Constructing the pedagogy of multiliteracies: the role of focalisation in the development of critical analysis of multimodal narratives

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to the construction of multiliteracies pedagogy. We argue that the analysis of focalisation is an essential dimension in the multiliteracies pedagogy aimed at promoting the development of the critical analysis of multimodal narratives. Our point is sustained by the case study of the focalisation in an animated narrative comprising a hybrid multimodal text offered for students learning about refugees in a public digital platform. We performed a critical analysis of the visual narrative supported by a grammar of focalisation in animated images and a framework for critical analysis of multimodal discourse. The analysis shows that viewers (and characters) are differently positioned throughout the text as uninvolved observers of the detached ‘others’; as emphatic witnesses of the others’ suffering; and as committed social actors who see the refugees as ‘one of us’, which we interpret as conveying different ideological meanings associated with assimilatory or liberating ideologies. We discuss the major implications of our findings concerning the role of focalisation in the enactment of critical analysis of multimodal texts, the interdependence of critical analysis vis-à-vis the other learning processes as well as the need for teachers’ professional development as a pre-requisite to construct the pedagogy of multiliteracies.