I operationalise the concept of meta-function as an analytical tool for analysing the
meaning potentials of modes. I use the ideational meta-function to focus the analysis
of how the semiotic resources of computer applications present ‘the world’ - what is
included and excluded and how the resources shape knowledge (e.g. the entity
‘character’ or ‘rule’). The interpersonal meta-function is used to explore how these
resources position the learner in relation to knowledge. I use the textual meta-
function to examine how the configuration of semiotic resources on screen organises
these into texts.
As I discussed in Chapter Two, modes have been developed to different degrees
through their social usage, some such as writing and visual communication are finely
articulated. Other modes, such as colour, sound-effect and voice are less fully
articulated. Despite the different degree to which modes are specialised around the
meta-functions the mapping of semiotic resources provides a useful way to analyse
multimodal meaning making. The semiotic resources of visual communication,
gesture and movement are for example more clearly ‘structured’ in relation to the
meta-functions than the modes of colour, sound-effect, voice quality and gaze.
Alongside the metafunctions I turn to the concept of the ‘materiality’ of semiotic
resources as an analytical tool.
In all modes the meta-functions stand behind the concept of ‘semiotic resource’. The
concept of meta-functions and semiotic resource offer a useful way to look at how
different modal resources can be collected into sets of options or system networks to
realise key aspects of meaning functions. System networks can be used to map the
semiotic resources or meaning potentials of image (Kress and van Leeuwen, 1996),
action (Martinec, 2000), sound-effect and voice (van Leeuwen, 1999) and gaze to
specific meaning functions and are used as an analytical tool in this thesis. Rather
than understanding system networks as a blueprint of meaning making, however, I
understand them as analytical tools analogous with a rough map of the semiotic
possibilities available, a sketch or backdrop to meaning making. It is important to
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