by Ma Ping, Mohd Shahrudin Abd Manan
ABSTRACT
The manuscript is an exploration of the role of a multimodal and semiotic curriculum in facilitating the student interest in Gongbi painting, the traditional Chinese form of art with a rich layer of symbolic and textual significance. The study, grounded on both Social Semiotics and Multimodal Learning Theory, explores ways visual and written content in Gongbi can be used to facilitate interpretive, cultural, and critical thinking processes in art education. The study involved five (5), multicultural secondary school (16-18) students across a six-week unit (visual arts) to obtain a qualitative case study. The method was to collect data via semi-structured interviews and analyse thematically as well as the semiotic understanding of three chosen Gongbi paintings. The results show that students gained symbolic literacy, explored digital tools (ThingLink, Padlet, Canva) to customise and redefine conventional symbols and produced these as a result of a collaborative meaning-making process. Digital audiotext and storytelling contributed to identity expression and critical reflection, particularly among non-Chinese learners. This paper shows that the introduction of digital solutions and the application of semiotic analysis to instruction in conventional art programmes are effective strategies to create a culturally inclusive, reflective, and interactive educational experience in art. It adds to the deficit of literature on the Gongbi pedagogy by bridging the traditional art with modern instruction methods.
