Notes that basing composition almost exclusively on verbal instruction counters the very nature of literacy education, because the current verbal-based education system produces illiterates in this highly visual and multimodal modern society. Demonstrates composition's verbal bias; argues that this bias is both politically and rhetorically…

Explores how visual (pictorial) and verbal (linguistic) systems work together and influence each other as young children create symbol systems. Finds that, for young children, color plays a key role in communicating messages. Shows how art and writing (especially color and light) influence each other in children's literacy development. (SR)

There is a significant mismatch of student preparation for college-level reading tasks and literacy demands placed on our liberal arts college students today. Widely accepted schema theory suggests that teaching metacognition, or consciously thinking about how one thinks, is helpful. Once thinking processes are made transparent to the learner, he…