Abstract
Drawing from our previous research related to academic knowledge communication in new, transitional or intermediate generic configurations and various digital contexts (Engberg & Maier, 2015, in press; Maier & Engberg, 2013, 2019), the overall purpose of this article is to explain how knowledge dissemination and promotion strategies are manifested in a new multimodal academic genre. The data collected from the GetSmarter (www.getsmarter.com) organization comprises academic trailers, where experts persuasively disseminate domainspecific research work while also promoting the course that is built upon the respective academic knowledge. Considering the specific endeavor of these trailers, this article focuses on how multimodal strategies are employed for accomplishing the double communicative purpose while maintaining generic integrity. Thus, the multimodal analyses reveal how promotional knowledge communication takes place in the multimodal generic moves of academic trailers. Both implicit promotional research-related knowledge communication and explicit promotional course-related knowledge communication are in focus. Furthermore, the levels of explanatory depth are also identified and explained in each multimodal generic move. While tracing tendencies in the diversification of multimodal knowledge communication strategies, the article also clarifies the challenging consequences of promotional generic recontextualization, and thus contributes to the advancement of multimodal perspectives in academic knowledge communication research.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 4 |
| Journal | ESP Today |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages (from-to) | 261–279 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| ISSN | 2334-9050 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2023 |
Keywords
- academic narrator
- academic trailer
- explanatory depth
- knowledge communication
- multimodality
- promotional genre recontextualization