A Multimodal Framework for Computer Mediated Learning: The Reshaping of Curriculum Knowledge and Learning

semiotic mechanisms (modes and modal resources) which, “...provide the bridge that
connects the external with the internal and the social with the individual” (Wertsch,
1985:164). Consciousness or mind can be understood as taking shape in the
Semiotically mediated social interactions people are engaged with in the material
world. The mind is ‘nurtured on signs’ deriving ‘its growth from them’ (Volosinov,
1973: 13). Signs that are made available on the social plane are 'taken in' by
individuals and as they pass through the 'psyche' they are transformed:

...every outer ideological sign, of whatever kind, is engulfed in and
washed over by inner signs - by the consciousness. The outer sign
originates from this sea of inner signs and continues to abide there.
(Volosinov, 1973: 33)

It is this continual process of making sense and building sense that forms an
individual's ConsciousnessZcognitive development (Wegerif and Mercer, 1997). From
this perspective learning is not the acquisition and accumulation of given semiotic
meanings, but rather it is a process whereby meanings are taken in by a person, and
made sense of in the context of their present and previous experience, and re-made by
them. I argue that the fundamental connection between external and inner signs
highlights the importance of exploring how the semiotic resources of all modes, not
only speech and writing, contribute to learning.

In this thesis I do not set out to answer the complex question of exactly how different
Communicational modes are processed ‘in the mind’. It is generally agreed that
different forms of external representation affect human cognition differently (Jehng
et. al, 2000). For instance, people have been shown to recognise, retain and recall
images better than words, and the simultaneous presentation of interrelated visual,
written, dynamic graphics, and sound has been shown to increase their
comprehension - one measure of learning (Tricot et al, 2000). It is fair to say that
how people mentally process different modes of information remains a matter of
debate (Dubois and Vial, 2000). Some research claims that one representation of

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