Vol. 3(2)(2015): 139-159 e-ISSN: 2334-9050 139 Belinda Crawford Camiciottoli* Department of Philology, Literature and Linguistics University of Pisa, Italy belinda.crawford@unipi.it Veronica Bonsignori** Language Centre University of Pisa, Italy bonsignori@cli.unipi.it THE PISA AUDIOVISUAL CORPUS PROJECT: A MULTIMODAL APPROACH TO ESP RESEARCH AND TEACHING Abstract This paper presents an ongoing project sponsored by the University of Pisa Language Centre to compile an audiovisual corpus of specialized types of discourse of particular relevance to ESP learners in higher education. The first phase of the project focuses on collecting digitally available video clips that encode specialized language in a range of genres along an ‘authentic’ to ‘fictional’ continuum. The video clips will be analyzed from a multimodal perspective to determine how various semiotic resources work together to construct meaning. They will then be utilized in the ESP classroom to increase learners’ awareness of the key contribution of different modes in specialized communication. We present some exploratory multimodal analyses performed on video clips that encode instances of political discourse across two different genres on the extreme poles of the continuum: a fictional political drama film and an authentic political science lecture. Key words multimodality, political discourse, ELAN, gestures, academic lectures, films. * Corresponding address: Belinda Crawford Camiciottoli, Dipartimento di Filologia, Letteratura e Linguistica, Università di Pisa, Via Santa Maria, 67, 56126 Pisa – PI (Italy). ** The research was carried out by both authors together. Belinda Crawford Camiciottoli wrote sections 1., 2., 2.1., 2.2., 3. and 3.2. Veronica Bonsignori wrote the abstract and sections 3.1 and 4.