Context from a social semiotic perspective: a discourse analytical study of the children TV show,Bubble Guppies

In mainstream linguistics, context is either entirely ignored or dominantly viewed as an objective property of the external world. For instance, in sociolinguistics or pragmatics, scholars frequently attempt to learn about the meaning of words or sentences given certain social context. The social semiotic method presented in this paper challenges the objectivity of context and explores the dynamic between content and context from the perspective of Peircian semiotics. An episode of a children animations series, Bubble Guppies, where human-like mermaids learn about the mysteries of ancient Egypt, is used as a point of departure to show that content and context recursively co-construct with viewers’ participation. For instance, while there is little physical similarity between where the Guppies meet in the show’s story and a typical classroom, the context of a classroom is clearly established through the way the Guppies interact with each other and with objects they encounter. Additionally, the results indicate that learning is an important product of such context-construction, as TV viewers must constantly elaborate on events and link interactions that are perceived not as objects but as signs entangled in a growing web of symbolic system.     

Reconsidering repetition in language education: an edusemiotic approach

ABSTRACT

Since behaviorism fell out of favor as one of the prominent learning theories, language education has done away with using repetition of linguistic forms as one of the important strategies used in second-language classrooms. As a new direction in educational philosophy and theory, edusemiotics can offer a new perspective about the use of repetition in learning a new language. When language forms are treated as signs and not as substances, as in edusemiotics, linguistic particles can never be truly repeated, but each instance of a repetition of a language particle and structure disambiguates the meaning of a form in a different context. This paper argues that the repetition of language forms at the lexical, syntactical, phonetic, and discursive levels aids language learners to intuit meaning and function in the new language. Further, it is discussed that repetition of language forms prompts language learners to look for similarity in patterns between linguistic structures rather than surface-level similarity of forms of language. Finally, the use of linguistic repetition is examined for its affective and poetic bearing, as an important aspect of the acquisition of language.