ARELLANO UNIVERSITY
3058 Taft Avenue, Pasay City
GCAS 06 PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION
LESSON 5
TOPIC: 1. Evaluating Messages and Images of Different Types of Texts
Lesson Learning Outcomes: At the end of the learning engagement you should
be able to:
1. explain various types of multimodal texts,
2. discuss how multimodal texts analysis help in understanding
messages or images like pictures, posters, etc.,
3. participate in activities in analyzing content of various multimodal texts,
and
4. appreciate the significance of analysis of multimodal text in
understanding content and significance of these texts.
Evaluating Different Types of Multimodal Texts
By: Jesus Perry L. Caudilla
With technological development come the changes in communication modes.
Through the internet, access to authentic information and resources is not limited any
more within classrooms. People in various fields are now engaged in co-construction of
knowledge. Exchange of information through feedback has become instant on available
and easy-to-use social platforms, online forums and web pages. Individual activities and
collaborative interaction is carried out fast and easy through mobile technology and
application software. More importantly, production and processing of multimodal texts
for a variety of purposes and settings have tremendously improved through the aid of a
number of high performing computer gadgets.
Analyzing Multimodal Texts in Various Fields
In most academic and business settings, the importance of gaining knowledge
alone has been overtaken by the myriad possibilities and opportunities of how
individuals and organizations can utilize the knowledge they gain. However, gaining
units of knowledge and developing 21 st century skills in using the knowledge must work
concomitantly for one is useless without the other.
What should be done with multimodal texts? Because multimodal texts provide
huge amount of knowledge, it is imperative that people should evaluate these materials.
Among the skills that can be used in this case are critical reading and critical listening.
According to Center for Writing of the University of Minnesota (2017), effective
reading “requires approaching texts with a critical eye: evaluating what you read for not
just what it says, but how and why it says it”. The Center further explained that effective
reading is central to both effective research (when you evaluate sources) and effective
writing (when you understand how/what you read is written, you can work to incorporate
those techniques into your own writing). Being an effective reader also means being
able to evaluate your own practices, working to develop your critical reading skills.
Similarly, the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing (UMLP) (2012)
described critical listening as “the process a listener goes through using careful,
systematic thinking and reasoning to see whether a speaker’s message makes sense in
light of factual evidence. When listeners are not critical of the messages they are
attending to, they are more likely to be persuaded by illogical arguments based on
opinions and not facts.” The UMLP added that the word “critical” does not necessarily
mean that you are claiming that the information you are listening to is somehow faulty or
flawed. Rather, critical listening means engaging in what you are listening to by asking
yourself questions such as, ‘What is the speaker trying to say?’ or ‘What is the main
argument being presented?’, ‘How does what I’m hearing differ from my beliefs,
knowledge or opinion?’. Critical listening is, therefore, fundamental to tru learning.
Critical reading and critical listening are parallel in that they involve analysis of
the information being received and alignment with what we already know or believe.
Indeed, both are essential in analyzing multimodal texts present in various contexts. In
this article, both skills will be used in analyzing advertisements. Journalistic
photography, and visual arts.
Analyzing Advertisements
Collins English Dictionary (2019) defines advertisement as “any public notice, as
a printed display in a newspaper, short film on television, announcement on radio or
online, etc., designed to sell goods, publicize an event, etc.” From this definition, we can
identify the numerous types of ads: (a) Print ad uses different colors, images, logos and
slogans to get people’s attention; (b) Radio ad uses, music, human and non-human
voices, sound effects and jingles; (c) Television ad uses the elements of the print and
radio ads including videos to tell a story; and (d) Online ad uses the features of the print,
radio, and television ads, with a component of customer feedback that can
instantaneously communicate comment about products or services.
According to Jessica McKee (2017), advertisements provide information to every
facet of our lives, but we give them little attention. We may pass judgment on them as
“funny” or “stupid” or see them as simple ways of making us buy products or services.
However, it is seldom that we see them as messages that need critical consideration.
Furthermore, advertisements do more than just entertain and sell products- they
suggest yardsticks of success, of happiness, of beauty, and so on or paradigms of how
we perceive and understand the world. Therefore, analysis of advertisements is
necessary (McKee, 2017).
By giving advertisements a critical eye, we will be able to create insights into how
multimodal texts and culture influence each other. We will also be able to recognize
opportunity to look into the purpose, design, persuasive techniques, logical fallacies,
biases, arguments, and other characteristics of advertisements.
In doing a simple analysis of an advertisement, it may be useful to ask these
basic questions:
1. What message is conveyed in the advertisement?
2. How does the advertisement use the three rhetorical appeals to ethos
(emotion), pathos (credibility) and logos (reason)?
3. Does the advertisement effectively represent reality? In what way?
4. Who is the target audience? (Consider age, gender, race/ethnicity,
socioeconomic status, etc.)
5. Does the advertisement intend to inform, entertain, or persuade? Is it
successful in its purpose? Explain
6. What lifestyle or values are embedded in the advertisement? Do you think the
advertisement is effective in influencing the viewers to practice these values?
7. Identify at least two facts in this advertisement.
8. If any, what message is hidden in this advertisement?
9. What techniques did the advertisers use? (Consider emotional appeal,
promotional advertising, bandwagon advertising, facts and statistics,
complimenting the customer, bribe, endorsement, visual metaphors, catchy
phrases, etc.) Are these techniques successful in making the advertisement
believable?
10. Does the advertisement show bias? How is this bias demonstrated?
11. Do you agree with the advertisement? Explain your arguments.
Analyzing Journalistic Photography
Perhaps in one of your courses in basic education, you have been assigned to
hold a photo essay activity which tells a story using the medium of photography. This
kind of activity requires you to analyze photographs, which consequentially enhances
further your media literacy. Journalistic photography is another form of multimodal text
which uses a combination of meaning-making systems. Since photographs are often
considered as truthful representation of the world- history, politics, education, religion,
traditions, customs architecture, etc., we ought to think critically about the images that
we encounter in our lives. Although photojournalists possess their own point of view in
their own work, it is still important to view photographs with a critical eye.
In analyzing journalistic photography, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing
Company (2008) suggested that we consider these questions:
1. What is the subject and angle of the photo essay? What is the essay’s
message?
2. Describe the photos in the essay. Which images are particularly memorable
to you? Explain your reason.
3. Do the photos appeal to your emotions? Are they intended to make you feel a
certain way?
4. Is the photo essay objective? If not, in what way is it biased?
5. Do captions or text accompany the photos? What do they say? Do the words
and images effectively tell the story?
6. In your opinion, does the photo essay do a good job of telling you about an
important event or issue? Is there anything you think the photographer could
have done differently?
The example taken from analyzing photojournalism at
https://photojournalismobjectivity.weebly.com/
Analyzing Visual Arts
Dictionary.com (2019) defines visual arts as the arts created primarily for visual
perception, as drawing, graphics, painting, sculpture, and the decorative arts as
opposed to music, drama, and literature. As a multimodal text, the evaluation of visual
arts aims to appreciate and understand the visual choices the artist used in creating the
artwork. Aside from discussing the formal elements such as color, line, texture and size,
visual arts analysis may also include the artwork’s historical foundation.
Analysis of visual arts provide students with better understanding and greater
appreciation of the arts- often considered as subject for the elite- as it helps them break
the obstacle that they feel when they encounter art. Prior to analyzing visual arts, they
may be encouraged to visit a local museum or gallery or even make them watch in class
a video about artists and art organizations to throw light on how to evaluate artworks.
According to Sweetland Center for Writing (2019) at University of Michigan,
visual arts typically consist of three components: Context is the information relevant to
the creation of the artwork, including the time period and the artist’s background; Form
consist of the artwork’s formal elements such as color, line, texture and size; and
Content is the issue or subject matter addressed in the artwork.
Writing Studio (n.d.) at Duke University explained that in writing a visual arts
analysis, “you must look closely at an art object- or at a photograph of an art object- and
translate your visual observations into written text. However, a visual analysis does not
simply record your observations. It also makes a claim about the work of art.” It also
outlined the actions to take in visual arts analysis as follows:
1. Observe the artwork and write down your observations. Be precise with
composition, colors, textures, size, space, and other visual and material
attributes of the artwork. Go beyond your first impressions.
2. Formulate a main claim. Reflect on the overall organization of the work of art.
Consider how formal elements impact the meaning of the artwork. Relate this
work to other works you have studied.
3. Support your main claim with visual details. Analyze the form of the artwork.
Address only those elements relevant to your main claim. In other words, explain
the significance of your choices for your main claim. Use vocabulary words
mentioned in class (Writing Studio, n.d.).
Study the following example of visual arts analysis by Adrian Lopez taken from
Analyzing Artwork (Art Criticism) at https://sites.google.com/a/hbuhsd.edu/ib-
art/analyzing-artwork
Reference:
Caudilla & Cansancio, Purposive Communication, 2019
Books Atbp. Publishing Corporation
ISBN 978-621-409-141-6
