8A001801 Critical Reading of English and Multimodality

Hiroshima University Syllabus

Japanese

Academic Year 2024Year School/Graduate School Writing Center (University Wide Courses for Graduate Students)

Lecture Code 8A001801 Subject Classification Specialized Education

Subject Name Critical Reading of English and Multimodality

Subject Name
（Katakana）クリティカル　リーディング　オブ　イングリッシュ　アンド　マルチモーダリティ

Subject Name in
English Critical Reading of English and Multimodality

Instructor WANG TINGJIA

Instructor
(Katakana) ワン　ティンジア

Campus Higashi-Hiroshima Semester/Term 1st-Year, First Semester, 1Term

Days, Periods, and Classrooms (1T) Mon9-10,Tues9-10：Online

Lesson Style Lecture Lesson Style
(More Details) 　

Credits 2.0 Class Hours/Week 　 Language of Instruction E : English

Course Level 5 : Graduate Basic

Course Area（Area） 21 : Fundamental Competencies for Working Persons

Course Area（Discipline） 06 : Globalization/International cooperation studies

Eligible Students All postgraduate students of all fields

Keywords Critical reading, English text, English clause, text structure, English writing, cohesion, attitudinal meaning, content meaning, multimodal text

Special Subject for Teacher Education 　 Special Subject 　

Class Status
within Educational
Program
(Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students)
Criterion referenced
Evaluation
(Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students)

Class Objectives
/Class Outline This course aims to equip graduate students with knowledge and lenses to assist students’ understanding about how English text is constructed. This course will guide students to read English text from a wide range of perspectives, including ideational, interpersonal, textual and multimodal. Through teaching the critical reading of English text construction, this course will further assist students’ planning, writing and revision of their own texts, such as essays, compositions, journal articles, and thesis. This course will further assist students in the critical reading and qualitative analysis of their research data, such as interview data, survey data and classroom observation data.

Ideational perspective focuses on the patterned construction of content meaning in English clauses; interpersonal meaning emphasizes the common construction of attitudinal meaning in English text; textual meaning provides a lens to examine the construction of cohesion in English text; multimodal refers to the combination of English text with other non-language resources, such as tables, diagrams, charts and image.

Class Schedule lesson1 Introduction
The outline, the expectation, the assessment of this course and so on.
Students’ self-introduction of their research fields, topics.
The introduction of key concepts in this course: ideational, interpersonal, textual, multimodal.

lesson2 Introduction
The outline, the expectation, the assessment of this course and so on.
Students’ self-introduction of their research fields, topics.
In this lesson, students will collect a range of English texts related to their research topics for the later use in this course.

lesson3 Ideational meaning in English text
In this lesson, we will learn three ideational components in English clauses: participant, process, circumstance. We will use a range of text samples to learn different ways of constructing an English clause using these three ideational components.

lesson4 Ideational meaning in English text
In this lesson, students will practice reading English text from the ideational perspective and presenting the reading findings.

lesson5 Interpersonal meaning in English text
In this lesson, we will learn three attitudinal meanings in English text: affect, judgement, appreciation. We will use a range of text samples to learn different ways of delivering evaluations in English text.

lesson6 Interpersonal meaning in English text
In this lesson, students will practice reading English text from the interpersonal perspective and presenting the reading findings.

lesson7 Textual meaning in English text
In this lesson, we will learn three common cohesive devices for constructing cohesion in English text: Conjunction, Theme-Rheme structure, Theme-New structure. We will use a range of text samples to learn different ways of constructing cohesion in English text.

lesson8 Textual meaning in English text
In this lesson, students will practice reading English text from the textual perspective and presenting the reading findings.

lesson9 Ideational, Interpersonal, Textual meaning in English text
This lesson is a recap lesson of previous classes. We will apply previously learnt perspectives to understand the construction of English text.

lesson10 Ideational, Interpersonal, Textual meaning in English text
In this lesson, students will practice comprehensively applying the three perspectives (ideational, interpersonal, textual) on one English text and interpreting the communication purpose behind these text structures.

lesson11 Multimodal text I
In this lesson, we aim to learn the construction of ideational, interpersonal, textual meanings in multimodal text. Multimodal text refers to text including language (e.g., English text) and other non-language parts, such as diagrams, charts, image and so on.

lesson12 Multimodal text I
In this lesson, students will practice the critical reading of English text from the multimodal perspective, and present their findings from their critical reading.

lesson13 Multimodal text II
In this lesson, we will enhance the topic in Multimodal text I, and further discuss the interaction between image and language in English text.

lesson14 Multimodal text II
In this lesson, students will practice the critical discussion about the complementary relation between image and language, and have a reflection about the presentation of figures, tables in relation to the paragraphs surrounding these visualizations.

lesson15 Wrap up
This lesson will wrap up the course, respond to students’ questions, and provide students an opportunity to present their critical reading of an English text in the form of oral presentation.

Text/Reference
Books,etc. No textbook will be used. Students are encouraged to bring in their own materials to practice. Materials from the instructor will be provided during the class.

PC or AV used in
Class,etc. 　

(More Details) PC – projector for PowerPoint - handouts - Microsoft Teams

Learning techniques to be incorporated 　

Suggestions on
Preparation and
Review Lesson Instructions and relevant materials will be provided through email and/or uploaded on Teams before the class. Students are required to regularly check their Hiroshima email accounts and prepare each lesson before entering the class. Students are required to save the in-class practice outcomes from each lesson, which will be needed for the final exam.

Requirements Students should have some experiences in English reading and writing. Students should have knowledge of basic academic etiquettes, such as checking the university email regularly, preparing lessons before entering a class, bringing required materials to attend a class, actively participating in class activities and so on.

Registration limit of this course is 30.

Grading Method Preparation & Attitude: 20%; Oral presentation: 50%; Reflective Writing: 30%

Oral presentation (50%) will be conducted in the final lesson 15 (10-15 minutes per student). It will include students’ critical reading of an English text. Students are required to submit the presentation materials for the final assessment in Lesson 15.

The breakdown is presented below:
Ideational meaning: 10%
Interpersonal meaning: 10%
Textual meaning: 10%
Multimodal meaning: 10%
Communication goal of the text: 10%

Reflective Writing (30%) is an approximately 1000 word writing to respond following topics: What did you learn from this course? What are the aspects in your English reading and writing that need to be improved after taking this lesson? Why? And how?

The content, the paragraphing and the grammar of the reflective writing will be assessed in the grading system.

Practical Experience

Summary of Practical Experience and Class Contents based on it

Message This course will be delivered and facilitated in English.
Students need to participate in the class discussion. Students need to ensure that the internet and the microphone function stably for the course.

Other Students are encouraged to speak in this course, asking questions, participating in group discussions and so on.

Please fill in the class improvement questionnaire which is carried out on all classes.
Instructors will reflect on your feedback and utilize the information for improving their teaching.

Academic Year	2024Year	School/Graduate School	Writing Center (University Wide Courses for Graduate Students)
Lecture Code	8A001801	Subject Classification	Specialized Education
Subject Name	Critical Reading of English and Multimodality
Subject Name （Katakana）	クリティカル　リーディング　オブ　イングリッシュ　アンド　マルチモーダリティ
Subject Name in English	Critical Reading of English and Multimodality
Instructor	WANG TINGJIA
Instructor (Katakana)	ワン　ティンジア
Campus	Higashi-Hiroshima	Semester/Term	1st-Year, First Semester, 1Term
Days, Periods, and Classrooms	(1T) Mon9-10,Tues9-10：Online
Lesson Style	Lecture	Lesson Style (More Details)

Credits	2.0	Class Hours/Week		Language of Instruction	E : English
Course Level	5 : Graduate Basic
Course Area（Area）	21 : Fundamental Competencies for Working Persons
Course Area（Discipline）	06 : Globalization/International cooperation studies
Eligible Students	All postgraduate students of all fields
Keywords	Critical reading, English text, English clause, text structure, English writing, cohesion, attitudinal meaning, content meaning, multimodal text
Special Subject for Teacher Education		Special Subject
Class Status within Educational Program (Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students)
Criterion referenced Evaluation (Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students)
Class Objectives /Class Outline	This course aims to equip graduate students with knowledge and lenses to assist students’ understanding about how English text is constructed. This course will guide students to read English text from a wide range of perspectives, including ideational, interpersonal, textual and multimodal. Through teaching the critical reading of English text construction, this course will further assist students’ planning, writing and revision of their own texts, such as essays, compositions, journal articles, and thesis. This course will further assist students in the critical reading and qualitative analysis of their research data, such as interview data, survey data and classroom observation data. Ideational perspective focuses on the patterned construction of content meaning in English clauses; interpersonal meaning emphasizes the common construction of attitudinal meaning in English text; textual meaning provides a lens to examine the construction of cohesion in English text; multimodal refers to the combination of English text with other non-language resources, such as tables, diagrams, charts and image.
Class Schedule	lesson1 Introduction The outline, the expectation, the assessment of this course and so on. Students’ self-introduction of their research fields, topics. The introduction of key concepts in this course: ideational, interpersonal, textual, multimodal. lesson2 Introduction The outline, the expectation, the assessment of this course and so on. Students’ self-introduction of their research fields, topics. In this lesson, students will collect a range of English texts related to their research topics for the later use in this course. lesson3 Ideational meaning in English text In this lesson, we will learn three ideational components in English clauses: participant, process, circumstance. We will use a range of text samples to learn different ways of constructing an English clause using these three ideational components. lesson4 Ideational meaning in English text In this lesson, students will practice reading English text from the ideational perspective and presenting the reading findings. lesson5 Interpersonal meaning in English text In this lesson, we will learn three attitudinal meanings in English text: affect, judgement, appreciation. We will use a range of text samples to learn different ways of delivering evaluations in English text. lesson6 Interpersonal meaning in English text In this lesson, students will practice reading English text from the interpersonal perspective and presenting the reading findings. lesson7 Textual meaning in English text In this lesson, we will learn three common cohesive devices for constructing cohesion in English text: Conjunction, Theme-Rheme structure, Theme-New structure. We will use a range of text samples to learn different ways of constructing cohesion in English text. lesson8 Textual meaning in English text In this lesson, students will practice reading English text from the textual perspective and presenting the reading findings. lesson9 Ideational, Interpersonal, Textual meaning in English text This lesson is a recap lesson of previous classes. We will apply previously learnt perspectives to understand the construction of English text. lesson10 Ideational, Interpersonal, Textual meaning in English text In this lesson, students will practice comprehensively applying the three perspectives (ideational, interpersonal, textual) on one English text and interpreting the communication purpose behind these text structures. lesson11 Multimodal text I In this lesson, we aim to learn the construction of ideational, interpersonal, textual meanings in multimodal text. Multimodal text refers to text including language (e.g., English text) and other non-language parts, such as diagrams, charts, image and so on. lesson12 Multimodal text I In this lesson, students will practice the critical reading of English text from the multimodal perspective, and present their findings from their critical reading. lesson13 Multimodal text II In this lesson, we will enhance the topic in Multimodal text I, and further discuss the interaction between image and language in English text. lesson14 Multimodal text II In this lesson, students will practice the critical discussion about the complementary relation between image and language, and have a reflection about the presentation of figures, tables in relation to the paragraphs surrounding these visualizations. lesson15 Wrap up This lesson will wrap up the course, respond to students’ questions, and provide students an opportunity to present their critical reading of an English text in the form of oral presentation.
Text/Reference Books,etc.	No textbook will be used. Students are encouraged to bring in their own materials to practice. Materials from the instructor will be provided during the class.
PC or AV used in Class,etc.
(More Details)	PC – projector for PowerPoint - handouts - Microsoft Teams
Learning techniques to be incorporated
Suggestions on Preparation and Review	Lesson Instructions and relevant materials will be provided through email and/or uploaded on Teams before the class. Students are required to regularly check their Hiroshima email accounts and prepare each lesson before entering the class. Students are required to save the in-class practice outcomes from each lesson, which will be needed for the final exam.
Requirements	Students should have some experiences in English reading and writing. Students should have knowledge of basic academic etiquettes, such as checking the university email regularly, preparing lessons before entering a class, bringing required materials to attend a class, actively participating in class activities and so on. Registration limit of this course is 30.
Grading Method	Preparation & Attitude: 20%; Oral presentation: 50%; Reflective Writing: 30% Oral presentation (50%) will be conducted in the final lesson 15 (10-15 minutes per student). It will include students’ critical reading of an English text. Students are required to submit the presentation materials for the final assessment in Lesson 15. The breakdown is presented below: Ideational meaning: 10% Interpersonal meaning: 10% Textual meaning: 10% Multimodal meaning: 10% Communication goal of the text: 10% Reflective Writing (30%) is an approximately 1000 word writing to respond following topics: What did you learn from this course? What are the aspects in your English reading and writing that need to be improved after taking this lesson? Why? And how? The content, the paragraphing and the grammar of the reflective writing will be assessed in the grading system.
Practical Experience
Summary of Practical Experience and Class Contents based on it
Message	This course will be delivered and facilitated in English. Students need to participate in the class discussion. Students need to ensure that the internet and the microphone function stably for the course.
Other	Students are encouraged to speak in this course, asking questions, participating in group discussions and so on.
Please fill in the class improvement questionnaire which is carried out on all classes. Instructors will reflect on your feedback and utilize the information for improving their teaching.

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