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Exploring Image Text Relation in College English Textbooks



Author(s)

LI Hua-bing

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DOI:10.17265/1539-8072/2015.03.004

Southwest University, Chongqing, China

The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the multimodality in college English textbooks. Because multimodality is closely associated with college English teaching and learning, it is necessary to probe into the multimodality in college English books. First, the study showed that the images in college English textbooks have the following functions: to illustrate the text, to consolidate the information in the text, to aestheticize the text, as well as to collaborate with the text to establish harmony between the author and the reader, therefore to convey the author’s intentions well. Second, the study showed that the multimodality in college English textbooks reflects power relation and solidarity relation between the author and the reader. On the one hand, multimodality in college English textbooks implies unequal power relationships which are represented by unequal power opportunities for the author to select images while the reader has little influence. On the other hand, the learning activities provide a lot of chances for the reader to make contact with the images, hence establishing a familiar and harmonious relationship between the reader and the author. The findings of the present study have useful implications for college English teaching and learning and imply the need for further studies in this field.

multimodality, college English books, functions, power relation, solidarity relation