Observing that people are confronted with posters, billboards, video and other images more and more every day, this paper theorizes that the structure and principles of rhetoric can assist the public in understanding how visual images function and affect them. The paper presents a syllabus designed to assist rhetoric instructors in developing…

This paper presents the thesis that a perceptual rationale for visual literacy may be found in operational form within what is measured by established tests of cognitive style. Ten primary dimensions of cognitive style are briefly reviewed, including field independence-field dependence, impulsivity-reflectivity, visual-haptic, leveling-sharpening,…

According to the theory of Piaget, until the age of two the chief developmental factor of a child is the permanence of an object or the ability to retain mental images. Between two and six he begins to use mental images, and as he develops the ability to retain a mental image he begins to imitate things from the past which he has seen or…

The purpose of this paper is to express the importance of visual/media literacy and the teaching of critical television viewing. An awareness of the properties and characteristics of television--including camera angles and placement, editing, and emotionally involving subject matter--aids viewers in the critical viewing process. The knowledge of…

The purpose of this paper is to explore another facet of visual literacy--technical visual communication (TVC)--and to discuss how this new perspective can further strengthen visual literacy as a discipline. Unlike visual literacy, which looks to a desirable state of affairs, TVC addresses the nature of actual visual communication. Both visual…

The perceptual bases of visual literacy are explored, drawing on research into the interpretation of pictures by viewers not familiar with pictorial representation. Research has indicated that inexperienced viewers do not find it difficult to recognize pictures that may be discrepant in color or shape from a familiar object, but may be troubled by…

Deconstruction is a critical literary theory which focuses on the unintentional meanings of a text and aims to achieve an unprejudiced, value-free vision of the social and political power structures in society that combine to produce the text. The development of such critical skills in advertising students will deepen their ability to judge the…

This study reviews historical thinking about visual literacy, addresses the issue of setting visual literacy's parameters, and provides a philosophy to link individual theories in this multidisciplinary movement. The report examines the roots of the visual literacy movement and the seminal literature in the field. It includes a categorizing of…

An effective way to teach literature to students accustomed to electronic media is to use prose and poetry as raw materials for the production of photography projects that translate print into more familiar and exciting forms. Studies confirm that "visual literacy" should be an important part of a modern student's education. "Picture reading," an…

It is necessary to provide a comprehensive program of visual literacy skill development to provide a firm foundation for reading comprehension. A taxonomy of visual literacy can suggest an outline for such a program. Once the student has been made aware of the desired thought processes in familiar contexts, it is then appropriate to guide the…

This paper briefly reviews some of the literature on the use of visual imagery in the conceptualization and solution of mathematical problems, especially its use in the learning of mathematics by children, and notes that a mutually facilitative effect occurs between mathematics and visual aptitude. A bibliography, a short list of resource…

Beginning with a clarification of the difference between the product and the process approach to audiovisual (educational) technology, a series of levels or categories of media use are presented: (1) the tool level; (2) the data level; (3) the behavior control level; (4) the meaning level; (5) the research level; and (6) the systems level. Using…

An experiment was conducted in which the relationships of basic television and film codes to particular literacy mental skills were examined. Different versions of the same film, each focusing on a different code, were produced and shown to fifth graders. It was found that children with initially better mastery of the relevant skills extract more…

One educator's interdisciplinary interests in literature, film, and culture studies led him to the establishment of "Film Study," an upper school English course in which students develop a sense of "film literacy" through detailed "reading" of visual images; in addition, students evolve a working critical vocabulary…

Gives an overview of the Schools Council Communication and Social Skills Project at Brighton Polytechnic in which children ages 9-17 have developed and used audiovisual media such as films, tape-slides, or television programs in the classroom. The effects of audiovisual language on education are briefly discussed. (JJD)