Primary children’s understanding and relationship with cartoon characters : a multimodal praxis-based research experience

This paper presents the research outcomes of a two-year research venture conducted by Attard (2019) which links theory to classroom-based praxis. In brief, the first part of the paper presents a sound theoretical grounding based on international literature about primary school children’s understanding and relationship with cartoon characters. Later, based on the critical theoretical literature review presented in the first part, the paper links the outcomes to two levels of praxis. Initially, it presents how nine / ten-year-old children attending Maltese primary schools understand and relate to cartoon characters based on their everyday cartoon watching experiences. Then, based on an original multimodal framework (Cremona, 2017), as a main conclusion, a set of practical multimodal suggestions are proposed. These suggestions are intended to be used by educators, parents or guardians with primary school children.peer-reviewe

The mirror framework: a critical text analysis pedagogical tool for the foreign language (FL) learning context

Textbooks used in foreign language (FL) classrooms, together with other authentic printed and/or audio-visual texts, serve to familiarise FL learners with the culture of the country where the target language being taught is used as L1 (Unesco, 2007). This motivates teachers to seek instructional tools through which they can analyze the way the „foreign‟ country is represented in the texts they intend to use in class. Linked to this, the paper will first present one of the most popular text analysis frameworks which FL teachers refer to when doing such text analysis. The popularity of this particular text analysis framework links to the fact that it was designed by Mike Byram (1993) whose work is seminal in the fields of FL teaching and intercultural competences. Because of Byram‟s acclaimed reputation, very often FL teachers just use his framework without ample critical reflection. In response to this, while pointing out the strengths of Byram's text analysis framework, this paper intends to go one step further and critically evaluates Byram's (1993) model. The paper reacts by suggesting that a multimodal social semiotic focus may help to add FL teacher criticality when using Byram‟s model. This is one of the contributions to the field of FL teaching and learning, since such multimodal social semiotic elements rarely feature in text analysis frameworks contemporary FL teachers frequently refer to. As a conclusion, the paper presents a step by step explanation of the original MIRROR framework which FL teachers can use critically as an instructional tool while conducting the analysis of cultural representations presented in the FL texts they have at hand.Los libros de texto empleados en las aulas de lengua extranjera (LE), junto con otros textos auténticos impresos y/o audiovisuales, sirven para familiarizar a los aprendices de LE con la cultura del país donde la lengua meta que se enseña se utilize como L1 (Unesco, 2007). Esto motiva a los docentes a buscar herramientas de instrucción a través de las cuales puedan analizar la representación del país „extranjero‟ en los textos que aspiran utilizar en clase. Relacionado con esto, el artículo presentará primero uno de los marcos de análisis de texto más populares a los que se refieren los profesores de LE al hacer tal análisis de texto. La popularidad de este marco de análisis de texto se debe al hecho de que fue diseñado por Mike Byram (1993), cuyo trabajo es seminal en los campos de la enseñanza de LE y las competencias interculturales. Debido a la aclamada reputación de Byram, muy a menudo los profesores de LE solo usan su marco sin una amplia reflexión crítica. En respuesta a esto, a pesar de señalar los puntos fuertes del marco de análisis de texto de Byram, este artículo pretende dar un paso más y evaluar críticamente el modelo de Byram (1993). El artículo reacciona al sugerir que un enfoque semiótico social y multimodal puede ayudar a fomentar la criticidad del profesor de LE cuando utiliza el modelo de Byram. Esta es una de las contribuciones al campo de enseñanza y aprendizaje de LE, yaque tales elementos semióticos sociales y multimodales raramente aparecen en los marcos de análisis de textos a los que se refieren frecuentemente los profesores de LE contemporáneos. A modo de conclusión, el artículo presenta una explicación paso a paso del marco original MIRROR que los profesores de LE pueden utilizar de manera crítica y como herramienta de instrucción a la hora de realizar el análisis de las representaciones culturales presentadas en los textos de LE estudiados

The Eurovision Song Contest within formal educational learning contexts : a critical multimodal interpretation of possible inter-disciplinary connections

The Eurovision Song Contest [ESC] is often viewed by many as pure entertainment followed annually by millions around the globe and by over 95% of the Maltese population. This paper aims to move on to deeper levels and to discuss how the songs of this popular cult can be viewed as interdisciplinary resources which eventually serve as effective pedagogical tools within formal educational contexts and classrooms. Adopting a socio-semiotic multimodal approach, an original multimodal framework1 is presented through which Eurovision songs are analysed before they are connected to these educational contexts to serve as pedagogical tools. Referring to a socio-constructivist epistemology, a practical example taken from the ongoing ‘Learning through the Eurovision: a multimodal research project’2 is discussed where these songs are viewed as inter-disciplinary tools made up of socio-semiotic elements which, when viewed as connected, can facilitate learning and teaching.peer-reviewe

The Eurovision university study unit and its pedagogic value : a critical evaluation of public and media reaction towards innovation in higher education

In 2016 the University of Malta launched a study unit called ‘Interpreting Music Culture: Multimodality and the Eurovision’. The course intended to serve as a first step through which higher education students would move away from looking at the Eurovision Song Contest annually attracting 161 million viewers around the globe as purely entertaining. Instead, the study unit aimed to help students critically analyse these music-related texts at deeper pedagogic levels. After a couple of minutes from the launch of the study unit, a widespread public reaction developed. The media and the general public commented, asked about, ridiculed and criticised the fact that a well-famed formal higher education institution could come up with such an idea. Many asked the pertinent question: What should a well acclaimed serious higher education institution (i.e. University) accept to teach and what not? Adopting a thematic approach this paper intends to answer this main research question through the evaluation of qualitative data based on the comments and reactions towards the launch of the Eurovision study unit, collected from social media and local and international press. As an outcome, the main conclusion of this paper suggests that people in Malta still frequently adopt limited definitions of higher education which do not include the perspective of higher education institutions as sources where mundane popular and authentic texts such as the Eurovision can be used as valuable pedagogic texts. The paper proactively presents four suggestions through which hopefully, gradual change towards a more comprehensive definition of higher education institutions could be initiated.peer-reviewe

Social semiotic multimodal analysis of a German as a foreign language textbook : unpacking cultural representations

This study conducted a social semiotic multimodal analysis to determine Schritte International’s cultural representations of the people living in Germany. Schritte International has been a longstanding German as a Foreign Language textbook used in Maltese state schools. This analysis was performed using the original MIRROR framework, with emphasis placed on modes incorporated in the textbook as well as its social references. The primary findings of this study revealed how Schritte International predominantly depicts certain characteristics of people living in Germany. Specifically, the study determined that Schritte International provides a selective portrayal that reflects dominant essentialist ideologies.peer-reviewe

Pape satan aleppe...

Ġabra ta’ poeżiji u proża li tinkludi: Il-Għanja taċ-ċaqliq ta’ A. Buttigieg – Kelb xiħ tal-għassa ta’ A. Cremona – Il-fergħa tas-sagħtar ta’ George Zammit – L-infern tal-midneb! ta’ Karmenu Vassallo – Pape satan aleppe... ta’ Albert M. Cassola.N/

A particular anatomic variation of the course of the left pulmonary artery

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Ballata

Ġabra ta’ poeżiji u proża li tinkludi: Lil Dun Anton Mifsud ta’ Dun Karm – Hekk Kien Miktub ta’ A. Cremona – Mara tad-Dnub ta’ Arthur V. Vassallo – Għajn Riħana ta’ George Zammit – Il-Mewt ta’ Ġużè Chetcuti – Ballata ta’ Ros. Briffa.N/

Global Law as Intercontextuality and as Interlegality

Since the 1990s the effects of globalization on law and legal developments has been a central topic of scholarly debate. To date, the debate is however marked by three substantial deficiencies which this chapter seeks to remedy through a reconceptualization of global law as a law of inter-contextuality expressed through inter-legality and materialized through a particular body of legal norms which can be characterized as connectivity norms. The first deficiency is a historical and empirical one. Both critics as well as advocates of ‘non-state law’ share the assumption that ‘law beyond the state’ and related legal norms have gained in centrality when compared with previous historical times. While global law, including both public and private global governance law as well as regional occurrences such as EU law, has undergone profound transformations since the structural transformations which followed the de-colonialization processes of the mid-twentieth century, we do not have more global law relatively to other types of law today than in previous historical times. The second deficiency is a methodological one. The vast majority of scholarship on global law is either of an analytical nature, drawing on insights from philosophy, or empirically observing the existence of global law and the degree of compliance with global legal norms at a given moment in time. While both approaches bring something to the table they remain static approaches incapable of explaining and evaluating the transformation of global law over time. The third deficiency is a conceptual-theoretical one. In most instances, global law is understood as a unitary law producing singular legal norms with a planetary reach, or, alternatively, a radical pluralist perspective is adopted dismissing the existence of singular global norms. Both of these approaches however misapprehend the structural characteristics, function and societal effects of global law. Instead a third positon between unitary and radical pluralist perspectives can be adopted through an understanding of global law and its related legal norms as a de-centred kind of inter-contextual law characterised by inter-legality

Judging Inter-Legality

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