The semiotic construction of values in the videogame Watch Dogs

Journal article


Lowien, Nathan. (2016). The semiotic construction of values in the videogame Watch Dogs. English in Australia. 51(2), pp. 41-51.
AuthorsLowien, Nathan
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 and White, 2005) and various approaches to image analyses 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.

KeywordsCriticism; Curriculum policy; Educational games; English curriculum; English teaching; Linguistics; Multimedia; Semiotics; Systemic functional linguistics; Values; Video games; Secondary education
Year01 Jan 2016
JournalEnglish in Australia
Journal citation51 (2), pp. 41-51
PublisherAustralian Association for the Teaching of English
ISSN0155-2147
Web address (URL)https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/aeipt.213569
Open accessPublished as non-open access
Research or scholarlyScholarly
Page range41-51
Publisher's version
License
All rights reserved
File Access Level
Controlled
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Print01 Jan 2016
Publication process dates
Accepted01 Jan 2016
Deposited02 Feb 2025
Additional information

© Australian Association for the Teaching of English Inc., 2016.

Place of publicationAustralia
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https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/911xy/the-semiotic-construction-of-values-in-the-videogame-watch-dogs

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