Multimodalitet som didaktisk kategori

Abstract

The starting point of this article is a critical-constructive analysis of a series of core concepts in theory of multimodality. How is a complex concept such as multimodality really to be understood? And how can a terminology of multimodality be developed and applied in the field of didactic theory? The critical starting point is the foundation for a further development of the social-semiotic theory of multimodality in a phenomenological direction. Therefore, the article is constructed around a double perspective on multimodality. The purpose is a reciprocal fertilization of two traditions, the social semiotic and the phenomenological, with a view to developing a more concrete terminology of multimodality, which can be applied to didactical analysis. The critical part focuses on mode, modality, and multimodality as core concepts in a discussion of foundation. In continuation hereof, the constructive part will offer a proposal for how multimodal signs can be understood and analyzed on the basis of a phenomenological theory of body, sign, and cognition. The didactical perspective will be demonstrated with an example of an analysis of a multimodal model in a digital learning resource.