Analysing Multimodal Texts

This chapter focuses on multimodal texts, which involve more than one semiotic mode. It first outlines the rationale for engaging with multimodal texts, highlighting that meaning-making processes are realised through the interactive aggregation of different modes. It then introduces two approaches within the broader landscape  of multimodality research: social semiotic analysis and multimodal (inter)action analysis. Through selected case studies, the chapter demonstrates how these approaches can be applied to real-world data, including static images (screenshots) and dynamic videos on forced migration and migrant experiences. The chapter concludes with two exercises, each offering a dataset tailored to the approaches discussed.