Multimodality in scientific communication: a study of metaphors, metonymies, analogies and narratives for the teaching of academic writing

• Grant number: 17/15988-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Effective date (Start): August 01, 2018
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Linguistic Theory and Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Rosana Ferrareto Lourenço Rodrigues
• Grantee: Rosana Ferrareto Lourenço Rodrigues
• Host Investigator: Mark Bernard Turner
• Host Institution: Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de São Paulo (IFSP). Campus São João da Boa Vista. São João da Boa Vista , SP, Brazil
• Research place: Case Western Reserve University, United States

Abstract

The teaching of scientific writing has been, for a long time, the purpose of subjects such as the Methodology of Scientific Research in the syllabus of Undergraduate courses. However, in academic career, the "Publish or Perish" paradigm has also concerned language teachers. Whether in Methodology or in Language classes, academic literacy is a complex process that requires the development of competences and skills. Regarding language skills, it is undeniable that images add to communication illustrative, didactic, creative and persuasive value. In scientific texts, for example, the use of graphs and diagrams often work as a source domain for the understanding of abstract targets. Verbal and imagery are strong allies in the production and understanding of meaning. Nevertheless, multimodality does not only operate within different kinds of expression. Linguistic resources such as metaphors, metonymies, analogies and narratives are essentially multimodal. Based on the theoretical framework of Cognitive Linguistics and on a corpus of scientific papers, in Portuguese and in English, from different fields of knowledge, we intended to analyze a set of multimodal constructions, by verifying how they contribute to make scientific texts clearer and more attractive. From the analysis results, a didactic application will be proposed for the systematic use of multimodality in scientific writing, aiming at the development of researchers´ academic literacy and, consequently, contributing to high impact publication. (AU)