Activity theory was used, as discussed above, to broaden the picture that social semiotic
theory could provide, to bring other elements into the analysis such as the curriculum, the
context of the classroom, and the roles of teacher and student. However, the research
focus remained that of the multimodal resources of the screen and the shaping of
curriculum knowledge through students’ engagement with these resources, through a
close analysis of the screen and the students’ direct practices with it. These aims were the
focus of my research questions and shaped my detailed analytical focus on the resources
as they were displayed on the computer screen and the interaction of students and
teachers with these resources. Much of the wider social activity that went on in the
lessons which provided the empirical data for the thesis was therefore not at the centre of
the analytical frame that I applied in the thesis.
The thesis contributes to the theorisation of the social in that it begins the task of bringing
together social semiotics and activity theory in a way that enables the social forces that
underlie the process of sign making and mediation to be more clearly articulated. There
is no doubt that a broader social focus would have brought different and equally
interesting areas of investigation into the thesis and I intend to expand the level of the
theorisation of the social in my future research.
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