Making meaning(s) with cover designs

  • Yvonne Reed

Abstract

In this article Halliday’s systemic functional grammar, Kress and Van Leeuwen’s grammar of visual design and Bernstein’s work on pedagogic discourse are drawn on in order to analyze some of the ways in which meanings are made and some meanings privileged over others in the designing, both visual and discursive, of the covers of three course books prepared for teacher education programmes in South Africa. The primary aim of this analysis is to understand what meanings are offered to readers as entrants into or as established members of communities of practice in the teaching profession and the academy.

Author Biography

Yvonne Reed
Yvonne Reed is head of Applied English Language Studies in the School of Education at the University of the Witwatersrand.  Her research interests include critical pedagogic analysis of teacher education course books and of school textbooks designed and produced for English and African languages.Email: yvonne.reed@wits.ac.za
Published
2011-08-08
Section
Articles