Switching Reading Stances: A Study of Intertextuality and Meaning-Making in Multimodal Texts

• In Event: Individual Differences in Reading Comprehension

Abstract

We live in a world immersed in a variety of linguistic and nonlinguistic modes of representation. As we extend the poststructuralist definition of text to new media, it is important that we extend our research on intertextuality and meaning-making to new media such as video. In this qualitative study, we focus on the nature of meaning making by 6 participants prompted to think-aloud while watching three short videos. Analysis of data indicates that readers make similar intertextual links as they made in reading printed text. In addition, readers assumed discourse stances similar to the ones observed in previous research but were often seen to be switching between these stances. The paper concludes with implications for research and practice.

Authors

• Rohit Mehta, Michigan State University

• Punya Mishra, Michigan State University