English in Urban Classrooms: a multimodal perspective on teaching and learning

Kress, Gunther, Jewitt, Carey, Bourne, Jill, Franks, Anton, Hardcastle, John, Jones, Ken and Reid, Euan (2005) English in Urban Classrooms: a multimodal perspective on teaching and learning , London, UK. RoutledgeFalmer, 184pp.

Abstract

This book is forms the final report of an ESRC funded project 'The Production of School English', a collaborative project between the University of London Institute of Education, Keele University and the University of Southampton. It spans a range of issues central to contemporary school English, attending not only to the spoken and written language of the classroom, but also to other modes of representation and communication that are important in pedagogy, including image, gesture, gaze, movement and spatial organisation. It examines the way English is shaped by policy, by institutions, and by the social relations of the classroom. By connecting issues of policy and social context, the book provides a detailed account of factors such as:
the characteristics of urban multicultural schools;
teacher formation and tradition;
the way in which levels of differential ability is constructed among students in classroom interaction;
the institutional changes which have shaped school English, teachers' understanding of their roles, and students' experiences of learning.
Chapters include:- A social and political framework for thinking about English
- An explanation of multimodal semiotics as a new approach to understanding classroom interaction
- The organisation of time in the classroom;
- The pedagogic construction of ability
- The social production of 'character' as an entity in School English;
- A teacher's role in 'orchestrating' debate;
- Annotation as an activity in School English;
- The textual cycle of the English classroom.

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