Multimodal Content Analysis
Multimodal content analysis studies how communication makes meaning through the combination of several modes at once — written and spoken language, images, layout, color, gesture, music, and sound. Grounded in the social-semiotic theory of Kress and van Leeuwen, it analyzes each mode by its own meaning-making resources and, crucially, how the modes work together, since modern media messages are rarely text alone.
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Sources
- Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN: 9780415319157
- Krippendorff, K. (2004). Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN: 9780761915454
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Multimodal Content Analysis of Communication. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/communication/multimodal-content-analysis
Which method?
Set this method beside its closest kin and read them side by side — the library lays the books on the table; the choice is yours.
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- Manifest Content AnalysisCommunication↔ compare
- Narrative Analysis in MediaCommunication↔ compare
- Visual Framing AnalysisCommunication↔ compare