The aim of the course is providing the students with metalinguistic knowledge and analytic techniques for the stylistic understanding and close reading of and multimodal texts in English. At the end of the course, the studemts must be able to recognize, analyze and explain the deployment of multimodal rhetorical strategies in various media, with the appropriate terminology and an adequate linguistic skill (oral & written). They will be asked to apply the theories that are current in the field.

The course, held as a seminar, is about multimodal stylistics. A general overview of the tools and methodologies of stylistics will be followed by the application of those tools and methodologies in the analysis of multimodal texts. More specifically, the course will be articulated as follows:

1) Discussion of the main multimodal theories. Various analytical exercises to fix the theoretical concepts.

2) Analyzing visual multimodal texts, such as comics and ads; discussion of relevant theories.

3) Analyzing musical multimodal texts, such as songs and jingles; discussion of relevant theories.

4) Analyzing multimodal audiovisual texts, such as movies or commercials; discussion of relevant theories.

At the end of the course, the students will have acquired analytical abilities and a good working knowledge of multimodality. They will be asked to apply those abilities and that knowledge to all forms of multimodal texts. They will be expected to be able to form independent judgments in their analyses, and to expound the same both in written and in spoken form. More specifically:

Knowledge and understanding: at the end of the course, the students will be required to show extensive knowledge in the field of multimodal studies.

Applying knowledge and understanding: the students must be able to apply their knowledge of multimodal theory to the analysis of all the genres seen above.

Making judgements: the students must acquire the ability to make decisions on the best analytical strategies for each genre they have to deal with.

Communication skills: at the end of the course, the students must be able to conduct their analyses in terminologically adequate English (written/spoken), at the level required by the course.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

See blended learning

Teaching

The course is held as a seminar

Attendance

66%

Course books

M. Morini, ‘Towards a musical stylistics: Movement in Kate Bush’s ‘Running up that Hill’, 2013, Language and Literature 22(4), pp. 283-97.

M. Morini, ‘Multimodal thought presentation in Chris Ware’s Building Stories’ 2015, Multimodal Communication 4:1, 31-41.

Assessment

Papers presented in class by the students. The final assessment will be based not only on the validity of the multimodal analysis, but also on methodological relevance (references to the course books) and on the student's argumentative abilities in English. In practice, in in-class debates and analytical exercises, as well as in their papers, the students will have to demonstrate notions in the field of multimodal theory, to apply these notions to their analyses of various genres, to exercise their own judgement in their analytical choices, and to show a good command of spoken English (at the level required by the course).

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

Private study and work

Attendance

66% (to be considered attending students)

Course books

M. Morini, ‘Towards a musical stylistics: Movement in Kate Bush’s ‘Running up that Hill’, 2013, Language and Literature 22(4), pp. 283-97.

M. Morini, ‘Multimodal thought presentation in Chris Ware’s Building Stories’ 2015, Multimodal Communication 4:1, 31-41.

G. Kress and T. van Leeuwen, Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design, 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2006.

Assessment

Written test: multimodal analysis of a short text. Use of monolingual dictionaries is allowed. The final assessment will be based not only on the validity of the analysis, but also on methodological relevance (references to the course books) and on the student's argumentative abilities in English. In practice, in their written tests, the students will have to demonstrate notions in the field of multimodal theory, to apply these notions to their analysis, to exercise their own judgement in their analytical choices, and to show a good command of written English (at the level required by the course).

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.