Multimodal Genre of Science Classroom Discourse: Mutual Contextualization Between Genre and Representation Construction

Abstract This paper argues that meaning-making with multimodal representations in science learning is always contextualized within a genre and, conversely, what constitutes an ongoing also depends on coordination of speech, gesture, diagrams, symbols, and material objects. In social semiotics, culturally evolved way doing things language (including non-verbal representations). Genre provides useful lens to understand how community’s cultural norms practices shape the use various human activities. Despite this understanding, researchers have seldom considered role scientific genres (e.g., experimental account, information report, explanation) students classrooms make meanings as they construct representations. study based enactment drawing-to-learn approach primary school classroom Australia, data generated from videos students’ artifacts. Using discourse analysis informed by we analyze semantic variations correspond recurring were enacting. We found general pattern creation across different support theory mutual contextualization between representation construction.