Multimodal research on the construction of School Science and English shows that
even in classrooms where speech is in the foreground a wide range of modes
contribute to the construction of knowledge and the processes of learning (Kress et.
al, 2001; SEP 2002; Boume and Jewitt, in press). It shows that speech and writing are
not always central to teaching and learning and the meanings made through speech
and writing rely on the other modes that they are embedded within (Jewitt et al.
2001). In this thesis I argue that the exclusive focus on language in technology-
mediated learning serves to maintain the centrality of speech and writing in the
analytical process. I suggest that ignoring (negating) the multimodal character of
technology-mediated learning results in a failure to grasp the potential impact of new
technologies on teaching and learning.
The Interaction of Modes on Screen
When several modes are involved in an event of communication then all of these
modes together will represent significant aspects of a message’s meaning (e.g. Kress
et al., 2001; SEP, 2002). The meaning of a message is distributed across all of these
modes, and not necessarily evenly. In short, different aspects of meaning are carried
in different ways by each mode. Any one mode in that ensemble is carrying a part of
the message only: each mode is partial in relation to the whole of the meaning - and
speech or writing are no exception (Jewitt and Kress, 2002a). Attending to the
interplay between modes is therefore important as each mode interacts with and
contributes to all others. At times the meanings realised by two modes can be
‘equivalent’, they may be complementary, where one mode ‘repeats’ information
presented in another. At other times each mode may refer to quite different aspects of
meaning or the two may be contradictory (Lemke, 1998a). An analysis of how image
and writing in sexual health leaflets for young heterosexual men, for example, shows
that different discourses of male sexuality were realised modally (Jewitt, 1999). A
positive discourse of male sexuality was realised in the mode of writing that focused
on shared responsibility and emotion. The discourse realised visually was however
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