Visual Literacy in Teaching and Learning.docx

Visual Literacy in Teaching and Learning.docx

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VisualLiteracyinTeachingandLearning

VisualLiteracyinTeachingandLearning:

ALiteraturePerspective

SuzanneStokes

TroyStateUniversity

Abstract

Researchreportedineducationalliteraturesuggeststhatusingvisualsinteachingresultsinagreaterdegreeoflearning.Thebasicpremiseofthisbodyofresearchistheconceptofvisualliteracy,definedastheabilitytointerpretimagesaswellastogenerateimagesforcommunicatingideasandconcepts.Thispaperprovidesanintroductiontovisualliteracyandincludesareviewofstudiesthatinvestigatetheeffectsofinstructionthatincorporatesvaryingdegreesofvisualcomponentsincludingnovisualsupport,stillvisualaids,andanimatedvisualsequences.Thepurposeofthisliteraturereviewistostimulateinterestinusingvisualenhancementsinteachingandtopromotethedevelopmentoflearners’visualskillsincombinationwiththeirdevelopmentofverbal,reading,andmathematicalskills.

DuringarehearsalofDebussy'sLaMer,Toscaninifoundhimselfunabletodescribetheeffecthehopedtoachievefromaparticularpassage.Afteramoment'sthought,hetookasilkhandkerchieffromhispocketandtossedithighintotheair.Theorchestra,mesmerized,watchedtheslow,gracefuldescentofthesilkensquare.Toscaninismiledwithsatisfactionasitfinallysettledonthefloor.“There,”hesaid,“playitlikethat”（Fadiman,1985,p.548）.

VisualLiteracyfromaHistoricalPerspective

Thepresenceofvisualelementsintoday’steachingandlearningisincreasingastheintegrationofimagesandvisualpresentationswithtextintextbooks,instructionalmanuals,classroompresentations,andcomputerinterfacesbroadens（Benson,1997;Branton,1999;DwyerascitedinKleinman&Dwyer,1999）.Althoughtheeducationalcommunityisembracingvisualenhancementsininstruction,theconnectionofvisualandverbalinformationisevidentthroughouthistory.AccordingtothepoetSimonides,“Wordsaretheimagesofthings”（ascitedinBenson,p.141）;similarly,Aristotlestatedthat,“withoutimage,thinkingisimpossible”（ascitedinBenson,p.141）.Charactersinalphabetsbeganaspictureswithmeaning（West,1997）.Thesesymbolsportrayaman-madelanguagewithnodistinctionbetweenwordsandpictures,justasmusicalnotesconveythelanguageofmusic.Onlyaftertheprintingpresswasinventedwereillustrationsandtypeseparated,withillustrationsoftenfallingbythewayside.Recenthistoryshowsareversalinthisseparationwithgreaterrelianceonvisuallyorientedapproachestoinformationpresentation.Theresultsareleadingtoavisualizationmovementinmoderncomputingwherebycomplexcomputationsarepresentedgraphically,allowingfordeeperinsightsaswellasheightenedabilitiestocommunicatedataandconcepts.Visualizationhelpsmakesenseofdatathatmayhaveseemedpreviouslyunintelligible.LeonardodaVinci,inrecognizingtheimpossibilityofrecordingvolumesofdata,translatedwordsintodrawingsfromdifferentaspects.Ashistoryrepeatsitself,wemayfindthatagreatdealofinformationisbetterpresentedvisuallyratherthanverbally.

Aculture'spredominantmodeofliteracydependsonthetechnologyandmassmediaitembraces（Sinatra,1986）.Ineducation'scontinuingmissionofmeetingtheneedsoflearners,anapparentshiftfromthelong-standingprocessofreading,writing,counting,andtextmemorizationskillsthatmayhavebeenappropriateforthemedievalclerk,aregivingwaytoskillsofanalysisandinnovationthatareconsidereddesirableintoday’smoderncultures（West,1997）.Proficiencywithwordsandnumbersisinsufficientandmustbesupplementedwithadditionalbasicskillsasnewandemergingtechnologiespermeateactivitiesofdailyliving.Viewingchangewithfearandskepticismoftenaccompaniesshiftssuchasthesethatcanrevolutionizesociety.EvenSocratesportrayedthenewtechnologyofthewrittenwordasdangerousanddestructive,artificialandrigid,andunresponsiveandinsensitive.Asmorevisualelementsareincorporatedtoachieveanoptimalbalancebetweenverbalandvisualcuesineducation,interdependencebetweenthetwomodesofthoughtwillbefostered.Kellner（1998）proposesthatmultipleliteraciesarenecessarytomeetthechallengesoftoday'ssociety,literaciesthatincludeprintliteracy,visualliteracy,auralliteracy,medialiteracy,computerliteracy,culturalliteracy,socialliteracy,andecoliteracy.

LearnerDifferences

Learningthroughorderly,sequential,verbal-mathematical,left-hemispheretasksisapatternseenfrequentlyineducation（West,1997）.Thosewhosethoughtprocessesarepredominantlyintheright-hemispherewherevisual-spatialandnonverbalcognitionactivitiesrulefrequentlymayhavedifficultycapitalizingonalearningstylethatisnotcompatiblewiththeirabilities.LiuandGinther（1999,Introductionsection,p.2）definecognitive/learningstyleas“theindividual'sconsistentandcharacteristicpredispositionsofperceiving,remembering,organizing,processing,thinking,andproblemsolving”andnotethatcognitive/learningstyleisanimportantfactorinindividualstudentdifferences.Instructionalmaterialsaswellasteachingstylesshouldbematchedwithcognitivestylesforgreatestlearnerbenefits.However,theextenttowhichindividualsarepolarizedintheirbrain'sabilitiestodealwithverbalandvisualmodesofthoughtisnotfullyunderstood,althoughitisrareforindividualstodealequallyeffectivelyinbothmodes（West）.Mostpeoplehaveatendencytothinkinwordsratherthaninpictures,yettheuseofvisualizationinthinkingappearstobeincreasing.TuckeyandSelvaratnam（ascitedinChanlin,1999）proposethatmostvisualizationskillscanbedevelopedbypractice.Evenso,bothCate（ascitedinChanlin,1997）andRichardson（ascitedinChanlin,1997）emphasizethatstudentswithlimiteddomainknowledgemayregardgraphicsasexcesscomplexitiesandincomprehensibleinformationiftheconnectionswiththeconceptsarenotobvioustothem.Anadditionalvariationinlearnersispresentinthosewhomayhavedifficultywithcomprehendingthespokenorwrittenlanguage,particularlythosewithlanguagebarriers,learningdisabilities,andhearingdisorders（Flattley,1998）.

VisualLiteracyDefined

Wileman（1993）definesvisualliteracyas“theabilityto‘read,’interpret,andunderstandinformationpresentedinpictorialorgraphicimages”（p.114）.Associatedwithvisualliteracyisvisualthinking,describedas“theabilitytoturninformationofalltypesintopictures,graphics,orformsthathelpcommunicatetheinformation”（Wileman,p.114）.Asimilardefinitionforvisualliteracyis“thelearnedabilitytointerpretvisualmessagesaccuratelyandtocreatesuchmessages”（Heinich,Molenda,Russell,&Smaldino,1999,p.64）.TheERICdefinitionofvisualliteracyis“agroupofcompetenciesthatallowshumanstodiscriminateandinterpretthevisibleaction,objects,and/orsymbols,naturalorconstructed,thattheyencounterintheenvironment”（http:

//searcheric.org/）.Robinson（asquotedinSinatra,1986）describesvisualliteracyas“anorganizingforceinpromotingunderstanding,retention,andrecallofsomanyacademicconceptswithwhichstudentsmustcontend”（p.v）.Andlastly,Sinatradefinesvisualliteracyas“theactivereconstructionofpastvisualexperiencewithincomingvisualmessagestoobtainmeaning”（p.5）,withtheemphasisontheactionbythelearnertocreaterecognition.

Theuseandinterpretationofimagesisaspecificlanguageinthesensethatimagesareusedtocommunicatemessagesthatmustbedecodedinordertohavemeaning（Branton,1999;Emery&Flood,1998）.Ifvisualliteracyisregardedasalanguage,thenthereisaneedtoknowhowtocommunicateusingthislanguage,whichincludesbeingalerttovisualmessagesandcriticallyreadingorviewingimagesasthelanguageofthemessages.Visualliteracy,likelanguageliteracy,isculturallyspecificalthoughthereareuniversalsymbolsorvisualimagesthataregloballyunderstood.

VisualLiteracyandInstructionalTechnology

Branton（1999,Abstractsection,p.1）proposesthequestions,“DoestechnologynecessitatetheneedforVisualLiteracyskills?

CanthissametechnologybeusedtoenhanceourVisualLiteracyskills?

”Brantonlinksvisualliteracywithconstructivistlearningthroughtheroleofeachinacquiringknowledgeintheinformationage.TheERICdefinitionofvisualliteracygivenaboveandtheERICdefinitionofconstructivismlearningasa“viewpointinlearningtheorywhichholdsthatindividualsacquireknowledgebybuildingitfrominnatecapabilitiesinteractingwiththeenvironment”（http:

//searcheric.org/）aremergedbyBrantonassheexploresthepossibilitythatthevisualartstaughtinaconstructivistlearningenvironmentcanenhancevisualliteracyskills.Technology,particularlythegraphicaluserinterfaceoftheWorldWideWeb,requiresskillsforreadingandwritingvisuallyinordertoderivemeaningfromwhatisbeingcommunicated.

Twomajorapproacheshavebeensuggestedfordevelopingvisualliteracyskills（Heinichetal.,1999）.Thefirstistohelplearnersreadordecodevisualsthroughpracticinganalysistechniques.Decodinginvolvesinterpretingandcreatingmeaningfromvisualstimuli.Thesecondistohelplearnerswriteorencodevisualsasatoolforcommunication.Studentsdeveloptheirvisualabilitiesthroughuse.Sinatra（1986）comparesthecreationofvisualmessagestowritingwordmessages,inthatvisualmessageshaveacombinationofobjects,space,light,angle,andmoodtosuggestaparticularmessageoreffectjustasthewriteruseswords,sentences,andparagraphstoachieveaparticularstyl