Although the paradigm of visual literacy (VL) is rapidly emerging, the construct itself still lacks operational specificity. Based on a semiotic understanding of visual culture as an ongoing process of "making meaning", we present in this study a skill-based classification of VL, differentiating four sets of VL skills: perception;…

Constructing meaning from science texts relies not only on comprehending the words but also the diagrams and other graphics. The goal of this study was to explore elementary students' perceptions of science diagrams and their skills related to diagram interpretation. 30 students, ranging from second grade through middle school, completed a diagram…

This article begins with a synopsis of the film "Edward Burtynsky: Manufactured Landscapes", directed by Jennifer Baichwal. While the author can relate to the statements made in this synopsis, her experience and understanding of this 90-minute journey is much more intense and complex. In this essay, she attempts to dissect and examine…

This article presents a tripartite framework for analyzing multimodal texts. The three analytical perspectives presented include: (1) perceptual, (2) structural, and (3) ideological analytical processes. Using Anthony Browne's picturebook "Piggybook" as an example, assertions are made regarding what each analytical perspective brings to the…

After viewing a film, a sample of 10 and 11 year old children completed questionnaires which gave information on their grasp of the film's content, on matching variables, and on design factors. In this way it was possible to examine patterns in the grasp of content and relate them to other variables. (Author)

The results of three experiments showed that: (1) children from 20 to 32 months of age are able to identify basic-level, conceptual, and complementary relationships; (2) objects are responded to more effectively than pictures; and (3) both perceptual and verbal-symbolic processes are important in matching and identifying stimuli. (JMB)

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…

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…

In an instructional message the contextual dominance is most often conveyed in the form of printed or spoken sentences. Within any sentence used in conjunction with a picture are nouns or phrases that directly relate to contextual elements within the picture. These are called referents since they refer to objects perceptible in the picture. This…

One of the most basic theoretical areas in the study of visual communication and visual literacy is the nature of representation. Some of the important research in this area is reviewed in this paper, and a model of representation is developed that satisfies many of the philosophical concerns. The paper begins with a discussion on the relationship…

For centuries artists have explored the uses of color in their compositions. Believing that colors have innate symbolic, expressive, and aesthetic qualities, artists have been aware that these properties can be magnified or subdued by organization within a compositional space, and artists have suggested that certain positions within a framed field…

This paper develops a theoretical context for the concept that visual literacy involves a specific type of information processing that has been discussed in the literature on symbolism and epistemology for a number of years. Literacy is discussed first, as a general process of information processing involving the generation of knowledge through…

The combined theories of cue summation and stimulus generalization provide the theoretical model for this study. First, the study attempted to determine if supplementing a theoretical presentation of rhetorical principles with printed, audio, and audiovisual speech models would contribute to a significant increase in learning as evidence by…

Explores the social correlates of the interpretive abilities of young children to assess televised narratives. Demonstrates negative correlations between amount of television viewed by parents and children's television comprehension, indicating that the more parents viewed television, the worse their children performed on comprehension tests.…

Discusses concepts of semiotics relevant to visual literacy and stresses two important points of intersection: active perception and diversity of sign systems. Argues that an educational program with a semiotic framework would change its focus from content to process, and that a visual literacy component would enhance learning across modalities,…