Significance of Teaching Semiotic Pedagogy

Significance of Teaching Semiotic Pedagogy

Kasieva, Aida

Charles Sanders Peirce, the father of American semiotics and pragmatism, insisted that educational institutions be places for learning and not merely instruction. If Peirce‘s argument is accepted, then it is necessary to redefine the role of teachers, students, and subject matters in relation to learning semiotics, with its cultural emphasis on codes, signs, and social interaction. Semiotics is especially appropriate for rethinking the learning and teaching progress. In particular, semiotics is a central part of the emerging global discipline which studies human communication as one of the Human Science disciplines using logic based research methods of semiotics and phenomenology to investigate social and cultural interactions. Thus, the present article is focused on the three areas of Semiotics as defined by Charles Morris when he participated in the Unified Science Project at the University of Chicago: 1. Semantics; 2. Syntax; 3. Pragmatics. In the same spirit, my article involves pedagogical activities for providing effective syllabus designs, teaching strategies, and classroom activities that show relevance for contemporary pedagogical studies in Communication and Cross-cultural studies. Pedagogy based on the semiotic work of Peirce, and exemplified by his definition of the university as a ―community of interpretation‖, forces a reconsideration of the roles which learners, teachers, and subject matter play within educational endeavors. This reconsideration may be called a ―semiotic pedagogy‖ of communication and culture.

Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed

2011-05

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