Multimodal analysis of interaction between a deaf child and her hearing mother (and her friend) in a multilingual context

Multimodal analysis of interaction between a deaf child and her hearing mother (and her friend) in a multilingual context

Part of the Sadler Seminar Series ‘Signs beyond borders: Meaning-making across sign and spoken languages’.

Presenters

Ruth Swanwick (School of Education) and Alena Ryazanova (School of Education), with thanks to Robert Lee for advice on the sign language annotation.

Synopsis

In this session we present and discuss video data of a young deaf child interacting with her hearing mother and a deaf class-mate and explore ways of annotating and analysing this data.

We have chosen this scenario because of the complexity of the different languages and modes in play, the different ways in which the deaf and hearing actors deploy sign, spoken language and multimodal strategies to make meaning, and the potential affordances (we suggest) of these strategies to support deaf children’s language development and learning. 

We will share two short video extracts and ask participants to comment on the different ways in which the interactants ‘orchestrate’ meaning through their selection and configuration of modes, how the different actors have agency in this context, how boundaries are navigated, and how communication breakdowns occur and are resolved.

We are particularly interested in exploring the modal density (complexity) of the different scenarios, the modal intensity of individual contributions and what might influence these.

For further information about the project please visit here. 

Further information 

For further information about the series please contact Jessica Bradley