The semiotic construction of values in the videogame Watch Dogs

Article


Lowien, Nathan. 2016. "The semiotic construction of values in the videogame Watch Dogs." English in Australia. 51 (2), pp. 41-51.
Article Title

The semiotic construction of values in the videogame Watch Dogs

ERA Journal ID20439
Article CategoryArticle
Authors
AuthorLowien, Nathan
Journal TitleEnglish in Australia
Journal Citation51 (2), pp. 41-51
Number of Pages11
Year2016
PublisherAustralian Association for the Teaching of English (AATE)
Place of PublicationAustralia
ISSN0046-208X
0155-2147
Web Address (URL)https://www.aate.org.au/journals/english-in-australia
Abstract

The past decade has seen videogames become an important facet in the economic and cultural tapestry of the 21st century. However, while the Australian Curriculum: English (ACE) advocates the teaching of multimodal texts (ACARA, 2016), videogames have been neglected within the curriculum. Nevertheless, such a significant aspect of popular 21st century entertainment culture warrants attention by educationalists and consideration as a highly motivating curriculum resource. This paper aims to explore the linguistic and visual semiotic depictions of value positions in the videogame Watch Dogs (Ubisoft, 2014). Despite the ubiquity and popularity of videogames, and the growing use of Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) and related broader semiotic theory in educational research, limited research has been conducted on games from an SFL perspective. This paper will identify content descriptions from the ACE and how suitable videogames similar to Watch Dogs could be used for the teaching of these descriptions. Semiotic systems such as the appraisal system (Martin & White, 2005) and various approaches to image analyses (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006; Painter, Martin, & Unsworth, 2013) will be utilised in the identification and explication of game characters’ value positions. The logogenetic synergy between the meaning making systems of language and image will then be canvassed in relation to their implications for Systemic Functional Semiotic accounts of inter-modal meaning-making, as well as implications for curriculum and pedagogy in the 21st century.

Keywordsappraisal, attitude, engagement, evaluative Stance, image-language relations, visual grammar, pedagogy, curriculum
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020390104. English and literacy curriculum and pedagogy (excl. LOTE, ESL and TESOL)
390102. Curriculum and pedagogy theory and development
390101. Creative arts, media and communication curriculum and pedagogy
Public Notes

Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions.

Byline AffiliationsAustralian Catholic University
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
Permalink -

https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q3w8z/the-semiotic-construction-of-values-in-the-videogame-watch-dogs

  • 1620
    total views
  • 9
    total downloads
  • 1
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

“The last bastion of democracy”: teachers’ perceptions of the democratic potential of English curriculum
Barton, Georgina, Riddle, Stewart and Lowien, Nathan. 2024. "“The last bastion of democracy”: teachers’ perceptions of the democratic potential of English curriculum." English Teaching: Practice and Critique. https://doi.org/7DOI10.1108/ETPC-08-2024-0127
Postdigital Videogames Literacies: Thinking With, Through, and Beyond James Gee’s Learning Principles
Bacalja, Alexander, Nichols, T. Phillip, Robinson, Bradley, Bhatt, Ibrar, Kucharczyk, Stefan, Zomer, Chris, Nash, Brady, Dupont, Bruno, Cock, Rozane, Zaman, Bieke, Bonenfant, Maude, Grosemans, Eva, Abrams, Sandra Schamroth, Vallis, Carmen, Koutsogiannis, Dimitrios, Dishon, Gideon, Reed, Jack, Byers, Thomas, Fawzy, Rania Magdi, ..., Schnaider, Karoline. 2024. "Postdigital Videogames Literacies: Thinking With, Through, and Beyond James Gee’s Learning Principles." Postdigital Science and Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-024-00510-3
Literacy
Barton, Georgina, Alford, Jennifer and Lowien, Nathan. 2024. "Literacy." Pendergast, Donna, Main, Katherine and Bahr, Nan (ed.) Teachign middle years: Rethinking Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Assessment. United Kingdom. Routledge. pp. 137-149
Developing students’ metalinguistic understandings
Thomas, Damon and Lowien, Nathan. 2024. "Developing students’ metalinguistic understandings." Learning Difficulties Australia Bulletin (LDA Bulletin). 56 (1), pp. 19-23.
Generative AI Writing Tools and the Australian Curriculum: English
Lowien, Nathan and Thomas, Damon. 2023. "Generative AI Writing Tools and the Australian Curriculum: English." Practical Literacy: the Early and Primary Years. 28 (3), pp. 26-28.
Peer Reviews Review 1 (excerpt)
Lowien, Nathan. 2023. Peer Reviews Review 1 (excerpt). University of Southern Queensland.
How Pinocchio avoids lying
Lowien, Nathan. 2022. "How Pinocchio avoids lying." Practical Literacy: the Early and Primary Years. 27 (3), pp. 22-25.
Game time: games for the consolidation of grammar and assessment
Lowien, Nathan. 2022. "Game time: games for the consolidation of grammar and assessment." Practical Literacy: the Early and Primary Years. 27 (1), pp. 29-33.
Teaching the Australian Curriculum English: Pre-service teachers’ knowledge and confidence in the middle primary years
Lowien, Nathan. 2022. "Teaching the Australian Curriculum English: Pre-service teachers’ knowledge and confidence in the middle primary years." Literacy Learning: The Middle Years. 30 (1), pp. 52-64. https://doi.org/10.3316/informit.294395278315878
The Semiotic Construction of Evaluative Meaning in Videogames: Explicating the Portrayal of Values
Lowien, Nathan. 2022. The Semiotic Construction of Evaluative Meaning in Videogames: Explicating the Portrayal of Values. PhD Thesis Doctor of Philosophy. University of Southern Queensland. https://doi.org/10.26192/x4242
A critical semiotic investigation of Asian stereotypes in the short film Bao : implications for classroom practice
Barton, Georgina, Lowien, Nathan and Hu, Yijun. 2021. "A critical semiotic investigation of Asian stereotypes in the short film Bao : implications for classroom practice." Australian Journal of Language and Literacy. 44 (1), pp. 5-17.
Australian Not by Blood, but by Character: Soldiers and Refugees in Australian Children’s Picture Books
Kerby, Martin, Baguley, Margaret, Lowien, Nathan and Ayre, Kay. 2019. "Australian Not by Blood, but by Character: Soldiers and Refugees in Australian Children’s Picture Books ." Kerby, Martin, Baguley, Margaret and McDonald, Janet (ed.) The Palgrave handbook of artistic and cultural responses to war since 1914: the British Isles, the United States and Australasia. Cham, Switzerland. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 309-326
‘It’s easy!’: scaffolding literacy for teaching multimodal texts
Lowien, Nathan. 2016. "‘It’s easy!’: scaffolding literacy for teaching multimodal texts." Literacy Learning: The Middle Years. 24 (1), pp. 38-52.