Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis: Basic Concepts, Approaches, Applications, and Reflections on Analyzing Thai Language Texts

Abstract

Due to technological advances, communication has recently changed from monomodality to multimodality in which meanings are conveyed not only through verbal resources but also through other semiotic resources such as images, toys, sound, music, scent, touch, material, or even monuments. In addition, a number of practitioners of disparate fields have shifted their focus to analyze multimodal texts, including linguistics. This paper, therefore, aims at providing an overview of multimodal critical discourse analysis for readers who are interested in using multimodal critical discourse analysis as an analytical approach in their research. The paper covers the development of multimodal critical discourse analysis, basic concepts of systemic functional grammar and social semiotics as two among many other approaches to multimodal critical discourse analysis, their applications in previous research, and reflections on points that should be taken into consideration when using them in analyzing Thai language texts.