Distinguishing multimodal disciplinary literacy in school science

• Published in: Multimodal Literacy in School Science Vol. 1; pp. 39 - 60
• Main Authors: Unsworth, Len, Tytler, Russell, Fenwick, Lisl, Humphrey, Sally, Chandler, Paul, Herrington, Michele, Pham, Lam
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: United Kingdom Routledge 2022; Taylor & Francis Group
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Vice Versa; Transdisciplinary Research; High Frequency Function Words; Weak Semantic Gravity; Strong Semantic Gravity; Disciplinary Literacy; Discipline Specific Literacies; Dense; Senior High School; Strong Semantic Density; Representational Adequacy; York State Regents Examinations; Senior High School Textbooks; Multimodal Literacy; Semantic Gravity; SFL Perspective; Semantic Density; Content Area Literacy; DNA Replication; Multimodal Representations; Semantic Waves; Logical Relations; High School; School Subject Areas; Procedural Recount
• ISBN: 9780367714048; 9781032191065; 0367714043; 1032191066
• DOI: 10.4324/9781003150718-3

This chapter explores the differences and commonalities in the literacies for learning in senior high school biology, physics and chemistry. It extends the concept of disciplinary literacy, distinguishing it from content area literacy or literacy across the curriculum. We firstly examine the commonalities and differences in how language and various forms of visualizations, such as photographs, drawings, diagrams and graphs, are used in biology, chemistry and physics texts. The kind of metalanguage that describes the meaning-making resources of language and visualizations as used in the science sub-disciplines and can be shared by teachers and students is then discussed as a resource to facilitate infused explicit teaching of critical interpretation and student creation of the multimodal texts of their disciplines. Finally, we address the importance of both teachers and students being able to ‘shunt’ between the multimodal disciplinary discourses and ‘everyday’ communication in negotiating knowledge building and the facilitative role of metalanguage in this. Such negotiation through disciplinary literacy infused into science pedagogy is key to students being able to convincingly demonstrate their understanding of science concepts by showing how everyday communication is transformed into the multimodal disciplinary discourse required as technical concepts are described and explained.