Male characters that challenge gender stereotypes and new multiliteracies in children⇔s picture books: A functional systemic and social semiotic approach

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to identify, in two picture books where the main characters challenge traditional male stereotypes, the verbal and visual resources used by authors and illustrators to study their synergies in the construction of the global message at the representational level. Through a multimodal analysis from Halliday’s Functional Systemic Linguistics (2004) and Kress and van Leeuwen’s Social Visual Semiotics (2006), I identify the choices in verbal and visual modes adopted in each of the sample texts and then I analyze their interaction. Mostly, both modes complement each other to elaborate a common message, although the visual mode sometimes outweighs the textual one in the construction of meaning due to the complexity of the images (which combine visual processes of action and reaction with verbal and mental processes). Therefore, it is essential that young people receive instruction on the concept of multiple literacies in Primary Education.