Talking about visual texts with students

Callow, J. (2003). Talking about visual texts with students. Reading Online, 6(8), 1-16.

Background

Research suggests that students need access to a metalanguage in order to explain their own visual designs and to develop deeper and more critical understandings about how visual texts in general are created.

Aims

The study investigated what metalanguage, if any, students used when talking about visual aspects of their work. It was part of a larger research project designed to investigate new types of literacies and learning environments in classroom contexts.

Sample

The participants included two teachers, each working with 25 Year 6 (11-year-old) students in an Australian classroom. The teachers introduced the students to the use of software to create multimedia presentations.

Method

Data included researcher field notes of lesson observations, discussion with the teachers, students’ work samples, and group interviews with students.

Findings

From the group interviews with the students, it was found that their knowledge of multimodal and visual texts was still developing and that they required scaffolding and further support. The students depended heavily on the teachers’ set criteria to create their final products. However, they showed an intuitive, though generally unarticulated, understanding of the main elements required in their layouts. For example, even without being cognizant of specific metalanguage to describe their work, they were able to justify the choices they made for their presentations with logical and reasoned responses. They preferred bigger images, as revealed by the salience of such images in their designs. They displayed familiarity with and confidence in their technical use of the program. They were also aware that there were similarities and differences between computer screens and books, in terms of structure, layout, and language choices.

Implications

While it is encouraging to see some students cognizant of more complex features of visual design, the author suggested that this initial instinctive knowledge need to be taught to all students. For instance, using a PowerPoint slide, the teacher can demonstrate how particular features might be made more salient by changing the size or the elements used in it in front of the class. Students need to understand not only the technical skills in creating text, image, and colour but how these facets work to create meaning. The challenge lies in scaffolding the intuitive visual literacy knowledge that students demonstrate initially.

Original article retrieved from Google Scholar.