visual literacy essay

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Visual Literacy in Practice: Use of Images in Students’ Academic Work

Krystyna K. Matusiak, Chelsea Heinbach, Anna Harper, and Michael Bovee *

Digital technology has changed the way in which students use visual materials in academic work and has increased the importance of visual literacy skills. This paper reports the findings of a research project examining undergraduate and graduate students’ visual literacy skills and use of images in the context of academic work. The study explored types of visual resources used, the role that images play in academic papers and presentations, and the ways students select, evaluate, and process images. The findings of the study indicate that students lack skills in selecting, evaluating, and using images. Students use a range of visual resources in their presentations but rarely use images in papers.

Introduction

“Because we’re flooded with images and they’re so available. You can copy and paste them in a second, you can throw it on your Facebook wall and nobody’s stopping you” (Participant M, Interview).

Digital technology has facilitated an unprecedented growth of information and increased the availability of digital images and other nontextual formats. The web, social media, and mobile technology have contributed to the ease of viewing and sharing images on a global scale. This digital transformation is not only associated with the proliferation of information resources, but also with the increasing importance of the image as a mode of knowledge representation. 1 Image users are no longer only viewers, but are also creators of and active contributors to visual communication. These factors have dramatically changed the ways in which students use information resources and present their academic work. In the academic environment, which has traditionally been dominated by text, the influx of visual resources has sparked a debate about the place of the image in university education. 2 James Elkins calls for images to become central to student education and for literacy that “can be achieved through images as well as texts and numbers.” 3

Visual literacy emerges as a set of essential competencies for contemporary learners. 4 Being surrounded by visual media does not necessarily mean that students know how to find appropriate images, understand their meaning and cultural context, or integrate them into academic work. Many scholars recognize visual literacy as an important but often overlooked issue in higher education and advocate for teaching it alongside critical reading and other literacies. 5 The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) proposed a set of standards for visual literacy competency for higher education. 6 The intent of this paper is to shift attention to the world of practice and to report students’ perspectives on the use of images in academic work. Its authors report the findings of an empirical study that investigated visual literacy skills in the context of use. The purpose of this research is to contribute qualitative data to the visual literacy discourse and to inform instruction in higher education.

Literature Review

The concept of visual literacy has been discussed in research literature since the late 1960s. The early definitions of visual literacy were formulated in the predigital era and coexisted with other literacy types, though they often remained on the margins of the discourse about literacy in higher education. The early understanding of visual literacy often overlapped with media literacy and referred to competencies in using and interpreting a variety of visual resources, including still images, photography, film, video, and mass media. 7 According to Paul Messaris, visual literacy refers to the comprehension of any type of visual media, the awareness of visual manipulation, and aesthetic appreciation. 8

The emphasis of early definitions was placed on visual cognition and perception, highlighting the processes involved in understanding and interpreting resources constructed in the visual mode. 9 Skills in creating or manipulating images were generally not discussed, since visual design was considered a domain of artists and craftsmen. David Considine was an exception in this regard. One of the few scholars that included proficiencies in creating images in his definition, Considine emphasized that “visually literate students should be able to produce and interpret visual messages.” 10

The shift toward understanding visual literacy as a multidimensional concept has been evident in research literature since late 2000s, 11 at which point certain authors acknowledged a transformative impact of digital technology that not only increased the relevance of visual literacy, but also connected it to image production and communication tools. Anne Morgan Spalter and Andries van Dam proposed a definition of digital visual literacy that encompasses abilities in evaluating and interpreting images as well as skills in producing effective visual communications. 12 In the Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, visual literacy is defined as “a set of abilities that enables an individual to effectively find, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media.” 13 This multifaceted definition was used in the current study to guide research design and to investigate students’ abilities in understanding visual content as well as their skills in selecting, evaluating, and using images.

The Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education provide a foundation for teaching visual literacy at the college level. The standards identify seven areas of competencies for visually literate individuals, including needs assessment and skills in finding, interpreting, evaluating, and using images. Design and creation of meaningful images and visual media features prominently as a separate standard. The framework also outlines a standard for the understanding of ethical, legal, and social issues surrounding image creation and use. 14 The ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards are based on the Information Literacy Competency Standards , originally approved in 2000 and rescinded by the ACRL Board of Directors in 2016. 15 The new Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (Framework) , approved in 2016, reflects the changing higher education environment and emphasizes a greater role of students in creating knowledge. 16

Research on visual literacy in higher education emphasizes the need to teach visual literacy across disciplines and embed it into core curricula. 17 In a recent publication, Michelle D. Ervine notes that, despite many efforts, higher education has not fully embraced visual literacy. She emphasizes the importance of integrating visual literacy into instructional design programs. 18 Barbara Blummer identifies five categories of strategies for teaching visual literacy at academic institutions and includes a variety of instructional scaffolds aimed at supporting students in developing visual literacy skills. 19 Case studies provide insight into faculty instructional designs and include examples of embedded activities or seminars designed specifically to develop students’ visual literacy skills. 20 Joan E. Beaudoin discusses teaching skills in interpreting and analyzing historical images to students in the library and information science (LIS) program. 21

Academic libraries are involved in promoting and teaching visual literacy through a variety of strategies, from one-shot library sessions to course-integrated instruction. Visual literacy intersects with information literacy, which has traditionally emphasized skills in selecting and evaluating resources. Benjamin R. Harris advocates for the integration of visual literacy and information literacy instruction and offers a number of practical suggestions for incorporating visual literacy into library sessions. 22 Molly J. Schoen discusses a range of skills that can be taught in one-shot library instruction sessions, such as finding trustworthy sources, evaluating the content and quality of images, examining manipulated images, understanding the implications of copyright, storing digital images, and managing citations. 23

Research evaluating students’ visual literacy skills is still limited, though some classroom case studies include assessment components. 24 Two empirical studies examine the visual literacy of college students while also conceptualizing the students as “digital natives,” a popular notion originally proposed by Marc Prensky. The “digital natives” argument posits that a younger generation of students—those who grew up with digital technology—have strong digital skills and prefer images over text. 25 Eva Brumberger examined this assumption by conducting a survey of college students and testing their skills in interpreting images and in producing visual communications. She found students’ visual literacy inadequate and concluded that “exposure to visual information does not necessarily lead to visual literacy.” 26 Richard Emanuel and Siu Challons-Lipton took another look at visual skills of digital natives in a research survey and found that students lack skills in identifying images. 27

The research examining the use of digital images in an academic environment is relatively new and often multidisciplinary. Researchers in the LIS field tend to focus on students’ image-seeking behavior rather than image use. 28 Studies have found that students begin their searches on Google Image or Web, conduct short queries, and rarely check the originating sites of images. 29 In Youngok Choi’s study, 87 percent of students used Google to locate images, and only 12.7 percent connected to a specific site. Sixty percent of the students in the sample reported conducting image search for academic tasks, such as designing a PowerPoint presentation or writing a report. 30 The participants considered several evaluation criteria, with reliability identified as a critical relevance factor in determining image usefulness. 31

Some research projects investigate faculty use of images for teaching purposes. These studies note the increasing availability of images on college campuses and faculty interest in teaching with visual materials. 32 The faculty surveyed in David Green’s study reported using images in 83 percent of courses. 33 Mary Kandiuk and Aaron Lupton examined instruction and note that faculty use more varied sources of images, though they also rely quite heavily on Google Images search. 34 Empirical studies exploring image and multimedia use in the classroom environment indicate that visual resources improve students’ engagement and enhance student learning through multiple sensory modalities. 35

There is, however, limited research on students’ use of images and visual literacy skills and competencies. This study builds on the prior research but also expands it beyond the image-seeking phase and focuses on visual literacy skills in the context of image use in academic papers and presentations.

Methodology

The purpose of this study was to examine university students’ visual literacy skills and use of images in the context of actual academic work. The study aimed to explore the types of visual resources being used in students’ academic papers and presentations and the ways in which students select, evaluate, and process images. The following questions guided the research inquiry:

RQ1: What types of visual resources do students use and what role do these resources play in their academic work and learning process?

RQ2: What are students’ skills and competencies in analyzing and evaluating images and their sources? What is students’ understanding of ethical and legal issues surrounding the use of images?

RQ3: What are students’ information practices in regard to selecting, creating, organizing, and processing of visual resources used in their academic work?

This study was exploratory in nature and adopted a Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) approach for data collection and analysis. CQR is a method developed in the field of psychology and designed to address some limitations of qualitative research, such as the subjectivity in collecting and analyzing data by a solo researcher. 36 CQR uses multiple researchers, emphasizes rigor in data analysis, and strives for reaching consensus between research team members in analyzing and interpreting data. 37

The research team for this study consisted of four members and included a LIS faculty member, two academic librarians, and a LIS graduate student. The principal investigator consulted with researchers in counseling psychology who used CQR in their studies, and the team examined several publications that described the implementation of the method. 38

To explore potential biases that may affect interpretation of the data, all team members discussed their background, experiences with image use in academic work, and perceptions about students’ information practices. One of the researchers acknowledged that her background in art history influenced the value she placed on visual materials as information sources. The principal investigator discussed her prior research on the use of visual resources and her beliefs about the role of images in student learning. Another researcher noted that her experiences as a recent graduate student and as a teacher of a credit-bearing information literacy class influenced her beliefs about students’ practices in image use. The fourth researcher recognized that, as a currently enrolled graduate student, much of his perspective on the topic was informed by his personal experience in using images in academic papers and presentations.

Data Collection

For the purpose of this study, the researchers collected students’ papers and presentations and conducted interviews with 15 undergraduate and graduate students. Participants were selected for interviews upon submitting samples of their academic work with images. Data were collected between April and June 2016. The data collection techniques included:

• Questionnaires to gather demographic data and information about participants’ understanding of visual literacy (see appendix A).
• Visual evidence: student papers and presentations with images were collected for discussions during interviews and for further content analysis. Four papers and 28 PowerPoint presentations were collected for this study.
• Interviews provided qualitative data on students’ needs, image-seeking behavior, and visual literacy skills and competencies. A semistructured protocol was used during the interviews (see appendix B). The interviews were conducted in person with two members of the research team present. Interviews were recorded and transcribed.

The study employed a purposeful sampling strategy. It was conducted at a private, midsized university in the United States with a large graduate student population. Participants were recruited with flyers posted around campus. Submitting a paper or a presentation with images was a requirement to participate in the study. The sample size consisted of 15 participants, including seven undergraduate and eight graduate students. Ten participants identified themselves as female and five as male. Their age ranged from 18 to 31. They represented a cross section of programs in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Table 1 provides a summary of the participants’ backgrounds.

Data Analysis

This study employed Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) for data analysis. The CQR approach requires a team effort and it includes three steps:

• Coding data into domains for each participant/case.
• Constructing core concepts and writing summaries for each participant/case within the domain.
• Developing categories and conducting cross case-analysis. 39

Three members of the research team were actively involved in coding the data, while the fourth member served as an auditor who reviewed the data during different stages of coding and analysis. To address the power imbalance inherent in collaborative work and to avoid “groupthink,” the researchers worked on coding of the domains independently except for the first few interviews, which were used to agree on the specific meanings of each code using examples from the transcripts. Once practices for coding were agreed upon, the team coded independently and then met regularly to discuss the domains, reach agreement, and refine the codes.

Domains represent primary topics that are developed based on questions, interview protocol, and themes that emerge from data. 40 As the first coding step in this study, a preliminary list of domains was created based on the primary interview questions and a review of student papers and presentations. The first few interviews were coded during team meetings, and the initial list was revised. Next, all interviews were coded systematically using the established domain list. The following domains were identified in this study:

• Designing presentations and papers
• Ethical and legal aspects of image use
• Image selection and evaluation
• Image use in papers and presentations
• Motivation to use images
• Practices in processing images
• Prior experience studying or working with images
• Role of images

During the second step of CQR—when the summaries and core ideas were constructed—each researcher read the data coded by domain for each participant and wrote summaries independently. The intention of creating summaries was to capture the essence of the participants’ statements and behaviors. 41 The summaries then were reviewed by the team and an auditor. Finally, cross-case analysis was conducted by identifying categories within domains and examining their frequency across all cases. The process of developing core categories involved conceptualizing and organizing the main themes within a domain. Core categories for each domain and cross-case examination were recorded separately in Excel spreadsheets by individual researchers and reviewed by the team. The number of categories per domain ranges from seven in “Practices in processing images” to 13 in “Role of images.” Appendix C provides an example of the core categories identified for the “Role of images” domain.

Following the updated version of CQR, the team used four types of categories in cross-case analysis, including the following:

• General: apply to all cases;
• Typical: apply to at least half of the cases;
• Variant: apply to at least 3 but less than half;
• Rare: apply to 1–3 cases. 42

Analyzing data by categories is a final step in data analysis and allows for identifying patterns and representativeness of themes across all participants. The use of Rare category in this study represents a slight departure from the recommendations of the CQR original authors because of the number of participants, the nature of the study, and additional sources of data. In the updated version of CQR, Hill et al. recommend using the forth category “Rare” for studies involving more than 15 participants. 43 This study was conducted with 15 participants but in a different discipline than psychology, and, unlike most CQR studies, it included rich documentary evidence. In addition to interview data, this study examined students’ papers and presentations in cross-case analysis. The team members decided to report the Rare cases to provide differentiation among categories and to demonstrate student behavior from both ends of the spectrum. The Rare categories captured instances of exceptional literacy practices as well as cases of carelessness. For example, in the domain “Image selection and evaluation,” the categories “Considers source information” and “Ignores source information” were identified as rare but were both important to interpreting student information practices.

In addition, the Rare category allowed the team members to address the issue of extreme cases that stood out and could potentially lead to some bias in interpretation. During the initial interviews and team meetings, students’ misuse of images was emerging as a striking theme. However, upon analyzing the category across cases, we found out that this behavior was not as prevalent as we initially expected.

The results are based on the analysis of three sources of data: questionnaire responses, student papers and presentations, and interviews. The questionnaire responses indicate that participating students received limited instruction in visual literacy. One student in the sample participated in a library workshop where the selection of visual resources was discussed. Seven students mentioned having some classroom instruction in selecting and evaluating images. Nine students reported using image processing software, such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, or iPhoto. Their skills in using the software were mostly self-taught.

Student Understanding of Visual Literacy

This study found no significant difference between undergraduate and graduate students in their understanding of visual literacy. Table 2 presents a selection of students’ answers in response to the question posed in the questionnaire, “What does the phrase ‘visual literacy’ mean to you?”

As the quotes in table 2 demonstrate, students emphasize one aspect of visual literacy related to “reading” images, which involves skills in understanding and interpreting. The abilities in using or producing visual content were rarely mentioned. Two students were not familiar with the concept.

Student Motivation and Image Use in Papers and Presentations

All study participants used images in PowerPoint presentations for class assignments. This finding was identified as a general category (all cases) using the CQR typology. However, use of images in papers was rare. The research team received 28 presentations (in some cases, 2–3 per student), but only four papers with images. In the questionnaire, ten students marked use of images in written assignments, but this claim was not supported by their submissions and cross-case analysis of interview data. In fact, during the interviews, only four students mentioned that they would use images in papers, usually charts and diagrams, copied from scholarly articles. Two of the submitted papers include charts, while the other two feature photographic images and artwork. One of the visually rich papers was prepared for a creative writing class by Participant K, who included personal photographs that he modified with software on his camera (see figure 1). During the interview, Participant K discussed the processes of writing and creating images that iteratively informed and transformed one another to create the final essay, “I didn’t take all these images at the same time with the intention of, like, you know, I’m going to use all these images in this one piece …the images just kind of came together with the piece as I was writing …I guess it’s, like, serendipity, maybe, like, how things line up and then how the images and the text may align.”

The use of images in papers vs. presentations emerged as an interesting dichotomy in the study. Participant E stated in the interview: “I use a lot of images in PowerPoints because I think it’s more effective in presentations, less words, more pictures, and symbols […] As far as papers, I usually don’t include images, just because that’s not what you usually do in an academic setting.” Students view papers as a more formal type of work than presentations and connect this perception to faculty expectations. They don’t feel encouraged to use images in papers because of the lack of instructions from teaching faculty, or they hold implicit or explicit expectations that use of images does not constitute academic work. A few students were concerned that their use of images in papers could be interpreted as “filler,” a way to increase paper length, and adversely impact their grade.

In contrast, students used a range of visual resources in their presentations, including photographic images, icons, symbols, charts, cartoons, and maps. When discussing their motivation to include images in presentations, they mentioned faculty or peer expectations, and in some cases talked about an unspoken and widely shared notion that PowerPoint presentations must have images. Peer expectations were particularly prevalent in group projects. The other motivating factors for including images in presentations include aesthetics and the engaging or even entertaining role of images. Students are motivated to use images to add an aesthetic quality—to make the presentations attractive; to give audiences something to look at; to keep their attention.

Image Selection and Evaluation

The finding that Google Images is a primary source of visual materials for students’ presentations does not come as a surprise. In a few cases, students used scholarly articles, news sites, library databases, digitized resources, museum websites, or followed links on Google Images to find additional images at source websites. A small group of students also included images that they created themselves. Figure 2 demonstrates an example of a slide with a picture taken by a student. Table 3 provides a summary of image sources and indicates their use across cases.

As a rule, students start their search with Google Images. The statement expressed by Participant A, “Typically, I just go straight to Google,” was echoed by many students. Participant M added, “Google’s kind of the best search engine for most everything. For—not looking for science, scholarly articles, not as much—but for images that’s usually my go-to.” Participant F, who represents a rare case in this study, selected images from museum websites not only because of their quality, but also because they are associated with reliable citation information. Students mentioned several selection criteria, with image quality and representativeness of the topic emerging as typical categories. Other criteria included emotional response to image, image size, accuracy, audience, and ease of citation.

Typically, students copy and paste images that they find on Google Images without looking at originating sites or verifying sources. Most don’t follow links, read the text surrounding the image, or check permissions. Participant B described this common behavior: “I typically don’t dig too much in…like you can click ‘visit page’ if you want in Google images to see…but usually I don’t even do that, I just take the image before checking out where it came from exactly.” In some cases, students misused images or used them outside their cultural and historical context, primarily because they did not check the source sites. Participant G, who mentioned checking originating sites, was an exception in the study. She explained: “Sometimes I’ll read the article and see what it’s about. I’m always, like, wary that I’ll, like, use an image and not know its source and it will be, like, that’s not what it was saying.”

Practices in Processing Images and Designing Presentations

Students typically acquired images by copying and pasting them into a paper or presentation. A smaller number of students downloaded images to their computer and processed them using image-editing software. The processing activities usually involved resizing or adding text. In rare cases, students copied only a portion of an image or cut parts that they found relevant. Occasionally, they altered an image’s visual content by changing its background or colors. Although those instances were rare, they point to a disturbing finding that students disregard the integrity of an image as an information resource. On the other hand, those who had previous experience creating original images or studying art tended to be more careful in their processing practices. They copied entire images and did not change their visual content. Student image processing practices had a rather temporary, fleeting character. Students rarely stored images or reused them in other projects.

Students typically started the process of designing PowerPoint presentations with a textual outline, listed bullet points or fragments of text, and added images at the end. A smaller group of students discussed balancing images and text in designing presentations, and only few saw images as central to the presentation of their ideas. A typical slide had some text and an image to one side (see figure 3). Although students appreciate the role of images in conveying information or making content more accessible, they still view images as secondary. Participant O expressed this common theme: “I see the text as more important than the pictures because that’s the main focus of my presentation and the pictures act as supplements.”

Ethical and Legal Aspects of Image Use

The lack of citations or captions for the images used in PowerPoint presentations emerged as a major theme in this study, which indicates how difficult this aspect of visual literacy is for students. Only two students in the sample provided source information for images in their presentations. One of the students majored in art history and was accustomed to it because of the standard practice in her discipline. The second student included source information because her professor required it. However, thirteen students provided no citations whatsoever for images in presentations. There was also a certain discrepancy between student perceptions and practice. Five students stated during the interviews that they provided source information, but content analysis of their presentations proved otherwise. Other students were quite open about their lack of concern for credits and copyright, like Participant A, who said, “I don’t care where it’s coming from, who took it, any of that stuff.”

Students in this study said that they did not check source websites and did not cite images in presentations primarily because there is no requirement to do so from teaching faculty. Student H commented, “It’s not really expected. I think that’s kind of what determines student behavior.” However, faculty expectations tend to be different for papers. Students would include source information for figures in papers due to faculty requirements. Other reasons for not citing images include student perceptions of classroom presentations as informal and of images as not as important as text. Student O says, “I guess that’s how I think about images, like as a supplementary role, and so I don’t think that they should—I guess internally I don’t think them valuable enough to cite.”

In some extreme cases, students even used images with clear copyright restrictions, as evidenced by Participant I: “Sometimes, the people who own it will put a watermark on it, I’ll find a picture that I can work around that and I’ll cut a section that I can use.” Participant I made a distinction between text and images, stating that he would provide a reference for quoted text but not for images in presentations. In addition, students mentioned challenges in judging image authorship and intellectual property rights online as barriers to providing source information. Two students even talked about their perception of images as objects without rights, as expressed by Participant M: “I think people have come to expect that images are public property and that they’re not, in fact, somebody’s property that requires permission.”

This study shows that, despite living in a visually rich world, students are not experts in using images and require assistance developing skills in selecting, evaluating, and interpreting visual materials for academic work. Frequent interactions with images in online environments do not automatically translate into better visual literacy skills; in some cases, it may even lead to disregard of images as information resources. The findings of this study confirm prior research that questioned the generalizations about “digital natives” as somehow inherently adept in visual literacy. 44

The use of images by participants in this study was highly influenced by peer and faculty expectations, as specified in course syllabi and assignment instructions. Visual content was shown to be present in the classroom, but almost exclusively in PowerPoint presentations. For papers, students followed faculty’s instructions and preference for textual representation. Benjamin Harris’ apt description from more than a decade ago, “the default one-inch margined text in 12-point font reigns supreme in student-produced work,” 45 still rings true today. In this study, even when teaching faculty had not actively discouraged image use in papers, students intuited that it would be frowned upon. The lack of faculty encouragement, student perceptions of text as a more valuable scholarly representation, and limited instruction in how to use images in academic work support arguments that higher education has not embraced visual literacy. 46 One can further argue that higher education is slow to change and that academia rewards more traditional modes of scholarly work, leading to a continued reliance on text-heavy assignments. Although this study found limited data on a broader acceptance of images as information resources, it’s important to acknowledge that practices may differ across academic disciplines and contexts.

Furthermore, the results of this study echo findings from prior research on student image-seeking behavior. 47 Similar patterns include using Google as a primary source and limited efforts in checking originating sites. This study, however, found that students rarely considered reliability when choosing images, which contrasts with the results of Youngok Choi’s survey. 48 This discrepancy is perhaps due to students’ perceptions of credibility as an important criterion and their actual information behavior wherein they do not necessarily act on their beliefs. The use of Google is a dominant pattern in student image-seeking behavior. As Molly J. Schoen emphasizes, the answer is not to condemn students for using such sources, but to teach them to use the resources they are already using with a critical eye and attention to context. 49

The examination of the findings in light of the ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education points to a gap not only in student understanding of visual literacy, but also in competencies for locating and using images in academic work. Students’ narrow understanding of visual literacy does not align with the multidimensional concept discussed in the ACRL foundational document. 50 Moreover, students’ practices in selecting, evaluating, interpreting, and using images do not meet most of the standards. Although the purpose of this study was not to measure students’ behavior against the standards, upon analyzing the results this study found limited competencies in relation to Standard Two, Three, Four, and Seven. For example, in image-seeking practices, students typically selected the first usable result they encountered; it is unlikely that they were choosing the “most appropriate image sources” (Standard Two). 51 In some cases, students used the images outside the cultural context and did not identify “information relevant to an image’s meaning” (Standard Three). 52 As discussed before, students typically did not consider reliability and did not evaluate their sources when selecting images (Standard Four). Standard Seven relates to ethical and legal aspects of image use, an area in which study participants’ incompetence was particularly apparent. While students are instructed how to reference articles and books, there is almost no expectation or direction from faculty on how to choose, use, and cite visual resources. This finding emphasizes the importance of faculty in shaping students’ behavior and implies that librarians should be working closely with faculty to promote the importance of visual literacy skills.

The findings of this study point to the importance of teaching visual literacy concepts and competencies not only through library instruction sessions, but also in the context of practical workshops focused on designing PowerPoint presentations, creating infographics, and processing images. This recommendation is based on the cross-case analysis that found the relationship between students’ prior experience in working with images and visual literacy skills; students who had experience creating images through photography or other forms of art tended to have a deeper understanding of visual literacy concepts and paid more attention to image integrity. Librarians can also work to raise the profile of visual literacy skills by partnering with faculty to create research projects that build competency in the use of visual material.

Moreover, the ACRL Framework encourages creativity and offers an opportunity to simultaneously teach visual literacy, information literacy, and transferrable design skills through information creation. 53 Visual resources offer a way to explore Information Creation as a Process. Students can conduct research with the goal of creating images or infographics for final projects. A project like this explores Knowledge Practice Eight in the “Information Creation Frame”: wherein learners will develop, in their own creation processes, an understanding that their choices impact the purposes for which the information product will be used and the message it conveys. This kind of project also lends itself to a more robust understanding of the labor included in creating digital visual content, which implicitly encourages appreciation of visual resources. 54 This serves as only one example of how librarians can use the ACRL Framework to explore ways of embedding visual literacy skills more fully into curricula.

By providing an adaptable model, the ACRL Framework allows us to approach visual literacy as a core component of information literacy rather than a separate set of competencies. As discussed in the literature, visual literacy concepts need to be integrated into information literacy instruction and embedded into core curricula. 55 The findings of this study support this position. Based on the consensual interpretation of the findings, the authors of this study believe that the best way to teach visual literacy skills is with a holistic, multifaceted approach incorporating classroom activities, workshops, and a variety of library instruction sessions as an inextricable part of information literacy. Reaching faculty requires a “train the trainer” approach, which can be accomplished by collaborating with other units on campus, such as Teaching and Learning offices, graphic design, and instructional design departments.

Study Limitations

The qualitative approach selected for this study presents limitations to interpretations and generalization of results. Inability to generalize qualitative findings to larger populations is an acknowledged limitation of qualitative research. 56 However, a qualitative study conducted in a specific context provides in-depth information on actual practices of participants and reveals patterns in information behavior that can inform practice in LIS, especially the design of visual literacy instruction. The CQR methodology adopted for this study offers an opportunity for presenting multiple perspectives and promotes in-depth analysis of findings across cases. Data analysis using the CQR approach requires a team effort and demands a considerable commitment from the researchers. The methodology, developed in the field of psychology, focuses exclusively on interview data and is challenging to use with other types of empirical evidence. Further research could examine image use behavior of faculty, particularly regarding faculty practices in image attribution in slide files, faculty engagement in providing visual literacy instruction, and the impact of faculty actively encouraging students to incorporate images in papers. In addition, research on student behavior could be extended beyond academia to explore student interaction with images in the social media environment and the impact of online behavior on academic practices.

This qualitative study aimed to explore multiple aspects of visual literacy and students’ skills in using visual resources for academic work. The findings of this study indicate that undergraduate and graduate students lack basic visual literacy skills in selecting, evaluating, and using images. This study also points out that images play a secondary role in academic culture and lack the same expectations from faculty regarding citations. Visual resources are used within the domain of informal classroom presentations but are rarely used in papers. James Elkins’ call for presence of images in university education from a decade ago has thus been fulfilled—but only to a certain extent. 57 There is a real need for intensifying the efforts in visual literacy education, especially given that, within an environment flooded with visual media, students are beginning to view images as transitory objects without authors and rights.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like thank anonymous reviewers who provided constructive and helpful suggestions for improving this article.

1. W.J. Thomas Mitchell, Picture Theory: Essays on Verbal and Visual Representation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 2–15; W.J. Thomas Mitchell, “Visual Literacy or Literary Visualcy?” in Visual literacy , ed. James Elkins (New York: Routledge, 2007), 15–16; Mitchell Stephens, The Rise of the Image, the Fall of the Word (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 11.

2. Ron Bleed, “Visual Literacy in Higher Education,” Educause Learning Initiative 1 (2005): 1–11, available online at https://library.educause.edu/~/media/files/library/2005/1/eli4001-pdf.pdf [accessed 11 July 2017]; James Elkins, “Introduction: The Concept of Visual Literacy, and Its Limitations,” in Visual literacy , ed. James Elkins (New York: Routledge, 2007), 4–8; Paul Felten, “Visual Literacy,” Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 40, no. 6 (2008): 62–63.

3. Elkins, “Introduction: The Concept of Visual Literacy,” 4–5.

4. Denise Hattwig, Kaila Bussert, Ann Medaille, and Joanna Burgess, “Visual Literacy Standards in Higher Education: New Opportunities for Libraries and Student Learning,” portal: Libraries and the Academy 13, no. 1 (2013): 61–62.

5. Bleed, “Visual Literacy in Higher Education,” 7–10; Felten, “Visual Literacy,” 62; Benjamin R. Harris, “Visual Information Literacy via Visual Means: Three Heuristics,” Reference Services Review 34, no. 2 (2006): 213–14; Anne Morgan Spalter and Andries Van Dam, “Digital Visual Literacy,” Theory into Practice 47, no. 2 (2008): 98–101.

6. Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Visual Literacy Standards Task Force, Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (2011), available online at www.ala.org/acrl/standards/visualliteracy [accessed 22 June 2017].

7. Paul Messaris, Visual “Literacy”: Image, Mind, and Reality (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994), 3–21; B.A. Chauvin, “Visual or Media Literacy?” Journal of Visual Literacy 23, no. 2 (2003): 119–28.

8. Messaris, Visual “Literacy,” 3.

9. Maria Avgerinou and John Ericson, “A Review of the Concept of Visual Literacy,” British Journal of Educational Technology 28, no. 4 (1997): 280–91; Anne Bamford, The Visual Literacy White Paper (Sydney, Australia: Adobe Systems, 2003), 1–2.

10. David M. Considine, “Visual Literacy and Children’s Books: An Integrated Approach,” School Library Journal 33, no. 1 (1986): 38.

11. Spalter and Van Dam, “Digital Visual Literacy,” 94–95; Felten, “Visual Literacy,” 61–62; Maria D. Avgerinou, “Re-viewing Visual Literacy in the “Bain d’Images” Era,” TechTrends 53, no. 2 (2009): 29–30; Eva Brumberger, “Visual Literacy and the Digital Native: An Examination of the Millennial Learner,” Journal of Visual Literacy 30, no. 1 (2011): 21; Hattwig et al., “Visual Literacy Standards in Higher Education,” 63.

12. Spalter and Van Dam, “Digital Visual Literacy,” 94–95.

13. ACRL, Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, “Visual Literacy Defined,” para. 1.

14. Ibid.

15. Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL ), Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (2000), available online at https://alair.ala.org/handle/11213/7668 [accessed 21 January 2018].

16. Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL ), Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (Framework) (2016) , available online at www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework [accessed 3 November 2017].

17. Felten, “Visual Literacy,” 61–62; Deandra Little, Peter Felten, and Chad Berry, “Liberal Education in a Visual World,” Liberal Education 96, no. 2 (2010): 46–49; Amanda Milbourn, “A Big Picture Approach: Using Embedded Librarianship to Proactively Address the Need for Visual Literacy Instruction in Higher Education,” Art Documentation 32, no. 2 (2013): 280–83; Molly J. Schoen, “Teaching Visual Literacy Skills in a One-Shot Session,” VRA Bulletin 41, no. 1 (2015): 2.

18. Michelle D. Ervine, “Visual Literacy in Instructional Design Programs,” Journal of Visual Literacy 35, no. 2 (2016): 104–13.

19. Barbara Blummer, “Some Visual Literacy Initiatives in Academic Institutions: A Literature Review from 1999 to the Present,” Journal of Visual Literacy 34, no. 1 (2015): 6–16.

20. Justine C. Bell, “Visual Literacy Skills of Students in College-Level Biology: Learning Outcomes Following Digital or Hand-Drawing Activities,” Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 5, no. 1 (2012): 1–13; Michael S. Palmer, “Learning to See the Infinite: Teaching Visual Literacy in a First‐Year Seminar Course,” New Directions for Teaching and Learning , no. 141 (Spring 2015): 19–29; Tammy Ravas and Megan Stark, “Pulitzer-Prize-Winning Photographs and Visual Literacy at The University of Montana: A Case Study,” Art Documentation 31, no. 1 (2012): 34–44.

21. Joan E. Beaudoin, “Describing Images: A Case Study of Visual Literacy among Library and Information Science Students,” College & Research Libraries 77, no. 3 (2016): 379–88.

22. Harris, “Visual Information Literacy via Visual Means,” 214–19; Benjamin R. Harris, “Blurring Borders, Visualizing Connections: Aligning Information and Visual Literacy Learning Outcomes,” Reference Services Review 38, 4 (2010): 524–26.

23. Schoen, “Teaching Visual Literacy Skills,” 5–10.

24. Bell, “Visual Literacy Skills of Students in College-Level Biology,” 6–8; Beaudoin, “Describing Images,” 387–88; Palmer, “Learning to See the Infinite,” 28.

25. Marc Prensky, “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1,” On the Horizon 9, no. 5 (2001): 1–6.

26. Brumberger, “Visual Literacy and the Digital Native,” 45.

27. Richard Emanuel and Siu Challons-Lipton, “Visual Literacy and the Digital Native: Another Look,” Journal of Visual Literacy 32, no. 1 (2013): 7–26.

28. Krystyna K. Matusiak, “Studying Information Behavior of Image Users: An Overview of Research Methodology in LIS Literature, 2004–2015,” Library & Information Science Research 39, no. 1 (2017): 58.

29. Laurie M. Bridges and Tiah Edmunson-Morton, “Image-Seeking Preferences Among Undergraduate Novice Researchers,” Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 6, no. 1 (2011): 27–28; JungWon Yoon, “Searching Images in Daily Life,” Library & Information Science Research 33, no. 4 (2011): 271; Youngok Choi, “Effects of Contextual Factors on Image Searching on the Web,” Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 61, no. 10 (2010): 7–9.

30. Choi, “Effects of Contextual Factors on Image Searching on the Web,” 7.

31. Ibid., 9.

32. David Green, Using Digital Images in Teaching and Learning: Perspectives from Liberal Arts Institutions (Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT: National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education, 2006): 11–27; Henry A. Pisciotta et al., “Penn State’s Visual Image User Study,” portal: Libraries and the Academy 5, no. 1 (2005): 33–58; Roger C. Schonfeld, The Visual Resources Environment At Liberal Arts Colleges (Ithaka S+R, 2006), 2–8, doi:10.18665/sr.22338 .

33. Green, Using Digital Images in Teaching and Learning, 10.

34. Mary Kandiuk and Aaron Lupton, “Digital Images in Teaching and Learning at York University: Are the Libraries Meeting the Needs of Faculty Members in Fine Arts?” Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 7, no. 2 (2012): 20–21.

35. Stacy G. Ulbig, “A Picture Is Worth What? Using Visual Images to Enhance Classroom Engagement,” International Journal of Instructional Media 37, no. 2 (2010): 185–201; Krystyna K. Matusiak, “Image and Multimedia Resources in an Academic Environment: A Qualitative Study of Students’ Experiences and Literacy Practices,” Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 64, no. 8 (2013): 1582–86.

36. Clara E. Hill, Barbara J. Thompson, and Elizabeth Nutt Williams, “A Guide to Conducting Consensual Qualitative Research,” Counseling Psychologist 25, no. 4 (1997): 517–72.

37. Clara E. Hill et al., “Consensual Qualitative Research: An Update,” Journal of Counseling Psychology 52, no. 2 (2005): 201–06; Clara E. Hill, “Introduction to Consensual Qualitative Research,” in Consensual Qualitative Research: A Practical Resource for Investigating Social Science Phenomena , ed. Clara E. Hill (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2012), 7–12.

38. Sejal M. Barden and Craig S. Cashwell, “International Immersion in Counselor Education: A Consensual Qualitative Research Investigation.” Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development 42, no. 1 (2014): 42–60; Trisha L. Raque-Bogdan et al., “The Work Life and Career Development of Young Breast Cancer Survivors,” Journal of Counseling Psychology 62, no. 4 (2015): 655–69.

39. Clara E. Hill et al., “Consensual Qualitative Research,” 207–10; Hill, “Introduction to Consensual Qualitative Research,” 13.

40. Barbara J. Thompson, Barbara L. Vivino, and Clara E. Hill, “Coding the Data: Domains and Core Ideas,” in Consensual Qualitative Research: A Practical Resource for Investigating Social Science Phenomena , ed. Clara E. Hill (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2012), 103–06.

41. Ibid., 111.

42. Nicholas Ladany, Barbara J. Thompson, and Clara E. Hill, “Cross-analysis,” in Consensual Qualitative Research: A Practical Resource for Investigating Social Science Phenomena , ed. Clara E. Hill (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2012), 124.

43. Ibid., 124.

44. Brumberger, “Visual Literacy and the Digital Native,” 20; Emanuel and Challons-Lipton, “Visual Literacy and the Digital Native,” 25.

45. Harris, “Visual Information Literacy via Visual Means,” 214.

46. Elkins, “Introduction: The Concept of Visual Literacy,” 8; Ervine, “Visual Literacy in Instructional Design Programs,” 111; Harris, “Visual Information Literacy via Visual Means,” 214.

47. Choi, “Effects of Contextual Factors on Image Searching on the Web,” 7.

48. Ibid.

49. Schoen, “Teaching Visual Literacy Skills,” 10.

50. ACRL, Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education.

51. Ibid.

52. Ibid.

53. ACRL, Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education .

54. Ibid.

55. Felten, “Visual Literacy,” 61–62; Deandra Little, Peter Felten, and Chad Berry, “Liberal Education in a Visual World,” Liberal Education 96, no. 2 (2010): 46–49; Milbourn, “A Big Picture Approach,” 280–83.

56. Michael Quinn Patton, Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods , 4th ed. (Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 2015), 710–13.

57. Elkins, “Introduction: The Concept of Visual Literacy,” 8.

* Krystyna K. Matusiak is an Associate Professor in the Research Methods and Information Science Department of the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver, email: [email protected] ; Chelsea Heinbach is a Teaching & Learning Librarian in the Educational Initiatives Department of Lied Library at the University of Nevada, email: [email protected] ; Anna Harper is Fine and Performing Arts Librarian in the University Library at California State University Sacramento, email: [email protected] ; Michael Bovee is Technical Services Librarian in Reed Library at Fort Lewis College, email: [email protected] . ©2019 Krystyna K. Matusiak, Chelsea Heinbach, Anna Harper, and Michael Bovee, Attribution-NonCommercial ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ ) CC BY-NC.

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• Introduction to Visual Literacy

Introduction

Introduction to Visual Literacy: Introduction

Created by health science librarians.

About this guide

Why visual literacy, what is visual literacy.

• Learning and Visual Literacy
• Visual Brainstorming
• Section Overview
• Visual Design
• Digital Images and Photography
• Digital Video and Storytelling

Guide Overview

This guide addresses the two kinds of visual literacy skills identified by Ann Marie Seward Barry in her book Visual Intelligence 

• Awareness of the logic, emotions, and attitudes suggested in visual messages
• The ability to produce meaningful images for communication to others. 

1. Introduction (what you are reading now) introduces the subject of visual literacy and why it is important, and presents an overview of this guide.

2. Learning and Visual Literacy  looks at  the relationships betweeen literacy, learning, and visual awareness. This helps us understand, critique, and learn from visual information. 

3. Visual Brainstorming is about creating something new. Visual brainstorming is a way of working with ideas visually and integrating them into new structures. 

4. Creating with Visual Media  is about using design techniques and tools for visual communication, including   

• Visual design elements and principles
• Digital images and photography
• Digital video and storytelling

5. Resouces and Links provides resources used in preparing this guide, as well as many additional resources and links, organized by topic. 

The guide follows a general sequence that reflects a creative process: first experiencing and learning from images or others, then using visual thinking to develop new ideas, and finally using tools to create and communicate. 

Some topics are likely to be more relevant to your needs than others. For example, visual brainstorming is unlikely to be necessary before doing a photo shoot (although in some cases it may be useful!). Use whatever is most relevant to you. 

 Welcome!   The following map is an overview of this guide.

In "Visual Literacy: An Institutional Imperative "   (2006), Susan E. Metros and Kristina Woolsey write: >

Academics have a long history of claiming and defending the superiority of verbal over visual for representing knowledge ...  however, in the last decade, digital technologies have broken down the barriers between words and pictures, and many of these same academics are now willing to acknowledge that melding text with image constructs new meaning."

Metros adds that in a freshman class she taught, "although these students were indeed visual learners and traveled seamlessly in a world rich with sight (and sound), they lacked the ability to express themselves visually."

According to the  Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) ,

Today's society is highly visual, and visual imagery is no longer supplemental to other forms of information. New digital technologies have made it possible for almost anyone to create and share visual media. Yet the pervasiveness of images and visual media does not necessarily mean that individuals are able to critically view, use, and produce visual content. Individuals must develop these essential skills in order to engage capably in a visually-oriented society. 

As a first step towards becoming visually literate, we need to become more aware of the images we are exposed to and to reflect on how they affect us.  A second step is in learning to use images (and create new ones) in order to create new knowledge. >

There are many ways of looking at visual literacy. Definitions from educators, designers, photographers, video editors and producers are likely to reflect their own somewhat differing perspectives.

One approach to defining literacies is to identify a set of skills, or standards. A broad set of Visual Literacy Competency Standards for for Higher Education  provided by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) encompasses many aspects of visual literacy.

The ACRL standards are listed below, along with the sections of this guide relevant to each. The standards encompass a wide range of topics, and no single resource can cover all of them in depth. This guide does not explicitly address standards #2 and #7, so other resources for are given for them.*

Here is a  visual map of the ACRL visual literacy standards  (opens in a new window). The map is also included the References section of this guide. 

* See the Resources section for a much more extensive list of important resources about many aspects of visual literacy.

Guide Contents

Learning and visual literacy

Visual brainstorming

Creating with visual media    –  Visual design    –  Images and photography    –  Video and storytelling

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Visual Literacy Today is an ongoing conversation about visual literacy, a field of study and practice that explores how we see and interpret images, how we use visuals to convey meaning and what it means to be literate in a digital age.

We understand visual literacy to be defined as: “an interconnected set of practices, habits, and values for participating in visual culture that can be developed through critical, ethical, reflective, and creative engagement with visual media”  – Maggie Murphy, Unframing the Visual: Visual Literacy Pedagogy in Academic Libraries and Information (forthcoming, Fall 2023).

We welcome contributions from all disciplines – within and outside of academia – to help us create a body of content that truly reflects the breadth, complexity and potential of visual literacy today. 

This website is home to Dana Statton Thompson’s Recommended Reads ,  an extensive, annotated bibliography of visual literacy. Whether you are new to visual literacy or a seasoned expert, this reading list gives an excellent snapshot of research across the field.

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Visual Literacy Is Critical for 21st Century Learners

NCTE 01.13.21 Multimodal Literacies

This post was written by NCTE member Dianna Minor.

One of the major tasks I’ve embarked upon since my initial National Board Certification (NBCT) is collaborating with colleagues to integrate visual literacy in secondary classrooms, giving students opportunities to look beyond the printed text.

Visual literacy builds stronger readers, readers who are able to think about texts in numerous ways through a different lens, an important skill for critical readers and thinkers in the 21st century. Students skilled in visual literacy are able to create meaning from images, which in turn improves their writing proficiency and critical thinking skills. By integrating visual literacy into classrooms, we help students learn to collaborate and to discuss a wide range of ideas while expressing their own.

It is critical for students to be able to evaluate content/texts presented in diverse formats and media, a skill that can require much teacher modeling and independent practice. As students gain experience in interpreting works of art, infographics, film, videos, political cartoons, photographs, maps, advertisements, slide show presentations, and so on, they learn that they can use their imagination to see and think between and beyond the lines to draw inferences and conclusions. Visual literacy encourages student reflection, analysis, and evaluative thinking skills.

I’ve used visual literacy lessons to give students practice in analyzing tone, mood, and details in works of art. For example, in poetry lessons, I’ve modeled the Visual Thinking Strategy (VTS) when looking at photographs from the civil rights era. With this strategy, students focus on key questions:

• What’s going on in the photograph/art piece? (making inferences)
• What evidence do you see to support this? (looking for supporting evidence)
• What more can we find? (analyzing details to see how they connect as a whole)

Through these questions, students have discovered themes and identified main ideas, helping them understand the stories from the photographs.

In addition to photographs, I’ve integrated more works of art and paintings into my classroom so students have opportunities to analyze how two texts are similar and different and to discuss and compare the different approaches the author or artist takes.

Integrating visual literacy also gives quiet or reluctant students more opportunities to feel comfortable in the classroom; these lessons tend to be in small groups, allowing students to practice their own analysis through viewing, listening, and contributing.

With short stories and major literary works (essays, novels, longer pieces of text), teachers can pair texts with photographs and then ask students to draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. One useful tool for analyzing visual texts is the OPTIC strategy, in which the O stands for an overview , a general statement describing the photograph; P stands for important parts of the image, and could include inferences about what they contribute; T stands for how the title (or text) contributes to the meaning; I stands for interrelationships in the image—how the elements work together to create mood or meaning; C stands for conclusion , a statement that interprets the overall meaning. Using this framework, students can discuss the idea of claims and use detail and imagery to identify the central message of the photograph.

Visual literacy is invaluable to reader development in so many ways. It allows gradual development of the student reader’s understanding, slowing down the analysis process by making it more deliberate, and enabling students to build their own interpretation, to rely on their own powers of critical thinking.

Dianna Minor is an educator, writer, and consultant. Her professional experience includes literacy and curriculum and instruction. Twitter: @diminor1

It is the policy of NCTE in all publications, including the Literacy & NCTE blog, to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, the staff, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified.

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Common Core in Action: 10 Visual Literacy Strategies

Do you wish your students could better understand and critique the images that saturate their waking life? That’s the purpose of visual literacy (VL)—to explicitly teach a collection of competencies that will help students think through, think about, and think with pictures.

Standards Support Visual Literacy Instruction

Visual literacy is a staple of 21st century skills, the idea that learners today must “demonstrate the ability to interpret, recognize, appreciate, and understand information presented through visible actions, objects, and symbols , natural or man-made.” Putting aside the imperative to teach students how to create meaningful images, the ability to read images is reflected in the following standards.

Common Core State Standards

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7 : “Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.”
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 : “Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.”
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.6 : “Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.”
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 : “Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.”

National Council of Teachers of English Standards

• Standard 1 : Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts.

Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning Standards        

• Standard 9 : Uses viewing skills and strategies to interpret visual media.

On their own and without explicit, intentional, and systematic instruction, students will not develop VL skills because the language for talking about images is so foreign. Ever heard kids debate the object salience and shot angles of a Ryan Gosling meme? To add to the instructional complexity, visuals come in an assortment of formats, including advertisements, cartoons (including political cartoons), charts and graphs, collages, comic books and graphic novels, diagrams and tables, dioramas, maps, memes, multimodal texts, photos, pictograms, signs, slide shows, storyboards, symbols, timelines, videos.

How to Teach Visual Literacy: Visual Thinking Routines

The VL strategies described in the sections that follow are simple to execute, but powerfully effective in helping students interpret images.

Think-alouds : The think-aloud strategy—typically used to model how adept readers make meaning from a text (demonstrated in the following short video)—can be adapted for reading a visual artifact. After you model how to do it, have learners try this approach with a partner. Encourage elaborate responses. If you need a crash course in visual grammar before implementing this strategy in class, build your background knowledge with Discovering How Images Communicate .

Model Think-Aloud strategy from Derek Fernandez on Vimeo.

Visual Thinking Strategies:  Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) is a specific approach to whole-class viewing and talking about art that primarily uses these questions:

• What do you notice?
• What do you see that makes you say that?
• What more can we find?

VTS encourages students to think beyond the literal by discussing multiple meanings, metaphors, and symbols. Used with all ages—elementary students (see the video below of kindergartners at Huron Valley Schools) up to Harvard medical students—implementation is simple. The weekly VTS lessons from The New York Times are a good place to start.

Visual Thinking Strategies

Asking the 4 Ws:  Inspired by Debbie Abilock ’s NoodleTools exercises, I developed the 4 Ws activity to help students make observations, connections, and inferences about an artist’s agenda and develop ideas about a work’s significance:

Five Card Flickr:  In Five Card Flickr , players are dealt five random photos. To promote VL, have students follow these steps:

• Jot down one word that they associate with each image.
• Identify a song that comes to mind for one or more of the images.
• Describe what all the images have in common.
• Compare answers with classmates.

During a subsequent discussion, ask students to show what elements of the photo prompted their responses.

Image analysis worksheets:  To promote analysis of key features specific to different formats, pick an appropriate tool from the National Archives:

• Photo Analysis
• Cartoon Analysis
• Motion Picture Analysis
• Map Analysis
• Poster Analysis

Step-by-Step: Working With Images That Matter

The following lesson is partially based on Ann Watts Pailliotet’s notion of deep viewing, a process that occurs in three phases:

• Literal observation
• Interpretation
• Evaluation/application

Remember the 1957 photo of Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan ? Eckford was one of the first African American students to attend the newly desegregated Little Rock High School. In the photo, you see her entering the school grounds while a throng of white students, most prominently an enraged Hazel Bryan, jeer. The photo was disseminated worldwide within a couple of days, uncorking new support for civil rights.

Here are the lesson procedures:

Literal observation phase:  Give students a hard copy of the Eckford and Bryan photo. To help them internalize the image, tell them to study it for one minute before turning it over and doodling a version of it from memory. Next, have students write what they observe—what is pictured, how space used used, etc.—in a shared Google Doc.

Interpretation phase:  Copy all the student-generated descriptions from the Google Doc, paste them into Tagxedo , and then project the resulting collaborative word cloud for the class to view. Invite students to interpret the word cloud while periodically re-examining the photo. What are the most important words? Which words do they have questions about? What other images are they reminded of, past or present? What messages are implicit and explicit? How did they analyze the photo? What do they understand now that they didn’t before? Then have students help you summarize the conversation.

Evaluation and application phase:  Direct students to write about the image’s relevance on notecards. Does the implied purpose of the photo convey ideas that are important? How? Is the image biased? How so? Take the postcards and pin them around the Eckford and Bryan photo to create an instant bulletin board.

To extend the lesson, show the following six-minute video, which narrates how Bryan, as a 20-year-old, apologized in person to Eckford. The video features a contemporary photo of both women, mature now, arm in arm, smiling in front of the once infamous Little Rock High School. Ask students: Does the video alter your reactions to the original image? How? Will you approach other socially charged photos differently? Why?

Final Frame

When reading was taught the traditional way, with printed texts, students accepted the authority of the author and received his or her message as a window on reality. In the 21st century, students need to respectfully question the author’s authority, articulate what is represented and how, and infer what has been excluded and why.

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Visual Literacy, introduction

This book is an edited volume, with contributions by Barbara Stafford, W.J.T. Mitchell, Jon Simons, Jonathan Crary, and others. It was the product of a combined conference and exhibition of the same name, which has generated another book, "Visual Practices Across the University" (which is uploaded, in its entirety, on this site) and "Visual Cultures" (not yet published). "Visual Literacy" is intended to survey the meanings of the expression, and related notions such as visual competence. Some contributors are interested in the theory of literacy when it pertains to the visual; others in its rhetoric; and others in its implementation at college and secondary school level. The book is intended to serve as a resource for conversations about what comprises minimal or desirable visual ability, competence, or literacy in a university or secondary-school setting. This text is the introduction, the only part of the book I wrote--and so the only part I will upload here.

Related Papers

Michael P M Mhlanga

The presence of visual elements in today’s teaching and learning is increasing as the integration of images and visual presentations with text in textbooks, instructional manuals, classroom presentations, and computer interfaces broadens. Research reported in educational literature demonstrates that using visuals in teaching results in greater degree of learning. The basic premise of this body of research is the concept of visual literacy, introducing visual literacy and stratagems to teach it in secondary schools.

British Journal of Educational Technology

Maria D . Avgerinou

The Open Communication Journal

Luc Pauwels

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy

Mary Hamilton

Denise R Newfield

Malka Ben Peshat

VLE, a graduate program operating since 2008, was designed to address the critical issues related to the multi-disciplinary field of Visual Literacy, in regard to critical theories concerning the following domains: Visual Culture, Visual Communication, Visual Arts and Visualization. The VLE program is based on the premises that a web of connections tying those domains to each other depend on Visual Literacy capacities. These very premises that have served building the program pointed out to their strong ties with the vast and multidisciplinary field of Education, in particular with the educational approach and movement, such as Critical Pedagogy. This movement is based on social change and empowerment of all involved in educational activities and systems. In this article the VLE graduate program was evaluated from two main aspects: its contribution to students and graduates and to a larger circle of connected communities. This evaluation is based on a comparative study of three kinds of research activities: Results of an external three years evaluation conducted by the College Research Unit in a combined method (qualitative and quantitative); Results of focus group method conducted twice, in 2010 and 2013; Content analyses of thirty final research projects reported by students. The comparative analysis of these results was based on the extracted categories concerning contribution to theoretical knowledge, developing of visual abilities, teaching improvement, personal empowerment, professional promotion and diffusion of visual literacy’s abilities, or capacities. Keywords: Critical pedagogy, graduate studies, visual culture, visual education, visual literacy

Jamie Steane

Journal of Visual Literacy

Rune Pettersson , Maria D . Avgerinou

The Reading Teacher

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Visual Literacy

Visual literacy has been as the ability to understand, interpret and evaluate visual messages. It’s the idea that pictures can be read and the meaning can be communicated through a process of reading. Visual literacy is about analyzing and creating messages. Those who create visual images (artists, photographers etc.) do so with a purpose in mind, using certain techniques.

Now, we know that today we live in a media saturated age. We’re taking images all the time and we need to broaden what it means to be literate to read images rather than text as image. Most of the information is communicated visually through images. Whether they are images in a text or a text book, news photos in the morning’s newspaper or a digitally altered photo of a fashion model on the cover of a magazine, images have become a major part of our world. So it’s more than reading and writing, it’s reading and understanding the visual world. 

Everything we see is an image. There really isn’t a difference between text and image because a text is an image and an image is a text. So we have to learn how to read images through the process of vision. Little children, were told, from the first day they have on the planet up to the age of five, take more information than at any other time in their life. They’re truly sentient being, taking in information with all their human senses all the time.

Art is a language. It’s a form of communication. So to be visually literate, you’ve got to know the alphabet, the vocabulary and the grammar of seeing.  Art can be created in any way, using any material the artist makes shape, form or an image. Artist is every person who creates art. The artwork, itself describes the artist. By seeing, touching the artwork we can spot the soul of the artist poured into the artwork while creating it. Seeing the colors we can feel the emotions of the artist. Art makes us see the world through another person’s perspective. Every art piece has a meaning behind it, but it doesn’t mean that everyone will see and feel that certain meaning. We all can lay eyes on a same artwork and still have wildly different reactions to it. We may overlook the meaning or read the message that the artist is sending to us, and create our own, based on how it makes us feel. Everyone is entitled to their own preferences and feelings when it comes to art.

There is a shallow surface level of enjoyment of merely looking at a beautiful piece of art. The deeper, richer level of enjoyment only comes when we critically examine the artwork. Trying to find why the artist chose a specific color or a particular perspective. Through a number of varying elements the artist is trying to convey a meaning to the audience. Everyone reacts to art differently and has the potential to grow and learn from it. It gives us the opportunity to tell stories, record history and tap into our emotions in a way that few other things can. Art is often an outward expression of our emotions, like our happiness, sadness, temporary anger, but it can be more than that. Creating art allows us to express our thoughts, perspectives of the world, our fears, dreams and desires. Art is basically painting our personalities onto a canvas. 

People for ages have been communicating through art and as a result of that today we have many beautiful and meaningful artworks. One of them is “The Persistence of Memory” painted by Salvador Dali, and one of his most recognizable works. This painting is a relatively small painting but full of meaning. In this painting there are three melting watches present. For some people they represent how time is eternal and always flowing, some experts say the clocks represent Albert Einstein’s discovery at the time of the theory of relativity. This theory proposed the idea that time was complex and relative, that time was not fixed. It could also be that Dali is trying to show that pocket watches are outdated and no longer needed in an evolving world. The artist himself says that the melting watches are simply like that because earlier in the day he had seams some melting cheese under the sun and that’s what it looked like. This is an example how single painting can invoke different perspectives when analyzing it.

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Language of Cinema: Martin Scorsese's Essay Explains the Importance of Visual Literacy

Like I said before, being able to read a film has a range of significance in our world. Scorsese touches on a few areas in his article that explain how film language is important historically, technically, and socially.

Historically

The history of the "language" of cinema started, arguably, with the very first cut. I imagine it being like the first glottal stop or fricative that set apart the constant flow of sound, or in cinema, images, developing a rich and profound language.

Edwin S. Porter’s The Great Train Robbery  from 1903 is one of the first and most famous examples of cutting. In the first few minutes of the film, there is a shot of the robbers bursting into the train depot office. In the background we can see a train pulling in, and in the next shot, we're outside with the robbers as the train comes to a stop near them. The significance of that is that the audience realized that the train in the first shot was the same one that was in the second, and it all happened in one action (it didn't pull in twice.)

Further along the timeline, filmmakers continued to advance and add to the language of film. D.W. Griffith managed to weave together 4 separate storylines by cross cutting scenes from different times and places in Intolerance . Sergei Eisenstein forwarded the idea of the "montage" most famously in Battleship Potemkin    and his first feature  Strike .  Continuity editing, shot sizes, including the close-up, the use of color, parallel editing, camera movement -- all of these things and more began to speak to audiences and filmmakers in new and exciting ways.

Technically

These techniques began to solidify and become standard. The old way of making a film -- one take or multiple long takes filmed in a wide shot -- began to evolve into much more complex visual narratives. Films could encompass hours, days, years out of a characters story thanks to continuity editing. The shot-reverse-shot editing allowed for the use of close-ups and different camera angles . Certain shot compositions began to speak to audiences in different ways, giving the frame itself a life and language of its own.

Being able to read and speak the language of film as a filmmaker is a skill that must obviously be mastered. Everything on-screen -- the lighting, the shadows, the size of the shot, the angle, the composition, the blocking, the colors, everything -- is a word spoken to your audience.

For example the shot from  Vertigo   that employs the "Vertigo Effect". Second-unit cameraman Irmin Roberts invented this "zoom out and track in" technique, known as the "contra-zoom" or "trombone shot". Roberts, essentially, invented a new word in the language of motion pictures that means "dizziness", "fear", "terrifying realization", etc.

There's a great Proust quote that my visual literacy professor shared with us one day in class, "The real voyage of discovery consists, not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."  Films of the early 1900s were all about  showing  something exciting and different: cats boxing, a woman dancing, a train arriving. But, the filmmakers who developed the visual language of cinema were the ones who began to see things in a new light, and as they screened their films, audiences began to learn the language their films were speaking.

Today, filmmakers and viewers are visually literate, but not many viewers realize it. We, myself included, tend to allow the spectacle to overtake us -- we get wrapped up in the story, the visuals, and the music. We feel sad when we watch an on-screen break up or fight between two people who had been close, but we may fail to realize, or at least consciously identify, that a lot of the drama that leads to that climax was created using visual queues.

Many audiences in the past took for granted this form of communication until the film critics that eventually ushered in the French New Wave, like Truffaut, as well as American critic Andrew Sarris took a closer look at the filmmaking of Alfred Hitchcock.

Scorsese mentions that because Hitchcock's films came out almost like clockwork every year (Scorsese likens this to a sort of franchise,) his film  Vertigo  kind of disappeared into the heap of movies that came out that year. It wasn't a failure by any means, but it wasn't the overwhelming success we today would expect it to have been.

Today, the Master of Suspense is revered as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, but it wasn't until Cahiers du Cinema and   critics like Truffaut and Sarris began studying Hitchcock's work, decoding the film language Hitchcock used, that a more solid understanding of film language started to emerge.

They realized that Hitchcock had his own "dialect", which helped develop the auteur theory. Without visual literacy, there wouldn't be auteurs -- the genius and skill of history's greatest filmmakers could potentially be lost on a an audience that doesn't know how to read  between the lines  of a film.

Understanding the concepts of visual literacy is not only a skill for filmmakers, but all who experience films, because films are such a huge part of our lives. Scorsese says:

Whenever I hear people dismiss movies as “fantasy” and make a hard distinction between film and life, I think to myself that it’s just a way of avoiding the power of cinema. Of course it’s not life—it’s the invocation of life, it’s in an ongoing dialogue with life.

Scorsese laments that today movies are more often judged based on their box office receipts than on the artfulness of their execution.

We can’t afford to let ourselves be guided by contemporary cultural standards -- particularly now. There was a time when the average person wasn’t even aware of box office grosses. But since the 1980s, it’s become a kind of sport -- and really, a form of judgment. It culturally trivializes film. And for young people today, that’s what they know. Who made the most money? Who was the most popular?

I definitely recommend reading Scorsese's full article, which you can find here .

How would Hollywood and independent cinema change if audiences became more aware to what was being communicated to them visually? What is your most favorite cinematic "word?"

Link:  The Persisting Vision: Reading the Language of Cinema -- The New York Review of Books

[via Indiewire ]

Why Does Jesse Plemons Wear Those Red Sunglasses in 'Civil War'?

We talk sunglasses and dystopian militia wardrobe with civil war costume designer meghan kasperlik..

If you've seen A24's dystopian war epic Civil War , you surely noticed the unique costuming layered throughout the different militias and journalists throughout the film. Hawaiian T-shirts? Painted fingernails? Transparent red sunglasses? Pretty cool.

Civil War costume designer Meghan Kasperlik put a lot of time, research, and thought into how to flesh out director Alex Garland's dystopian United States. Working closely with Garland, she took inspiration from real life war journalists and considered what different militia members would realistically wear in this semi-fictitious (scarily possible) world.

She even made seven jackets out of a table cloth.

Read below for insights on Kasperlik's process, and her advice for aspiring costume designers at any level of experiance.

Editor's note: the following quotes from Meghan Kasperlik are edited for length and clarity.

Number One Rule of Costume Design? Research 

Kirstin Dunst in Civil War

Courtesy of A24

"I do a tremendous amount of research, and I'm really interested in getting into the character's head and what they do—what they do for a job, where did they go to college, or did they go to college? What do they eat? I go the full gamut and try to learn as much as possible.

For Lee's character ( Kirsten Dunst ) in Civil War , I read a book by Lynsey Addario, a very famous female war photographer. As I was reading this book, I thought, oh, wow, the beginning stages of Lindsay's book are kind of where Jesse ( Cailee Spaeny ) is. As she gets more professional, it's like, oh, this is later in life, this is the stage where Lee is.

By no means are either of them Lynsey Addario, but I took inspiration from that, and then I started taking inspiration from other war journalists for Joel ( Wagner Moura ), and also Sammy ( Stephen McKinley Henderson ). So it's really important for me to do the research and [get to know where characters are] from, and then I kind of go from there."

What's Up With Jesse's Red Sunglasses?

"Jesse [Plemons] actually brought them to the fitting, and I mean, it was just so cool because most of the time the costume or the prop department will have a lot of those things. It was cool because Jesse really thought about how to take his character in a different direction.

At first I was very hesitant, because I was like, well, we haven't really done anything in the film like this yet. And we had the other two guys that had paint in their hair and fake nails, we haven't done this, and where did these come from? Who did they take them from? Did he kill the person?

All these things were going through my head, and I was very concerned if the audience would take this seriously, because his dialogue was very serious.

But then I was like, this is Jesse Plemons, of course this is going to work out. So we took it to Alex [Garland] and we asked Alex about it, and he was like, oh, yeah, that's cool. So I can't take full credit for Jesse's glasses because he brought them to the table.

How I made it work in our scenario is I wanted to make sure that sometimes we would break up the the military uniform, sometimes it would be like a T-shirt—the military issued T-shirt with pants, and I was like, we need to have everything uniform, so your focus is on his face and you're not looking at anything else.

So that's how I worked that out with the sunglasses."

Working With Alex Garland for 'Civil War' 

"I worked very closely with Alex. I showed him all of my research, and then I put together with the script, like, okay, this is what's happening in this scene.

I imagined that we are on the road trip from New York to DC. These are the Americans that would truly live in these places, and these are the people that I think that are there now. And then I would pitch how I thought each of those groups would dressed.

That's where the Hawaiian shirts came in, and then the shootout, they were in uniform, but they had the painted nails and hair dye on them. And then also when we were in the football field, and it was basically all the people that were refugees. And when you're a refugee and basically living out of a tent, living out of your car, you only have your belongings. How many ways can you make that work for you?

So it was definitely, each area was a hundred percent thought out and discussed, and discussed, not only with Alex, but the production designer and props to make it flow."

How To Personalize Characters Through Costume 

Wagner Moura in Civil War

"With the main four characters it was about making sure that each one of them had individuality to them and made sure that the audience could see that.

Kirsten's character, Kaylee Bogner and Steven, they're all based off of inspiration from real reporters and war journalists. So I was taking the research that I had from them and how to incorporate it.

Joel's character is kind of based off a multitude of things. Yes, he's in America and he's an American journalist, but in America your average guy now is wearing a Rock t-shirt or a sports team or a flannel or something. So he doesn't stand out. He's definitely blending into that world in the way of your stereotypical guy. So that was very important to me because I didn't want him to stand out so much or any of these characters.

The whole idea is that they kind of blended into the environment, because as journalists, you can't stand out too much because you have to go in and work with everyone.

And then as far as the military uniforms, one thing that Alex and I talked about was that when I first interviewed, I was like, oh, and I will make this fictitious uniform. And he's like, no, this is almost like reality. It's a dystopian world, but I want it to hit home with the reality of what these uniforms really are. So basically, I wanted to make sure that they were the real uniforms, but how could we individualize each person?

We had a military advisor named Free Mendoza, and he said, when you're in the field, you don't just get a new uniform when you blow out the pants or when something happens that it tears. You have to sew up your own pants, or you have to like, oh, the jacket's ripped apart the bit, so I have to throw that to the side and just wear the T-shirt. So it's kind of like what you have on your back."

How to Make a Jacket Out of a Table Cloth 

Kirstin Dunst and Cailee Spaeny in Civil War

"Kirsten's jacket that she wears for Lee, it's kind of like a brownish mustard tone. I knew she needed a jacket. We were filming in Atlanta, and it was still cold.

So I couldn't find what I was looking for, and I needed the multiples. I was randomly in Target, and I saw these place mats sitting on a table, and there was a whole bunch of them. So I was like, oh, well, this would be great. We could make a jacket out of this.

So I picked up the place mats and I took it to my age Dyer, and he dyed them. So the base of the jacket is made out of a tablecloth, and the sleeves and the back yolk is made out of table runners, and they were all dyed and pieced together by my tailor, Jared. And I was like, great, let's make more, because we liked it and everything. And when I went to go get more, they didn't have any more in the store because there was a box of them that were set out that they found from Covid.

It was a discontinued style, but it was perfect. So it's like we were looking at eBay and Etsy, and my aunt was hunting them down in Chicago, and so we ended up making seven."

Advice For Aspiring Costume Designers 

"I'm on an advisory board for school and I always tell people if you have the opportunity, jump on any film set, jump on any commercial TV series, anything that you can start and pay attention to what other departments are doing, because so many departments are so collaborative and we work together.

If you can't get a job in the costume department and you want to be a costume designer, but you can get a job in production or the art department, having that in to see what happens is really great.

I really love unconventional fabrics and ideas, so a placement, or I've made a costume out of a jacket or scraps the fabric so you can make anything out of anything. So just keep an open mind. It's really good to be trained in patterning and costume making, but it doesn't hinder you from actually being able to do it.

Just try to get in there. And a lot of states now have film incentives, so if you go to whatever state you live in, New York film.com or Georgia film.com or even Illinois, there is stuff that happens in Chicago and whatnot. Just go to Google filming, whatever's filming in your state, and there will be opportunities to PAs or people looking for extra help.

Even if it's for a day, you're giving yourself in there."

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“Visual Literacy Theory” by Paul Messaris Essay (Critical Writing)

In the chapter “Visual Literacy Theory”, Paul Messaris strives to provide readers with the comprehensive insight on what the notion of visual literacy stands for moreover, as it appears from chapter’s context, author suggests that there is a big difference between visual and verbal semiotics: “Whereas verbal language contains an explicit vocabulary for indicating how one object is related to another (“a is like b,” “c leads to d,” “e is different from f,” etc.), visual language has no such indicators. Unless they are spelled out through captions or voice-over, the meanings of visual arguments are always implied” (Messaris 21).

This suggestion serves as the metaphysical foundation, upon which author’s argumentation is based – Messaris’ article implies that there is no commonality between what he refers to as “conventional” and “visual” intelligences, with the thought that any kind of intelligence derives of people’s ability to operate with highly abstract categories, never occurring to him. In other words, the very essence of Mesaris theory corresponds rather well to neo-Liberal outlook on intelligence as highly subjective concept. We will dare to disagree with the author on this, simply because there is no objective evidence as to the fact that the process of people being instilled with the semantic meaning, when exposed to visual signs, is essentially different from the process of people finding a semantic message in verbal constructions. In both cases, it is the rate of their IQ, which defines their ability to find an associative or direct meaning in just about anything. In its turn, it explains the popularity of avantgardist art in recent years – marginalized public that is being exposed to such art simply assumes that there is a deep meaning behind avantgardist “masterpieces”, such as Malevich’ “Black Square”, when in fact, there is none. In its turn, this points out at the fallacious essence of Messaris’ idea that spatial intelligence (people’s ability to define a connotative message, deriving out of sequence of seemingly unrelated visual signs) is an objective category: “One of the clearest examples of spatial intelligence is the ability of movies to conjure up a coherent sense of place and action out of a succession of fragmentary views” (Messaris 8).

As the practice of designing “progressive” TV ads and musical clips shows – the uniting semantic motif, which binds different parts of such ads and clips together, only exists in viewers’ imagination. Therefore, we cannot seriously believe that viewers’ exposal to series of fragmentary shots, would result in these viewers reacting to these visual shots similarly, unless viewers’ consist of representatives of clearly defined racial group. In its turn, this explains why many Hollywood movies are now being designed to target racially-specific categories of viewers – for example, nowadays; we have “White”, “Black” and “Hispanic” comedies. In his article, Messaris makes a good point when he suggests that the utilization of visual analogies in movies significantly increases these movies’ cinematographic value, simply because these analogies actually stimulate viewers’ brain cells:

“This cross-cutting (visual analogies) between the two sets of images can be seen as the equivalent of a simile. It explicitly juxtaposes two events and implies an analogical connection between them” (Messaris 10).

However, author fails to provide readers with the answer as to why the utilization of juxtapositions became a rarity in today’s Hollywood movies, even though he admits that this is actually the case:

“The interruption of a movie’s story line by the insertion of an extraneous image may have been incompatible with Hollywood cinema’s increasing tendency towards unobtrusive narration” (Messaris 10).

Apparently, Messaris intentionally withdraws from establishing a clear link between such recent tendency in cinematographic industry and the intellectual marginalization, which seems to affect the psyche of moviegoers in Western countries to ever-increasing extent. The reason for this is simple – author’s admission that such link exists, would significantly undermine the conceptual validity of his view on visual intelligence as something utterly objective and static, and as something unrelated to IQ intelligence. Therefore, we cannot accept Messaris’ suggestion that producers are capable of creating a universally recognized semiotic meaning, by utilising the methods of visual analogising in movies. In its turn, such our conclusion points out at the very premise of Messaris’ article as being largely unsubstantiated, due to the fact that, during the course of working on it, author strived to sound both: scientifically sophisticate and politically correct at the same time. Thus, we can say that, whereas the analysed article contains many valid points, as to the technical aspects of visual literacy, author’s apparent intention to set the concepts of verbal and visual intelligence apart, can hardly be referred to as fully appropriate. These both types of intelligence derive out of people’s genetically determined ability to indulge in abstract philosophising. Nevertheless, author should be given a credit for not bringing up the notion of “emotional intelligence” (the neo-Liberal intellectual invention, meant to explain racially defined mental inequality among people), while proceeding with his argumentation, simply because this indicates a certain degree of intellectual integrity, on his part. This is the reason why it would be inappropriate, on our part, to limit this critical review of Messaris’ work to solely exposing chapter’s weak points. There can be no doubt that the reading of this chapter will come in particularly handy to those who want to get a better understanding of semiotic mechanisms, associated with movie making industry and with TV. In “Visual Literacy Theory”, Paul Messaris had proven himself as a true Media professional. The fact his article implies the absence of connection between conventional and visual intelligence, simply corresponds to socio-political realities of the time when it was being written. Had Messaris suggested otherwise, he would be risking the chance of his article not being allowed for publishing, simply because we live in time when politically correct censorship undermines the value of just about any scientific theory, designed in recent years. Messaris’ theory of visual literacy is not the exception.

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IvyPanda. (2021, November 21). “Visual Literacy Theory” by Paul Messaris. https://ivypanda.com/essays/visual-literacy-theory-by-paul-messaris/

"“Visual Literacy Theory” by Paul Messaris." IvyPanda , 21 Nov. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/visual-literacy-theory-by-paul-messaris/.

IvyPanda . (2021) '“Visual Literacy Theory” by Paul Messaris'. 21 November.

IvyPanda . 2021. "“Visual Literacy Theory” by Paul Messaris." November 21, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/visual-literacy-theory-by-paul-messaris/.

1. IvyPanda . "“Visual Literacy Theory” by Paul Messaris." November 21, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/visual-literacy-theory-by-paul-messaris/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "“Visual Literacy Theory” by Paul Messaris." November 21, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/visual-literacy-theory-by-paul-messaris/.

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