Outlines a study in which television advertising supplied the text that college students were challenged to interpret. Explains that the language and images of this advertising posed a complex, cognitive challenge--even to these students at advanced levels of education. Concludes that information processing of television advertising presents a…

This illustrative article describes how a semiotic perspective can illuminate and transcend traditional views of women with severe dis/abilities. A critical reading of signs within particular contexts can help position counselors and clients in a relationship that enhances mutual growth and development. (Contains 21 references.) (Author)

Critiques Erving Goffman's research on the experience of radio frames by providing the results of a complete empirical phenomenological analysis of Goffman's report on data. (RAE)

Discusses the concept of metalinguistic awareness and describes the administration of the Test of Metalinguistic Ability (TAM) to 300 Italian elementary school children. (34 references) (CFM)

Uses a semiotic reading of nonverbal communication as a way to comment on the ideologies of various cultural contexts. Suggests that the semiotic approach offers a method of "reading" the metatextual meanings surrounding nonverbal behavior. Finds that a reading of the political leaders of different cultures reveals the connection between…

Uses central ideas from Roland Barthes's essays on connotative semiotics as a rationale for directing students in technical and professional writing classes to develop the critical reflex to analyze and then make judgments about the values implied by connotative systems. (SR)

Discusses comments about and responses to an article on semiotics by Donald J. Cunningham in the June 1992 issue of the "Educational Psychology Review." Discusses the semiotic method of juxtaposition, juxtaposing a menace being posed to reading teachers with the menace experienced in W. W. Jacobs' classic ghost story "The Monkey's Paw." (SR)

Identifies two major groups of pseudoinscriptions: distinguished inscriptions which do not convey text but appear to be real things; and proper pseudoinscriptions which may have clearly delineated individual letters that taken together make no sense. Identifies Venice and the Netherlands as centers of Arabic and Hebrew pseudoinscriptions in the…

Attempts a semiotic experiment to explore the fluctuations of meaning produced by interferences between textual and figurative representation within one picture. Discusses examples such as the portrait with its presentation of the subject and the topographical city plan. Provides an in-depth exploration of Philippe de Champaigne's "Ex-voto of…

Argues that William Blake's illustrations for Thomas Gray's "Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat" testify to the contradictions in Gray's poetry. States that Blake's designs offer another language, a contra-diction, that deconstructs Gray's conscious discourse and liberates his unconscious discourse. (RS)

Offers Alain Robbe-Grillet's novel "La Belle Captive" (which employs 77 paintings by the Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte) as playful interchange between word and image. Argues that the novel may be understood to demonstrate a fundamental relationship of inequality between word and image. (RS)

Examined cognitive complexities when graphs were used in lectures by observing 39 lectures, 36 seminars in which students solved problems, and 14 sessions of scientists interpreting graphs. Findings show that lectures present a scanty image of the use and interpretation of graphs. Discusses the analytic method, which relies on semiotics and…

Discusses preliminary observations on the notion of "tension" as an inevitable agent of developmental change and to show that at the source of tension are constraints of epistemological, semiotic, learning, and environmental nature. Focuses on four constraints that exert inevitable and pedagogically fruitful tension on classroom teaching.…

Discusses the rise of diversity in the workforce and explains how this demographic change has led to businesses developing appropriate training programs. Examines what diversity is, where, when, and why it developed, and where it is going; and applies semiotic analysis to a corporate training video that addresses diversity issues. (Contains 54…

Offers new perspectives and theoretical tools to interpret and appreciate the complex relationships that can exist between words and pictures. Analyzes the spectrum of text/image interaction and explores several picturebooks from different countries to uncover a number of intriguing dynamics ranging from the simple to the highly elaborate. (SC)