In the second part of the book we use our model as analytical tool for texts taken from various school subjects. Here we aim at revealing how a systematic close reading can be used for “wrapping up” a text, in order to make visible how different semiotic resources are used in ways that can both be facilitating and challenging in the meaning-making process around the content. However, we also want to show how teachers can work with a text to make it more accessible and easier to grasp for the reader (in this case, the student). In the analyses we focus more closely on different aspects of the model depending on what we find especially interesting or challenging in the various texts. Also, what the teacher might want to highlight in metatextual discussions must vary, and the same text might be discussed in many different ways, depending for instance on how experienced the students are when it comes to metatextual discussions and multimodal aspects of meaning-making. In the following we give some examples as to what can be highlighted in text discussions. Such comments are either given under a separate heading or in parallel with the analysis. However, these comments should be seen as suggestions and they are not extensive or given in relation to each and every text. In classroom practices, the teacher will choose what features to focus on in the texts used. Our suggestions as to what to discuss can then function as an inspiration.

This type of close reading will partly be very detailed, and it might acutally be perceived as “over-critical”. However, it is not our intention to be critical in negative ways. Instead, we want to point out aspects of texts that are relevant for all kinds of multimodal texts. To write a text and to make decisions about the layout and choice of text resources is challenging, and a number of choices need to be made. Each choice will result in both gains and losses, something which is inevitable. But when teachers have a more robust approach to multimodal texts, they can better support students in working themselves through texts.

We suggest that you start reading the sections that deal with subjects that catch your interest. You can consider the sample analyses as a supply of resources for inspiration. Our examples are never fully exhaustive, and with the help of the model you might be able to find further interesting aspects that we might have neglected.

As already mentioned in the Introduction section, in our selection of texts for analyses, we have striven to include as many subject areas as possible, and we have used texts from different school levels, even though the emphasis is on texts used in upper elementary and lower secondary school. During these school years, texts are relatively complex. For lower school grades, texts in science are relatively similar to those analyzed here, even though they are less complex regarding verbal aspects (less complex clauses and terminology, etc.). Focusing on what information is especially emphasized through writing or image, as well as the use of figurative language, or values in texts can just as well be carried out in lower elementary school grades. The textbooks in upper secondary school, on the other hand, are of course more complex and they have a deeper content, but at the same time they do not differ from texts in lower secondary school in major ways. Also, our examples are mainly based on printed books. One reason for that choice is that printed textbooks (or digital texts based on printed versions) still dominate the market in many countries. Here, however, we can expect a shift in the near future. As regards examples from different countries and cultures, we have tried to find a variety. Since this book is written in English, quite a few of the examples have been taken from English-speaking countries (in this case the UK and Singapore), but we also use examples from Chile, Spain, and Sweden. We ourselves are Swedish, and thus we have access to a variety of teaching resources as well as an insight into the educational system. When examples with other languages than English are used, we provide the reader with translations of central parts of the texts.

The aim of the close reading of these texts is to provide the reader with detailed examples from a variety of school subjects. Yet this does not mean that the close reading is fully exhaustive. Our model is dynamic in the sense that different learning resources can be analyzed by means of the concepts used in the model. As said, this does not mean that there is one, and only one, way of analyzing or working with these texts or working with students’ interpretations of them. Our close reading of these texts should be seen as a kind of modeled reading, where you can choose to put more or less emphasis on the different aspects, depending on the intention behind choice of text, or your planned meta-textual classroom discussions.