ABSTRACT
This chapter expands the scope of science classroom discourse to incorporate a range of multimodal representations, including images, gestures, mathematical symbols, and material objects. First, it outlines the difference between a representation and a semiotic mode and clarifies how any representation is made by drawing from at least one of five major semiotic modes commonly used in science classrooms – verbal, visual, mathematical, gestural, and material. Next, it describes the multimodal translation pattern in terms of the pattern of translating a representation from one semiotic mode to another over a teaching sequence. This multimodal translation pattern is not a simple or natural process that is unproblematic to students and should be regarded as a language-intensive form of scientific practice. Subsequently, discourse strategies connected to multimodal translation pattern are discussed, and these include student-generated representation, concrete-pictorial-abstract translation, and dialogic-authoritative transition.
