Meaning Making in Multimodal Texts: Exploring Semiotic Domains in Early Literacy

• In Event: Roundtable Session 128
  In Roundtable Session: Technology in Early/Elementary Childhood Literacy and Listening Comprehension

Abstract

This research investigates a first generation Korean American 7-year-old boy’s literacy practices across “Semiotic Domains” (Gee, 2003, p.18). Although many scholars research youths’ literacy practices across the Semiotic Domains from the New Literacy Studies perspective (Drouin & Davis, 2009; Gee, 2003; Hull, 2003; Jacobs, 2004; Lewis & Finders, 2002; Mahiri, 2006), there has been very little discussion of young children’s new literacy practices. The research begins with a qualitative collection followed by interviews and discourse analysis. Results point to (a) active learning, (b) critical learning, and (c) metalevel thinking. The Semiotic Domains facilitate the participant’s learning in active and critical ways. There is a range of possibilities for young children’s engagement in new literacy practices around their Semiotic Domains.

Author

• Junko Sakoi, The University of Arizona