TOWARDS A VOCABULARY FOR VISUAL ANALYSIS: USING PICTURE BOOKS TO DEVELOP VISUAL LITERACY WITH PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/0027-2639/1688Keywords:
multimodal texts, picture books, interpretation, meaning making, visual literacy, principles, tools and actions in visual designAbstract
This article brings together the connectedness between words and images. It discusses the increasing impact of semiotics in the field of children’s literature as well as the way children are thinking and living in the 21st century. The present literacy landscape demands that teachers understand multimodal texts and are able to interpret and teach these texts. A central aim of psychology and education is to develop an understanding of how children learn and how to present teaching materials in ways to help children learn. Using visual material does not mean that all visually composed teaching materials will necessarily lead to understanding. Visual literacy skills must be taught, especially in diverse environments where every child brings to the class his/her own cultural experiences. Using picture books with diverse beginner readers needs clear and specific principles to be able to critically interpret the interaction between text and images. The article explores the integration of text and images through Preller’s picture book Babalela (2000), illustrated by Andries and Erica Maritz. To explore visual literacy skills, Lohr’s (2008) principles, actions and tools (PAT) design framework will be used to analyse the picture book in order to understand the visual sign system and how the visual and the written text interact to create meaning. This knowledge will enable pre-service teachers and in-service teachers to build a vocabulary for visual analysis and to develop critical reading skills, ‘which is essential for any sort of critical thinking in the 21st century’ (Burmark 2002:v).
Metrics
References
Arizpe, E & Styles, M. 2003. Children reading pictures. London: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203005156
Arizpe, E & Styles, M. 2008. A critical review of research into children’s responses to multimodal texts, in Research on teaching literacy through the communicative and visual arts, vol. 1, ed.
J Flood, S Brice Heath & D Lapp. London: Lawrence Erlbaum: 363–374.
Burmark, L. 2002. Visual literacy. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development.
Callow, J. 2008. Show me: principles for assessing students’ visual literacy. The Reading Teacher DOI: https://doi.org/10.1598/RT.61.8.3
(8):616–626.
Colledge, M. 2005. Baby Bear or Mrs Bear? Young English Bengali-speaking children’s responses to narrative picture books at school. Literacy 39:24–30. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-4350.2005.00394.x
Commeyras, M & Inyega, HN. 2007. An integrative review of teaching reading in Kenyan primary schools. Reading Research Quarterly 42(2):258–281. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1598/RRQ.42.2.3
Connors, SP. 2011. Toward a shared vocabulary for visual analysis: an analytic toolkit for deconstructing the visual design of graphic novels. Journal of Visual Literacy 31(1):71–92. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/23796529.2012.11674695
Coulthard, K. 2003. Image conscious: bilingual readers responding to visual texts. London:
LcaS.
Doonan, J. 1993. Looking at pictures in picturebooks. Stroud: Thimble Press.
Fellowes, J & Oakley, G. 2012. Language, literacy and early childhood education. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Genette, G. 1997. Paratexts: thresholds of interpretation. Translated by JE Lewin. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Gregory, E. 1994. Negotiation as a critical factor in learning to read in a second language, in
Researching language and literacy in social context. Clevedon: Open University Press: 46–
Hibbert, L & Crous, M. 2011. Selecting literature for beginner readers in South Africa. Per DOI: https://doi.org/10.5785/27-2-110
Linguam 27(2):99–110.
Johnson, D. 2009. The joy of children’s literature. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Kiefer, B. 1995. The potential of picturebooks: from visual literacy to aesthetic understanding.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Merrill.
Kiefer, B. 2008. Reading the art of the picturebook, in Research on teaching literacy through the communicative and visual arts, vol. 2, ed. J Flood, S Brice Heath & D Lapp. London:
Lawrence Erlbaum: 375–380.
Kress, G & Van Leewen, T. 2001. Multimodal discourse: the modes and media of contemporary communication. London: Arnold.
Lapp, D, Moss, B & Rowsell, J. 2012. Envisioning new literacies through a lens of teaching and learning. The Reading Teacher 65(6):367–377. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/TRTR.01055
Lohr, L. 2008. Creating graphics for learning and performance: lessons in visual literacy. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Martens, P, Martens, R, Doyle, MH, Loomis, J & Aghalarov, S. 2012. Learning from picturebooks.
The Reading Teacher 66(4):285–294.
Martinez, M & Harmon, JM. 2012. Picture/text relationships: an investigation of literary elements in picturebooks. Literacy Research and Instruction 51(4):323–343. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19388071.2012.695856
Moebius, W. 1986. Introduction to picturebook codes. Word and Image 2(2):141–158. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02666286.1986.10435598
Nikolajeva, M. 2004. Verbal and visual literacy: the role of picturebooks in the reading experience of young children, in Handbook of early childhood literacy, ed. N Hall, J Larson & J Marsh. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781848608207.n20
London: Sage: 236–243.
Nikolajeva, M & Scott, C. 2000. The dynamics of picturebook communication. Children’s
Literature in Education 31(4):225–239.
Nikolajeva, M & Scott, C. 2001. How picturebooks work. New York: Garland.
Nobelman, P. 1988. Words about pictures: the narrative art of children’s picturebooks. Athens,
GA: University of Georgia Press.
Norton, DE. 2011. Through the eyes of a child. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
O’Neil, KE. 2011. Reading pictures. The Reading Teacher 65(3):214–223. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/TRTR.01026
Pantaleo, S. 2003. ‘Reading’ young children’s visual texts. Early Childhood Research & Practice
(1).
Peterson, BL. 2003. Design basics for creative results. Cincinnati, OH: How Design Books.
Preller, M. 2000. Babalela. Pretoria: LAPA.
Preller, M. 2012. Extended databases, e-mail to author, 27 May.
Prior, LA, Willson, A & Martinez, M. 2012. Picture this. The Reading Teacher 66(3):195–206. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/TRTR.01098
Sipe, LR. 1998. How picturebooks work: a semiotically frames theory of text-picture relationships.
Children’s Literature in Education 29:97–108.
Sipe, LR. 2001. Picturebooks as aesthetic objects. Literacy Teaching and Learning 6(1):23–42. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1321037
Sipe, LR. 2008. Learning from illustrations in picturebooks, in Teaching visual literacy using comic books, graphic novels, anime, cartoons, and more to develop comprehension and thinking skills, ed. N Frey & D Fisher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press: 131–148.
Sipe, LR & McGuire, CE. 2006. Picturebook endpapers: resources for literary and aesthetic interpretation. Children’s Literature in Education 37:291–304. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-006-9007-3
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
