Why Visual Literacy?

By Author: Jordon
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While many agree that visual literacy should be included in the educational arena, there has been great debate among researchers as to what the term actually encompasses. Visual literacy was originally recognized as the ability for someone to discriminate and interpret the visuals encountered in the environment as fundamental to learning (Debes, 1969). Critics of that original interpretation of visual literacy feel it is too broadly stated, failing to narrow the concept to what visual literacy allows people to do or how symbols work within its context (Avgerinou & Ericson, 1997). During the 1980s and early 1990s, three major categories emerged to Cartier Pasha Replica refer to visual literacy: human abilities, the promotion of ideas, and teaching strategies (Avgerinou & Ericson, 1997). With these three categories in mind, perhaps the best definition for visual literacy is a simple one, such as the one Braden and Hortin (1982) proposed: "Visual literacy is the ability to understand and use images, including the ability to think, learn and express oneself in terms of images" (p. ...
... 38).

Because using visuals is a powerful instructional tool, and because students receive information in a variety of formats, literacy must be expanded beyond traditional reading and writing to include the visual arts as one of the ways in which we communicate (Flood & Lapp, 1997/1998). According to Flood and Lapp (1997/1998), the best reason most teachers give for not including visual arts within the classroom is their fear that it would take time away from traditional reading and writing skills. Their view, while legitimate, denies students the experience of the layered information in the real world and reflects the unsupported view that traditional literacy is the only literacy. This article seeks to explore the issues encompassing visual literacies as well as to provide ideas for teachers on how to begin working with them in the classroom.

Including visualization in the classroom cannot be a one-shot activity. Rather, it must be woven into the regular classroom curriculum. Following Eisner's (1992) philosophy that imagination and reading ability are closely interwoven, it is important to understand the diverse ways in which students imagine or visualize. Instantaneously, students can receive imagery and information from television shows and movies, cartoons, websites, and advertisements. Helping students to understand the diversity of print and non-print texts as well as the visual connections that can be made between them is a practical way to connect the concrete and abstract thinking of students who struggle to make meaning from text. While many students automatically interpret print text into nonpoint visual images, some students struggle with making the leap from words to images.

Visualization—the ability to build mental pictures or images while reading—partnered with a reader's prior background knowledge and level of engagement in the reading topic greatly affects the reader's understanding of the text (Keene & Zimmermann, 1997). Visualization allows students the ability to become more engaged in their reading and use their imagery to draw conclusions, create interpretations of the text, and recall details and elements from the text (Keene & Zimmermann, 1997). Struggling students' ability to monitor and evaluate their own comprehension is enhanced by mental imagery (Gambrell & Bales, 1986). When a breakdown in comprehension occurs, and a mental image cannot be visualized, students will become aware of the need for a corrective strategy.

Creating visual images or mind movies while one reads is an essential element of engagement with the text, comprehension, and reflection (Wilhelm, 2004). Visualization and the creation of visuals allow Tag Heuer Replica Watches students ways to read, respond, analyze, organize, and represent the learning that is taking place. Visualization strategies (Gambrell & Koskinen, 2002; Keene & Zimmermann, 1997; Wilhelm, 1995) can do the following:
1. Heighten motivation, engagement, and enjoyment of reading
2. Immerse students in rich details of the text
3. Improve literal comprehension of texts
4. Build background knowledge
5. Aid in identifying important details to form inferences, elaborations, and patterns across multiple texts
6. Help in solving spatial and verbal problems
7. Improve a reader's ability to share, critique, and revise what has been learned with others

Through emphasizing and modeling visualization with students, teachers show how effortlessly connections between text and media can be made. Bridging visualization to the world of multiliteracies allows students to compose and explore ideas through "democratic avenues of meaning making" (Wilhelm, 2004, p. 17).