Multimodality and Social Semiosis: Communication, Meaning-Making, and Learning in the Work of Gunther Kress

Gunther Kress, one of the founders of social semiotics and multimodality, has made lasting contributions to these fields through his work in semiotics and meaning-making; power and identity; agency, design, production; and pedagogy and learning; in varied sites of transformation. This book brings together leading scholars in a variety of disciplines, including social semiotics, pedagogy, linguistics, media and communication studies, new literacy studies, ethnography, academic literacy, literary criticism and, more recently, medical/clinical education, to examine and build upon his work. This disciplinary diversity is evidence of the ways in which Kress’ work has influenced and been influenced by a wide range of academic work and intellectual endeavors and how it has been used to lay foundations for theory-building and concept development in a varied yet connected range of areas.

The individual contributions to the book pick up the threads of the often collaborative work of the authors with Kress; they show how these approaches were subsequently developed and discuss what future trajectories the authors see for them.