Multimodal Communication and Soft Skills Development

Exploring the interface between literary studies and applied linguistics, the empirical investigations highlight a wide range of techniques aimed at multimodal meaning construction and students’ development of soft skills. Thus, semiotics intertwines with positive psychology in order to decode the complexity of human communication.

Multimodality is the notion which stands behind the most fertile investigations in
communication and language studies nowadays. Multimodal depiction of the surrounding
world helps the child to better conceptualise, objectify, and reify abstract
notions. Even before children learn to talk, they activate their soft skills, the so-called
life/human competences or social skills, and they employ multimodal communication
pertaining to gestures and sounds in order to interact. Therefore, when knowledge
of the brain and body intertwines with social and emotional intelligence, it
fosters human dialogue and it enhances our communication. Offering great insight
into the evolution of theoretical and analytical approaches to multimodal meaning
construction and soft skills development, this volume is an indispensable resource
for (under)graduate students and researchers in applied linguistics, semiotics, media
and communication studies, ELT Methodology, and psychology.