Abstract :
This article presents a tripartite framework for analyzing multimodal
texts. The three analytical perspectives presented include: (1) perceptual, (2)
structural, and (3) ideological analytical processes. Using Anthony Browne’s
picturebook Piggybook as an example, assertions are made regarding what each
analytical perspective brings to the interpretation of multimodal texts and how these
perspectives expand readers’ interpretive repertoires. Drawing on diverse fields of
inquiry, including semiotics, art theory, visual grammar, communication studies,
media literacy, visual literacy and literary theory, the article suggests an expansion
of the strategies and analytical perspectives readers being to multimodal texts and
visual images. Each perspective is presented as necessary but insufficient in and of
itself to provide the necessary foundation for comprehending texts. It is through an
expansion of the interpretive strategies and perspectives that readers bring to a
multimodal text, focusing on visual, textual, and design elements that readers will
become more proficient in their interpretive processes.
