The verbal and the visual in language learning and teaching: insights from the ‘Selfie Project’

Abstract

That 'a picture can stimulate a thousand words' aptly summarizes the role of the visual in the field of language learning and teaching. The power of the image to generate language output has been widely acknowledged in the field of second/foreign language acquisition. Posters, diagrams, symbols and pictures are often found in language classrooms; illustrations and photos cohabit with the target language in textbooks. The relationship, however, between the lingual and the visual tends to be one of asymmetry. The visual tends to be held in lower regard and thought of as 'dispensable embellishment' (Millard & Marsh 2001: 55) especially when the learner has acquired a certain level of linguistic competence. Instead of focusing on the 'thousand words', this initial exploration into examining the verbal-visual interplay uses the 'picture', in the form of the selfie, as heuristic device. It draws insights from visual research approaches and digital communication studies to analyse the relationship between the verbal and the visual. Results point to a counter-reading of the selfie. It is suggested that using this digital self-portrait of the 21 st century as talking point in an English fluency exercise has brought about unexpected findings-the strengthening of personal relations in the classroom and self-reflexivity amongst the students-aspects that are not often associated with the traditional use of visual 'aids'. It is proposed that current understanding of the 'lingual' can be enriched by bringing the 'visual' back into the frame.

Effects of metacognitive strategies on listening comprehension through multimedia supported instruction

“…Researchers (Acha, 2009; Boers, Warren, He & Deconinck, 2017) have reported that learning materials with text only are more effective than text with images for developing learners' vocabulary learning. Further, researchers have found that watching instructional videos without subtitles enhances listening comprehension to a greater degree than using subtitles (Victoria, 2021;Yang, 2014). However, the use of the digital visual content and audio content on multimedia are reported to be effective for learners' listening comprehension and overall language learning (Sejdiu, 2017; Sendag, Gedik & Toker, 2018).…”

Elever erfar och representerar världen visuellt: en utforskande studie om hur mellanstadieelever skapar mening genom fotografi

“…I artikeln "Pedagogy of Multiliteracies Manifesto" (Cazden et al, 1996) beskriver de gemensamt en värld som blivit alltmer global med ökad kulturell och lingvistisk diversifiering som följd samt en värld där möjligheterna att kommunicera med resurser från olika teckenvärldar ökat. Med detta som utgångspunkt argumenterar NLG för en vidgad syn på literacy och för behovet att låta förutsättningar för undervisning förändras för att möta dessa förändringar (Cope & Kalantzis, 2023;van Leeuwen, 2017).…”