Byrne, J.A (2025) Pupils as silent composers: experiences of multimodal learning and computer-based composition in the music classroom. PhD thesis, Bath Spa University.
Abstract
The thesis explores the multi modality of silence by seeking the significance of non-verbal communication in two pupils' computer-based composition during music lessons in a UK state secondary school. My study takes a multi modal social semiotic perspective on 'silence', meaning the absence of the mode of speech, and recognises other modes of communication beyond language. The study is positioned at the intersection of the fields of multimodal communication and music education. During computer-based music compositional lessons, and from the perspective of a researcher and secondary school music teacher, we may not hear the pupils' computer-generated sounds because they wear headphones. In addition, pupils' facial expressions, gazes and gestures can be obscured by computer screens and further complicated by the rear-view teachers may have of their pupils. These partial representations challenge researchers and teachers in accessing a multimodal social semiotic account of the pupil's work and understanding their non-verbal communication. Gaining a deeper insight into pupils' social semiotic work requires apt research methods. The study uses video-based observations of two pupils continued compositional work, over four lessons, to generate and frame the data. Sixteen instances of non-verbal communication without speech were selected and analysed amidst many instances identified within the overall semiotic work of the pupils. Applying multimodal social semiotic theory, principles of recontextualization (Bezemer and Kress, 2016) and design for learning (Kress and Selander, 2012) provides the most apt approach for making sense of pupils' non-verbal ('silent') communication. Isolating two pupils' semiotic work builds on multimodal research in which the analysis of instances of non-verbal communication enables the identification of the signs of learning in modes other than speech. The study found that pupils' semiotic work evidenced learning through the specific choices they made to support their design for learning and further provided visibility to the complexity and richness of the multimodality of silence.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | secondary education, UK education, music education, non-verbal communication, multimodal learning, computer-based music composition, observational research, social semiotics, multimodality of silence |
| Divisions: | School of Education |
| Date Deposited: | 13 Jun 2025 17:30 |
| Last Modified: | 13 Jun 2025 17:32 |
| URI / Page ID: | https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/17120 |
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