Semiotics proposes that the sign functions as the basic,
constructive element of language, thought and culture. Signs represent
the human, innate desire to communicate with others, understand experience
and create relationships. One of the most compelling questions asked
in life is: “What does it all mean?” In using signs, we
attempt to discover connection and wholeness in the seemingly disparate,
arbitrary elements that compose existence. The capacity to make, interpret
and respond to signs is central to the acquisition of communicative
literacy, the essential ability to express meaning using language and
other standard symbolic systems. Examining the nature of the sign is
the beginning point for developing the theory of languages, the framework
for the concept of communicative literacy.
Signs Generate Meaning
A sign is a message to someone. When employed, signs
alert our attention and generate meaning. Basic to communication, learning,
relationships and culture, signs such as verbal expressions, writing,
visual images and sound infuse daily living. Interchange with others,
objects, sounds, events, text or other phenomena--a puff of smoke rising
from the forest, a vocalization such as a cry, a work of clay, a mélange
of color, marks on paper, a physical movement such as shaking another’s
hand, etc.—have potential for interpretation. Through interchange
and education, people gain mastery of signs and symbols.
Although people are accomplished sign-makers and sign-interpreters,
animals also demonstrate the ability to use signs. For example, a small
fish noticing the shadow of a large fish, goes into hiding behind the
coral. Thus the shadow of a predator signals danger to the prey, increasing
the chance for the small fish’s survival.
As suggested by this example, the content of a sign
conveys an idea separate from the object itself. For example, smoke
rising from the forest might be a sign of a fire, but only if interpreted
in this way. Similarly, an experienced teacher discriminates among
the many noisy sounds on the playground that particular yell that indicates
injury. Her response to the emergency is to run outdoors with the first
aid kit. Thus a sign communicates both meaning and potential action.
In addition to those inferred from objects, experience
and natural phenomena, humanly created signs and symbols also convey
personal or shared meaning. While many symbols are commonly recognized,
like the alphabet, numerals and the yellow “happy face,” other
symbols such as a tattoo, have meaning known only to the individual.
Also different representations can be used to express a similar idea
such as the English written word, “LOVE,” the Spanish spoken
word, amar or the graphic valentine heart-shape. Semiotic theory investigates
how signs and symbols are acquired, gain meaning and function in communication.
Eco’s Theory of Semiotics
While the study of signs has its origins in ancient
Greek philosophy, the modern field of semiotics is less than 150 years
old. The most famous semiotician living today is Umberto Eco, a northern
Italian. Born in Alessandria in 1932, Eco has held professorships at
universities in Turin, Florence and Milan and since 1971, at the University
of Bologna where he is Professor of Semiotics (Caesar, 1999). Earning
him immediate, international acclaim, Eco’s first book Opera
aperta (1962) deals with the subject of “aesthetics.” His
classic texts on semiotics are Appunti per una semiologia della communicazioni
visive (1967) and La struttura assente (1968). English, non-translated
versions by Eco include A theory of semiotics (1976) and Open work
(1989b). Among Eco’s numerous books, articles and publications,
are his bestselling novels, including The name of the rose (1983),
Foucault’s pendulum (1989a) and other memorable literature. Indeed
the current interest in semiotics has been attributed to Eco’s
immensely popular fictional writing (Danesi, 2000).
Like Peirce before him, Eco (1976) attempts to devise
a general theory of semiotics. In contrast to Peirce’s realism,
the belief that reality is objective, Eco assumes the phenomenological
stance that reality is subjectively perceived and culturally shaped.
Moreover, Eco’s theory rests on a substantive body of current
research on linguistics and communication systems. In his theory of
semiotics, Eco forwards two complementary sub-theories: the theory
of codes languages) and the theory of sign production. In developing
these theories, Eco elucidates principles, establishes parameters and
offers hypotheses guiding contemporary semiotic studies.
Culture and Semiotics
In Eco’s semiotic theory, the sign is a manifestation
of culture. Signs create culture: “a system of shared and interconnected
meanings that have been organized over time into codes (language, gesture,
music, etc.)” (Danesi, p. 35). In turn, existing culture influences
the interpretation of the sign and contributes to meaning. In this
transactional process, the meaning of a sign produces a “cultural
unit” (p. 67). In Eco’s view, culture depends on communication: “it
is through thinking and speaking that a society, develops, expands
or collapses.”
Some signs tend to be more “intercultural” with
fixed meanings. For example, people from different cultures ascribe
the same meaning to a drawing of a “dog” even though they
may use different naming words. Other signs have significant cultural
variability. For example, Eco notes that in American culture, the color, “blue,” in
addition to the color term, can indicate a state of depression. Similarly,
a traditional musical anthem may have many pleasant associations or
specific historical allusions for those who grew up in a particular
cultural setting. Someone outside the culture may hear the same anthem
as unfamiliar and strange. A practicing Christian, Buddhist, Jew or
Muslim may respond very differently to the symbol of the cross.
For Eco, the sign is the “meeting ground” (p.
49) whereby the independent elements come together to produce meaning: “the
sign-function is realized when two functives (content and expression)
enter into mutual correlation” (p. 49). In other words, a sign,
or as Eco calls it, a “sign vehicle” puts an idea into
motion. Communication is therefore an interactive, ongoing, dynamic
process of sign production and interpretation.
Once realized, the sign, is full of possibility: an “open
work.” For example, a piece of art may produce different emotions,
associations and interpretations. Eco asserts with firmness that the
sign is not a physical entity, but rather a mental abstraction signifying
content with multiple, shifting meanings and connotations. Of particular
importance, context affects the interpretation of a sign. For example,
depending on the context, the word plane may be an aircraft, or a carpentry
tool or the surface of an object. Context may be as broad as surrounding
culture or as specific as the syntax of a sentence. Thus Eco believes
that ”the information of the message constitutes a range of probabilities” (p.
140).
Basic to language, the sign has the ability to tell
or convey something else. Eco relishes the sign’s ambiguities,
especially its potential “to lie” (p. 7).
Different from a fact, a sign can be deceptive or truthful. Revealing
these semiotic interests, Eco’s intriguing historical fiction
features codes, puzzles and multiple story lines typical of novels
in the mystery genre, like The Da Vinci Code (Brown, 2003).
As previously discussed, the sign, its interpretation
and the response are interrelated. The response to a sign becomes another
sign in a “continuous progression . . . the chain of what Peirce
called the interpretants” (p. 68). This process goes to “the
very definition of ‘sign’ [and] implies a process of unlimited
semiosis” (Eco, p. 69). Following an extended excerpt from Peirce’s
description of the sign, Eco states that all languages are systems
of codes that “provide the rules which generate signs.” When
languages become standardized or codified, the sign “dissolves
itself” (Eco, p. 68), becoming almost undetectable in the communicative
network of symbolic relations.
Eco ponders how particular meanings emerge from the
universe of all possible meanings. After discussing various types of
labyrinths suggestive of the process, Eco (1984) settles on the “vegetable
metaphor of the rhizome as suggested by Deleuze and Guattari (1976)” (p.
81). As the model for defining meaning in semiotics and the philosophy
of language: A rhizome is a tangle of bulbs and tubers'" (Eco,
p. 81). According to Eco, some of the characteristics of the rhizomatic,
net-like structure of meaning include: interconnectedness, easily cut
off, has neither inside, outside or center, open in every direction
and connectable, difficult to view as a whole and subject to continuous
modification over time.
Meaning materializes in the semantic universe as “a
combinational interplay of a highly indeterminate game” (Eco,
1976, p. 126), Eco utilizes the analogy of marbles in a box: “by
shaking the box we can form different connections and affinities among
the marbles” (p. 124). Three possible options are as follows:
1. Random combinations of marbles: meaning is arbitrary and idiosyncratic.
2. Marbles have magnetic attraction and repulsion: meaning is fixed,
predetermined and closed (strong, inherent magnetic effect).
3. Temporary, creative, marble match-ups occur in a combinational interplay.
(weak, extrinsic magnetic effect).
Viewing culture as a primary influence in determining meaning, Eco
chooses option three: making meaning is like an indeterminate, language
game that changes as new data enters the cultural process, as suggested
by Wittgenstein and others: Culture continuously translates signs into
other signs” (p.71).
1. Fixed Meaning
In this scenario, the meaning of ideas is fixed and predetermined.
The potential for meaning is circumstantial, predicable, and limited.
2. Random meaning
The meaning of ideas is arbitrary, chaotic , and relativistic. Ideas
come and go in a manner that avoids understanding.
3. Creative Meaning
The meaning of ideas reflects the individual experience. Although this
meaning can be highly original in nature, they lend themselves to multiple
interpretations and generation of new ideas. Although creative meaning
may outwardly be similar to a random configuration, the parameters of
creative meaning have boundries. Because the range of creative meaning
is theoretically knowable, it is therefore logical.
The Theory of Languages
Eco’s theory of codes has the ambitious goal
to classify all semiotic communication into an organized system. Eco
asserts that he theory of codes outlines the “format of the semantic
universe.” (p. 142). Given the elaborateness and complexity,
Eco suggests that such a theory is more akin to an encyclopedia than
a dictionary. Similar to “Wikipedia,” the online, participatory
encyclopedia where people from all over the world add terms, ideas
and explanations, the theory of codes must also account for the perpetually
branching out of new signs and the continual evolution of meaning in
an ongoing cultural process.
For Eco, “codes provide the rules which generate
signs” (p.49) in signification systems. Prior to discussing these
codes, Eco eliminates from consideration certain mechanical and automatic
signals such as electrical or chemical stimuli, as well as the internal
fixed structures within a discipline. Eco maintains that these types
of signifying elements fall under information theory rather than semiotics.
For Eco, semiotics is concerned with the generative properties of language
and the connotations and denotations of meaning subject to human interpretation.
In semiotic theory, verbal and written languages are
but two examples of the of the many other code systems. For classification
purposes, every code has its own logic: “A specific semiotics
is . . . the ‘grammar’ of a particular sign system” (Eco,
1984, p.5). Moreover the theory of codes explains how one possesses
rules of competence that permit one to . . . form and interpret given
messages or texts.” (p. 129). In this process of creating meaning, “the
very activity of sigh production and interpretation nourishes and enriches
the universe of codes 9p. 129).
In setting out his code theory, Eco presents a glossary
of language: The format of the semantic universe.” This compendium
for communication follows:
• Zoosemiotics. Is concerned with the communication behavior
of animals.
• Olfactory Signs. Includes scents with emotional connotations
as well as a precise reference.
• Tactile Communication. Involves communication in braille
and social behavior such as a kiss, slap on the back and an embrace.
• Code of Taste. Present in culinary practice.
• Paralinguistics. Entails the accompaniments to linguistic
communication that include “voice sets” connected with
gender, age; “vocal qualifiers” such as intensity and pitch; “vocal
characterizers” such as laughing, whispering; “vocal segregates” such
as noises like grunts and breathing.
• Medical Semiotics. Includes signs or symptoms of illness.
• Kinesics and Proxemics. Includes gesture and the use of space
as an aspect of culture.
• Musical Codes. Musical signs and compositions.
• Formalized Languages. Includes algebra, chemistry and Morse
code. Also the attempt to find an interplanetary or cosmic language.
• Written languages, Unknown Alphabets and Secret Codes. Includes
analysis of writing systems of all types, riddles and puzzles and also
relates to the fields of archeology and cryptology.
• Natural Languages. Includes linguistics, logic, philosophy
of language and structural linguistics.
• Visual Communication. Ranges from graphic systems, color
systems and iconic signs to less well recognized forms such as advertisement,
comic strips, cards, paper, money, maps and film.
• Systems of Objects. Includes architecture and objects in
general.
• Plot Structure. Includes myths, folklore, detective stories
and romance.
• Text Theory. Involves plot analysis, poetic analysis and
generative text grammar.
• Cultural Codes. Examples are behavior and value systems such
as etiquette, myths and legends, and cultural and social models such
as the family system.
• Aesthetic Texts. Involves the aesthetic use of codes and
their elements.
• Mass Communication. Studies the characteristics, structures
and effects of media.
• Rhetoric. Includes communication of intention and persuasion.
(Eco. 1976, p. 9-14).
The theory of languages requires new thinking about
education and how these communication systems can be developed.
Semiotics and Education
Education entails learning standard symbolic codes
necessary for acquiring knowledge, values and culture. Communicative
literacy in different standard symbolic systems or “languages” including
oral language, literacy, mathematics, science, visual and performing
arts, etc. ensures educational success as well as an individual’s
efforts to find meaning and direction in life. Communicative literacy
is also intimately connected with life-long learning and the preservation
of cultural values. As a constructive process, education in multiple
sign systems enhances curriculum providing children with more meaningful
learning experiences developing concepts, vocabulary and practical
skills (Clay, 1986, Clyde, Miller, Sauer, Leibert, Parker & Runyon,
2006; Genishi, Stires, .& Yung-Chan, 2001). A learning environment
enriched by materials and experiences in visual arts and other languages
promote thinking, relationships and other areas of development (Gandini,
Hill, Cadwell & Schwall, 2005). Acquiring communicative literacy
in these standard symbolic systems takes a great amount of time, effort
and instruction. Therefore education for communicative literacy should
be part of the mission of schools. These systems must be acquired to
further symbolic communication in our increasingly global society and
virtual world.
A language, such as an ancient tongue, may no longer
be spoken if not passed on to the next generation. Similarly, without
education in the vocabulary of symbols found in varied forms of communicative
literacy, for example, when music, art or science is no longer part
of the curriculum in the elementary school or home arts and shop not
taught in high school, knowledge and use of these symbolic languages
may weaken and even die out. For society’s treasured symbols
to continue to enrich our lives, experiences with all of these prized
communicative systems must be restored to the school curriculum. Certainly
in early education programs, acquiring communicative literacy should
be the main endeavor.
The Hundred Languages of Children
The preschools in Reggio Emilia, Italy demonstrate
great commitment to developing children’s symbolic languages.
Central to the philosophy of these schools is the belief that children
have a hundred languages for communicating their ideas and understanding
(Edwards, Gandini & Forman, 1998; Forman, 1994, 1996; Gandini,
1993; Gandini & Edwards, 1988; Malalguzzi, 1998a, Rinaldi, 2001;
Vecchi, 1998). This conviction is beautifully distilled in Loris Malaguzzi’s
poem, No way: The hundred is there, that begins with the affirmation: “The
child is made of one hundred/The child has a hundred languages/a hundred
hands/ a hundred thoughts/a hundred ways of thinking of playing of
speaking.” (Malaguzzi, 1998b, p. 3). This philosophy of education
and learning seems consistent with semiotic theory (Abramson, 2004)
A powerful semiotic exploring this philosophy, The
Hundred Languages of Children Exhibition is the renown exhibit of children’s
work from the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy that has traveled the
globe for more than 30 years. First organized by Malaguzzi with later
versions continuing to include some of the original content, the exhibit
comprises a large body of magnificent children’s work related
to specific project studies from a number of Reggio schools. Beautiful
and moving examples of children’s individual and collaborative
drawings, paintings, collage, wire constructions, clay sculptures and
other creative work as well as the children’s astute observations
and hypotheses offer vivid testimony to the immense range and sophistication
of children’s thinking and expressive abilities. The exhibit
should be considered a primary source, a vital reference for studying
the philosophy from Reggio Emilia. Moreover the exhibit affords profound
insights on communicating in a hundred languages and the meaning of
this philosophy for human development and education.
The exhibit catalogue, I cento linguaggi del bambini/The
hundred languages of children (1997), points out: “The human
species has the privilege of expressing itself through a plurality
of languages (in addition to the spoken language) . . . . every language
has the right to be fully developed . . . . each child is the constructor
and co-author of these languages, participating fully in their historical
and cultural variations.” (pp. 34-35). The exhibition is a visual
testimony to the versatility of the sign as a means for children’s
symbolic expression.
In the U.S. version (1987), an introductory panel entitled, “Semiotics
from a Hot Air Balloon,” suggests a link between the theory of
signs and the hundred languages. As described in this panel, “you
are invited to climb aboard a hot air balloon with us, to look down
at the children, adults, things, events, but also traces, signs and
symbols that provide clues to information and messages just barely
sketched out.” The “proposals,” or themes, show young
children as competent, capable learners deeply engaged in representing
their ideas using a variety of semiotic sign systems to represent meaning.
The work of the children communicates in many of Eco’s semiotic
languages .
Throughout the exhibit, children show their immense
capacity for expressing ideas and feelings using visual communication.
An incredible range of individual and collaborative drawings, paintings,
collage, wire constructions, clay sculptures and other creations reflect
children’s thinking on particular themes, that overwhelm the
viewer with feelings of wonder and deep respect for children’s
originality and expressiveness.
Many of the other languages from Eco’s theory
are also featured in the exhibit. One of the most well known panels
in the exhibition (1987) is the story of an infant and her encounter
with a watch told in six photographs. This panel is often utilized
as a vehicle for discussing of the image of the child, central to the
Reggio approach, a child with rights and unlimited potential. It is
also an exceptional example of semiotics, the language of kinesics
and proxemics, used by the children in many of the exhibit panels.
In the first photograph, Laura, who is about nine months
old, looks at a store catalogue with the support of her teacher. Upon
finding a page of watches, Laura leans in toward her teacher, closing
the space between them, and visually studies the watches. Then, in
a revealing expression of facial inquisitiveness, she makes eye contact
with her teacher as she points at the watches. Seeing her gestures,
this observant teacher then presents her own wristwatch to Laura and
Laura touches it. Next her teacher holds the watch to Laura’s
ear, sharing its secret “tick.” Laura’s eyes grow
wide. In the final photograph in the panel, Laura appears to place
her ear on the watches in the catalogue as if to listen to the sound.
Thus, this story shows how the language of kinesics and proxemics provides
a major mode of communication between an adult and a not yet verbal
child. Moreover it reveals the keen intelligence behind these communication
efforts.
Kinesic and proxemic communication is again present
in The Importance of Seeing Yourself Again (1987 exhibit). In several
panels, the children examine how various body parts can be used to
communicate feelings. Children represent, in drawings and clay, the
eyes, hands, brain and body in various poses and configurations to
creatively convey feelings such as anger, love, sadness, etc. For example,
a drawing of hands with fingers upright, but rigid and curling ends
has the description, “angry hands are scratched;” another
with hands with numerous fingers curling over the palm, “sad
hands are closed;” and one of colorful hands with fingers spread
apart, “happy hands are open.” Universal signs and symbols
are frequently shown, including the heart-shape symbol placed within
a pair of eyes to show “eyes in love.” In another example
is the “Mime of the Feet.” In this panel, the children
tell a story of the rocky relationship between a man and a woman symbolized
in the movements of a pair of feet. The pair of feet separate, come
together, battle and separate again.
The languages of Kinesics and proxemics help conceptualize
thinking in the children’s investigations in Shadows and Shadowiness.
As they engage in various shadow “games,” the children
create a multi-limb monster (they stand together as a group and raising
their hands), change and distort shadows into improbable shapes, (they
make shadows on different surfaces such as stairs, sand, columns and
water), observe how the shadow changes in relation to the location
of the light source (a bird shape on a window makes a shadow that migrates
across the floor as the sun changes position over the course of the
morning) and project unusual shadows (umbrella, hoop, colored cellophane).
Children reflect again and again on their actions and the actions of
objects in making shadows and then represent these relationships using
a variety of gesture, words, stories, drawings and constructions.
Communication among animals, both real and imagined,
zoosemiotics, is the subject of several panels (1987 exhibit). To Make
a Portrait of the Lion, a project from an earlier European version
of the exhibit as well as the subject of the film To Make a Portrait
of the Lion (1980), frequently shown in connection with the exhibit
tells the story of a statue of the lion in front of a church in Reggio
Emilia. This famous project documents the journey of a group of children
and teachers as they construct relationships, find ways to communicate
with the lion and extend their understanding and express “lioness” in
clay, painting, shadows and puppets. The panel Pigeon Talking, within
the shadow study, contains the visual image of two large shadow pigeons
created by children wearing costumes. The children’s comments
about the many ways pigeons and doves communicate include: “If
a dove sees a dove and he goes near, they look at each other and walk
toward each other;” “If a lady pigeon sees a handsome pigeon
and wants to make him fall in love with her, she coos sweetly;" and “If
there is a strong enemy like an eagle and the pigeon is alone, it lowers
its head and wings, that’s how it shows it doesn’t want
to fight.” In studying these paths of communication among animals,
children also learn important lessons about human interaction and social
behavior. A newer exhibit (1999) continues the investigation of zoosemiotics
in the Amusement Park for the Birds and in Catness, a panel from a
collection of work on various topics.
In Color in Our Hands (1987 exhibit), systems of objects
such as two breathtaking light box displays—one of small objects
arranged behind small origami-like paper flaps and another of leaves
woven in string—show the endless and complex possibilities for
communication when simple objects are combined. In another example,
the children make collages of leaves, pods and other natural materials
representing a human figure, turkey, butterfly and other insects.
A set of panels (1987 exhibit) explore a changing tableau
of scenes depicted in paper dolls made by the children that are placed
in front of a photograph of a street in the city at different times
of day. In each diorama, different people and activities make appearances
depending on the time of day. In the early morning, the street is cleaned
and people walk on the street. A market opens later in the morning.
There are social gatherings and family activities in the late afternoon.
Although they may lack first-hand experience, children conjecture that
at night, boyfriends and girlfriends go out to the street and have
ice cream. A series of creative box displays of small objects and a
big free-standing structure, composed of many boxes to make a horse,
convey beauty and imaginative, evocative qualities.
Another series of panels (1987 exhibit) suggests that
color acts as an aesthetic text that affects emotions and interpretations.
For example, the same drawing of a tiger in a forest rendered in four
different color schemes elicits very different responses. For example,
when the drawing is tinted yellow, the children make this interpretation, “ It’s
an enchanted and hot forest full of sun light and enormous fire. The
tiger is also on fire and ferocious.” Tinted blue, the interpretation
changes: “It seems like a dream. The tiger seems to be a fantasy.
It’s like a forest at the bottom of the sea . . . In green, “Its
like being immersed in a sea of tall grass . . . It’s a quiet
forest. It makes me feel tired. You can almost smell the scent of mint.” A
black and gray version causes another response: ”It’s frightening,
scary because it’s dark, like the night. There isn’t even
a ray of sun. It’s a magical forest with strange noises. It’s
like being in a place that doesn’t exist, like a ghost town.” Thus
aesthetic perception influences their thinking.
Some hints of semiotic languages, olfactory signs and
code of taste, can be found in the exhibit. the panel, Magic in Your
Mouth (1987 exhibit), the children note, “if something has an
orange skin, it tastes wonderful,” and in the panel, Onion Striptease
(1987 exhibit),, “it’s a color that nips.” As their
comments suggest, children’s experiences with food become an
early source for communicating through the senses.
Several themes deal with different aspects of cultural
codes specific to the northern Italian context of the preschools. The
traditions and symbols associated with vendemmia, the grape harvest,
in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy are the subject of Harvesting
Grapes With the Farmers (1987 exhibit). The social, cultural and historical
significance of farming and the vibrant, age-old rituals and routines
of living on the farm, tending the vineyards, making wine and celebrating
the harvest are shown in this photo essay. The commentary describes
how the visit to the vineyard and its continuation in classroom projects
contributes to learning about their heritage: “the children see,
discover, question, broaden their experience and knowledge by touching
a world that still bears the signs (but for how much longer?) of their
life culture.” A large photo juxtaposes the elderly face of
the farmer with that of a child as together they pick a cluster of
grapes. This photo and another of feet crushing the grapes are unforgettable
visual statements of cultural continuity and change.
In City in the Rain (1987 exhibit), stories told by
the children follow the plot structure of legends to explain the origins
of rain, its effects and where rain goes after it falls. These often
mythical stories include archetypal characters such as the devil, an
angel, dead spirits, etc., who are cast as causal agents of natural
phenomena such as rain, thunder and lightening. One child explains, “The
lord makes it rain when he is watering his flowers. . . It doesn’t
always rain because he doesn’t always water.” Another child
suggests, “The devil makes the rain fall . . . he’s nasty
and he makes the rain fall because the rain is bad. The devil gets
buckets of water from his house, he puts them on his cart . . . He
dumps down the bucket and that’s how it rains.” Other theories
involve more mechanistic solutions such as pipes that funnel water
to and from clouds. One of the children’s theories about where
rain goes after it falls concerns holes in the ground with channels
to an underground lake where rats drink from it.
In The Sea is Born from the Mother Wave (1999 exhibit),
children offer mythological stories on birth, the origins of life and
natural phenomena. They tell surprising, original stories of their
gestation and birth: “I was all wet. I was inside a water balloon.
I didn’t ask if I had a bathing suit on,” ”One time
when I was in my mommy’s tummy, I smelled the perfume my mommy
wore when she and my daddy got married,” and “I was a boy
inside my mom’s tummy. Then the doctor gave me a name and I became
a girl . . . Then I got formed like a Stephen. The doctor said, ‘keep
the name Stephen.’ And so I stayed a boy.” This story reveals
children’s awareness of the potential for language to shape experience.
In “Children and Computers” (1987 exhibit)
and the “The Fax Machine” (1999 exhibit), children play
with mathematical codes and investigate mass communication. In the
panel, A Fax for Communicating Long Distance, the children theorize
about how the fax machine works as part of a project that involves
exchanging messages by fax between a preschool in Reggio Emilia and
a school in Washington, DC. One child suggests, “I know what
we need. It’s a kind of telephone that’s called fax. They
take a letter. They put it inside a little slot and they send it to
somebody. Inside the telephone, there’s a printer that maybe
copies the letter. Then the letter stayed there and the copied one
went there with a strong wind and it made it fly to the country where
they wanted to send it.” In discussing and using the fax, children
contemplate the mysteries of communication across great distances and
in different languages.
Educators in Reggio Emilia believe that children have
the right to an education that promotes learning in all the languages
that comprise culture and that the development of these languages occurs
in project-based experiences such as those shown in the exhibition
(Gandini, 1993; Malaguzzi, 1998a). In relation to semiotic theory, "The
Hundred Languages of Children" exhibition amply demonstrates that
children possess “a plurality of languages” and “that
every language has the right to be fully developed” (Reggio Children,
1997, p. 34).
Semiotic Competence for Diverse Learners
Because communication and culture figure strongly,
semiotics offers another perspective on language and literacy development
in education, especially for diverse learners in US classrooms and
differs significantly from the structurally-based theories of language
used for literacy instruction. Many children having diverse ethnic,
cultural and linguistic backgrounds do not respond to these traditional
methods.
Recognizing the cultural dimension of second language
learning, Danesi (2000) defines semiotic competence as “the ability
to interconnect verbal and conceptual structures in speech in culturally
appropriate ways.” (p. 14). An education for “semiotic
competence” encourages interchange in multisymbolic languages
and the acquisition of communicative literacy. According to Berghoff
(1998), when the curriculum incorporates multiple sign systems, learners
grow in their “sensitivity to the full range of human meaning
. . . . a way of knowing what is possible in their world” (p.
523). Allowing different forms of communication expands the possibilities
for interchange and education for those with diverse cultural backgrounds,
experiences and/or language differences.
When educational experiences are grounded on semiotic
theory and principles associated with communicative literacy, diverse
learners are provided with “ a hundred languages,” a wide
repertoire of alternatives for communicating ideas when the spoken
language and cultural setting are not yet familiar to them.
Project work and visual and performing arts education
for diverse learners foster semiotic competence. Multi-symbolic, projects
provide educationally challenging content for English language learners
increasing language and literacy development, social interaction and
cultural awareness (Abramson, Ankenman, & Robinson, 1994; Heath,
1996; Holloway & Krensky, 2001; Shier, 1990; Thwaites, 1999). As
they acquire multiple languages, second language learners demonstrate
greater communicative literacy.
Eco (1989b) remarks: “Openness . . . is the guarantee
of a particularly rich kind of pleasure that our civilization pursues
as one of its most precious values, since every aspect of our culture
invites us to conceive, feel, and thus see the world as possibility.” (p.
263). Concurring with this position, Rinaldi (2001) affirms the inseparability
of language, thinking and culture:
Cultural education is not a separate discipline, nor
is it simply the illustration of the customs and religions of a country
. . . .It is more than this: it is primarily a style of educational-relational
thinking. It is what we call “project-based thinking” .
. . a way of thinking that is open to others . . . . It is the interweaving
of multiple cultural codes, multiple languages . . . . It plays on
boundaries . . . as places that generate the new that is born of contagion
and interchange. (p. 46)
Key to the semiotic dimension of the educational process,
interchange allows children, teachers and parents to use symbolic languages,
build relationships, respect cultural differences and share values
essential for our society. In programs that teach for communicative
literacy, children exercise all of their communicative abilities in
order to gain understanding and express meaning. At this time of great
public concern over students’ mastery of language and literacy,
the acquisition of communicative literacy is a crucial concern for
designing programs that achieve educational excellence for all children,
not regardless of their abilities, but with the highest regard for
children and all the languages that make learning possible.
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