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Before Writing Rethinking the Paths to Literacy Gunther Kress 1997 175 pages Complementary Texts Rudolph Arnheim Roland Barthes Donis A. Dondis Edward Tufte Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen Ilana Snyder Keywords Semiotics and Grammars Theory Visual Design Copyright © 2000-2007 Isabel Pedersen

Before Writing comprises a radical approach to literacy. One premise central to the book is that subjects constantly make new meaning and new signs: This may be the point to say something about my approach to children’s (and adults’) meaning-making. On the one hand I proceed on the assumption that when we make our signs we make them as (relatively) new combinations of form and meaning. This goes against the common sense of most theorists as much as the man and woman in the street, who assume that we use language, not that we make it. By complete contrast I wish to insist that we always make new signs. (Before Writing: Rethinking the Paths to Literacy 7) Overall, Before Writing is an excellent exploration of meaning-making at both the very early stages of childhood and throughout life.