Dancing, skating and sex

Action and text in the digital age

Authors

  • Rodney H. Jones City University of Hong Kong

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.v6i3.283

Keywords:

entextualization, mediated discourse analysis, multimodality, photography, technology

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between discourse and action in practices involved in making and consuming texts. Texts are produced through the process of ‘entextualization’ in which strips of action and discourse are extracted from their original contexts and recontextualized into other situations. Different technologies for turning actions into texts affect the kinds of social actions and social identities that are made possible both at moments of entextualization and at future moments of recontextualization. In particular, I focus on how digital technologies affect the practices and participation structures around entextualization. Digital photography and video have had a profound effect on social practices and relationships around the making of texts. Specifically, they have made processes of entextualization more immediate, more contingent and more communal. Implications of these features of digital text making are discussed in light of previous work on literacy and orality.

Author Biography

  • Rodney H. Jones, City University of Hong Kong

    Rodney Jones is the Associate Head of the Department of English, City University of Hong Kong. His research interests include mediated discourse analysis, health communication and discourse and sexuality. He is co-editor with Sigrid Norris of Discourse in Action: Introducing Mediated Discourse Analysis (Routledge 2005).

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Published

2015-09-14

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Jones, R. H. (2015). Dancing, skating and sex: Action and text in the digital age. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice, 6(3), 283-302. https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.v6i3.283