A Social Semiotic Analysis of Selected Basic Pupils’ English Textbooks in Awka

Abstract

This article examines a social semiotic analysis of selected basic pupils’ English textbooks in Awka metropolis. Considering the fact that textbooks are necessary tools in the classroom for both teachers and students, it is pertinent to note that without the provision of required texts, teaching and learning of the English language in our schools will be handicapped. Texts in the textbooks for instruction in nearly all levels of education most often occur in combination with images or pictures, which, in essence, depict the multimodal nature of our basic pupils’ English language textbooks. In examining how these multiple modes interplay and serve as unified modes, this study relies on the notions of social semiotics (Halliday, 1978; Kress, 2012) and multimodality (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006, 2020). Data for the study, consisting of sixteen figures, were obtained from six selected primary school English textbooks. Findings from the study show that textbook designers employ several meaning-making resources to present pupils with concrete and familiar concepts that they can easily relate to. The study contributes to research on language teaching and pedagogy in its approach to applying visuals to teaching English. The study also serves as a resource for teachers and pupils of English. The finding of this study also adds to studies on social semiotics in its incorporation of meaning-making resources in the teaching and learning of the English language by basic pupils.

Keywords: Visual representation, multimodality, basic schools, English textbooks, text-image relations, social semiotics, multimodality, Awka metropolis