meanings may enhance students’ understanding of language and content. Kress and van Leeuwen’s visual grammar grounds the image analysis, which is discussed in light of the three metafunctions – representational, interactional and compositional. Findings show that the visual texts are relevant for beginners to understand the content of the activity. The analysis of the images may contribute to scaffold learning in that they are part of the overall meaning, supporting students’ understanding of the activity as a whole. Results also point to the importance of working with multimodality in language learning contexts. Keywords: multimodality, visual analysis, English textbooks, learning English.