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Areas of expertise: systemic functional linguistics and multimodal semiotics, digital, multimodal and paper media literacy and learning in English and school curriculum areas; traditional paper media and e- literature for children and adolescents; literacy development in the English curriculum K-12; and the pedagogic role of explicit knowledge about language and the meaning-making resources of images and image-language interaction in paper and digital media texts, including animation, film, virtual and augmented reality and AI produced texts.
HDR Supervisor accreditation status: Full
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-4723-8169
Phone: +612 9739 2738
Email: len.unsworth@acu.edu.au
Location: ACU North Sydney Campus
Professor Len Unsworth has been involved in educational research for over 40 years, including eleven Australian Research Council funded projects since 2005. His key research interests include: digital, multimodal and paper media literacy and learning in English and other school curriculum areas; traditional paper media and e- literature for children and adolescents; literacy development in the English curriculum K-12; and the pedagogic role of explicit knowledge about language and the meaning-making resources of images and image-language interaction in paper and digital media texts, including animation, film and virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence produced texts. Prior to commencing at ACU in 2014, Len was Professor in Education at Griffith University, following earlier roles as Head of the School of Education at the University of New England and Head of the School of Development and Learning in the Faculty of Education at the University of Sydney.
Books
Martin, J. R. and Unsworth, L. (2024) Reading Images for Knowledge Building: Analysing Infographics in School Science. London: Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003164586
Unsworth, L., Tytler, R., Fenwick, L., Humphrey, S., Chandler, P., Herrington, M., & Pham, L. (2022). Multimodal
Literacy in School Science: Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Theory, Research and Pedagogy. Routledge. https://doi.org/DOI: 10.4324/9781003150718
Mills, K., Unsworth, L., & Scholes, L. (2022). Literacy for Digital Futures: Mind, Body, Text Routledge.
Macken-Horarik, M., Love, K., Unsworth, L. & Sandiford, C. (2017). Functional Grammatics: Re- conceptualizing knowledge about language and image for school English. London: Routledge.
Painter, C., Martin, J. R., & Unsworth, L. (2013). Reading visual narratives: Image analysis of children's picture books.
London, UK: Equinox.
Edited Books
Unsworth, L. (Ed) (2024). Coding Animated Narratives: Classroom Practices for Developing Digital Multimodal Authoring. Sydney: Primary English Teaching Association of Australia.
Unsworth, L. (Ed.). (2020). Learning from Animations in Science Education: Innovating in Semiotic and Educational Research. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Unsworth, L., & Thomas, A. (2014). English teaching and new literacies pedagogy: Interpreting and authoring digital multimedia narratives. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing.
Unsworth, L. (2008). Multimodal semiotics. Functional Analysis in contexts of Education. London, UK: Continuum.
Unsworth, L. (2009). New literacies and the English curriculum: Multimodal perspectives. London, UK: Continuum.
Book Chapters
Unsworth, L. (2025) Infographics, Inter-semiosis and Multimodal Literacy in Science Education. In Querol-Julián, Mercedes & Fortanet-Gómez, Immaculada (Eds), Multimodal Literacy in English as an Additional Language in Higher Education. London: Routledge
Unsworth, L. Nguyen, P. & Ngo, T. (2025) Developing students' repertoires of nuanced expression of attitudinal meaning through pedagogies of multimodal text interpretation and creation. In Reyes-Torres, A., Brisk, M. & Lacorte, M. (Eds). Multiliteracies, Multimodality and Learning by Design in Second Language Learning and Teacher Education. London: Routledge
Falloon, G., Adlington, R., Unsworth, L., Hanham, J., Woo, K. (2025) Students as multimodal designers and authors. In Bower, M. (Ed) Technology Education: Students as designers. London: Routledge
Unsworth, L. (2025) Broaching migration as violent displacement in picture books: A systemic functional semiotic analysis of the representation of child refugee emotional trauma. In Santamaria-García, C. & Ventola, E. (Eds), A Multimodal Approach to Picture Books on Migration and Migrants. London: Routledge
Unsworth, L. (2024). Teaching Digital Multimodal Authoring with Scratch. In L. Unsworth (Ed.), Coding Animated Narratives: Classroom Practices for Developing Digital Multimodal Authoring. Primary English Teaching Association Australia.
Articles
Ngo, T. & Unsworth, L. (2025 Differentiating appreciation of characterisation in print, graphic novel and movie versions of children's literature: multimodal analyses to develop students' interpretive stance.Research in the Teaching of English, 59(3), 285-310.
Puslednik, L., Morrison, R., He, Y., Unsworth, L., van Leeuwen, T., & Doran, Y. A comparative study of science animation repositories for teachers. (2025). Teaching Science, 17(2), 30-43.
Unsworth, L. (2024) Comparing point of view in animations of children's and adult literature: Multimodal literacy in a new era of educational technology. ECNU Review of Education. 7 (2), 384-405 doi.org/10.1177/20965311231179738
Lim Fei, V. & Unsworth, L. (2023) Multimodal Composing in the English Classroom: Recontextualizing the Curriculum to Learning. English in Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/04250494.2023.2187696
Unsworth, L., & Herrington, M. (2022). Visualization Type and Frequency in Final Year High School Science Examinations Research in Science Education. https://doi.org/10.1007 /sl1165-022-10094-2
Assessor of Research Grant Applications
Level 2, Building 200
1100 Nudgee Road Banyo, QLD 4014
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