LESSON 3: EVALUATING AND IMAGES OF

DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEXTS

GED 106 | Purposive Communication (Lecture)
BSCHEM-1101 | PROF. Marie Czarielle M. Godoy | SEM 1 2022

CRITICAL THINKING

– this is the ability to analyze the way you think and present evidence for your ideas rather
than simply accepting your personal reasoning as sufficient proof.

Different Gestures and Its Meaning Across the Globe

Gestures MEANING IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

India, Bangladesh Middle East Greece

– this means approval – a highly offensive – this means up yours.

THUMBS UP or agreement thumbs down. (used the same as the
– indicates flipping the middle finger.)
bird.

Brasil, Russia, Turkey Tunisia, France Japan

– a sexual insult or a – this means worthless – this means money.

gay man. or zero (worth nothing).
OK SIGN

Everywhere Everywhere around the Turkey

(sometimes) globe
– this means go to hell!
– this means number 5. – this means STOP!
STOP SIGN

Greece The USA Pretty much

everywhere
– Go to hell! – Number 2
– Peace out bruh!
PEACE SIGN

America Philippines, Japan Singapore

– Come hither *wink – Calling a dog, or – indication of death

wonk* ;) possibly jail time
COME HERE SIGN

Metal fans everywhere Africa Spain, Italy

– “What’s up?” or – this is a curse. – Your partner is

ROCK N’ ROLL “Awesome bro!” cheating on you.

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LESSON 3: EVALUATING AND IMAGES OF
DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEXTS
GED 106 | Purposive Communication (Lecture)
BSCHEM-1101 | PROF. Marie Czarielle M. Godoy | SEM 1 2022

Vietnam The USA Germany

– this pertains to lady – hoping for good luck. – violating oaths.

parts.

FINGERS CROSSED

Italy Turkey Egypt

– “Fuck you!” or “What – this pertains to – “I’ll only be a

do you want?” beautiful or well. minute!”
PINCHED FINGERS

LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE

– is the displayed language in a particular space. (Carr, 2019)

– things you can see that do not necessarily need words to express the thought.
– example: billboards, signages, street signs, etc.

Billboards
– a big outdoor advertising structure, similar to an oversized
poster used to promote a brand, offering, or a campaign by
displaying advertisements.

Signages
– any kind of graphic display intended to convey information to an
audience.

Regulations
– a range of signs that are used to indicate or enforce traffic
laws, regulations or requirements which apply either at all times or
at specified times.
– tell you what you must do, or must not do, according to the
law.

Street Names
– an identifying name given to a street or road.

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LESSON 3: EVALUATING AND IMAGES OF
DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEXTS
GED 106 | Purposive Communication (Lecture)
BSCHEM-1101 | PROF. Marie Czarielle M. Godoy | SEM 1 2022

Graffiti
– art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface,
usually without permission and within public view.

GEOSEMIOTICS

– is the study of the social meaning of the material placement of signs and discourses and of
our actions in the material world. (Mooney & Evans, 2015)

Principles of Geosemiotics

1. INDEXICALITY
– meaning was given to a sign by a place the sign was put in.
– phenomenon of sign pointing to some object i

2. DIALOGICALITY
– signs have double meaning, and they correspond with each other.

3. SELECTION
– one does not see all signs.

Kinds of Signs

● Regulatory Signs – indicates authority and is official or legally prohibited.

● Infrastructural Signs – labels things or directs for the maintenance of a building or
any infrastructure.
● Commercial Signs – advertises or promotes a product, an event, service, or
commerce.
● Transgressive Signs – if it violates (intentionally or accidentally) the conventional
semiotics or is in the wrong place.

WORLD ENGLISHES

English as a Universal Language

World Englishes
– as defined by Celce Murcia (2014), are regionally distinct varieties of English that have
arisen in parts of the world where there is a long and often colonial history of English being used
in education, commerce, and government.
↪ examples: Indian English, West African English, Singapore English, Filipino English

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LESSON 3: EVALUATING AND IMAGES OF
DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEXTS
GED 106 | Purposive Communication (Lecture)
BSCHEM-1101 | PROF. Marie Czarielle M. Godoy | SEM 1 2022

Major Issue

Varieties of World Englishes are not fully intelligible to users of other varieties of English.

Two Extremes Characterizing the Problem

– scale proposed by Kirkpatrick (2007)

● Extreme 1: The goal of National or Regional Identity

– People use a regional variety of English with its specific grammar, structure, and
vocabulary to affirm their own national or ethnic identity.
↪ example: only Filipinos use terms like senatoriables, congressman, chancing,
and bedspacer.

● Extreme 2: The goal of Intelligibility

–– Users of a regional variety should ideally still be readily understood by users of
English everywhere else in the world to fully participate in the use of English as an
international language.
↪ example: using the words “bin” instead of trash can or “lift” instead of elevators
in British English speaking countries.

Good Balance between Identity-Intelligibility Extremes

CODE SWITCHING
– the process of alternating between two or more languages or language varieties.
– the balance between identity and intelligibility.
– used in formal settings

CODE MIXING
– used in casual settings

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LESSON 3: EVALUATING AND IMAGES OF
DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEXTS
GED 106 | Purposive Communication (Lecture)
BSCHEM-1101 | PROF. Marie Czarielle M. Godoy | SEM 1 2022

MULTIMODALITY

– a text or output is considered multimodal if it uses two or more communication modes to

make meaning.
– shows different ways of knowledge representations and meaning-making, and investigates
contributions of semiotic resources (language, gestures, images) that are co-deployed across
various modalities (visual, aural, somatic, etc.)
– highlights the significance of interaction and integration in constructing a coherent text.

Example:
● Paper (books, comics, posters, brochures)
● Digital (slide presentations, blogs, webpages, social media, animation, film, video games)
● Live (performance or an event)
● Transmedia (a story is told using multiple delivery channels through a combination of
platforms, such as comics, film, and video games all working as a part of the same story with
the same message)

Things to consider in writing multimodal texts:

● PURPOSE
– the creator must be clear on the message and
the reason why the message has to be delivered.

● AUDIENCE
– the nature, interests, and sensitivities of the
target audience

● CONTEXT
– message should be clearly delivered through various semiotic resources and inconsideration of
various situations where and how the text will be read by different people having different cultural
background.