Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Nicolas Hurst,
The Department of Anglo-American Studies,
The Faculty of Letters, The University of Porto, Portugal.
General Background:
“Nowadays, we are moving into an era in which visual literacy is as important as language/textual literacy. In this new reality, our ability to communicate ideas visually is as important as our ability to conceive them.”
Kang, 2004: 58
“ [since the 1970s] … Increasingly focus was placed on the visual presentation of the ESL textbook, as opposed to the grammatical or textual content. [e.g. 1970 book = 1
image; 1996 book = 260 images] … Clearly, the focus has shifted; images have become an integral component of the presentation of the language and […] of the culture.”
Giaschi, 2000: 34
Photographs and photography From Barthes:
The photograph is indescribable: words cannot substitute for the weight or impact of the resemblance of the image.
The photograph itself is invisible, we do not see the paper, we see that which is represented.
[adapted from Price and Wells, 1996: 29]
In Western thought, ‘knowing’ has always been closely associated with ‘seeing’ (Arendt cited in Urry, 1999b: 36), a stance that is relevant to photography, constituting it not only as a form of a knowledge of the world (Sontag, 1979: 23) but the form of knowledge in the strongly image-mediated high-modernity.
Theoretical Background “ … meaning is constituted … not in the visual sign itself … but in the articulation between the viewer and the viewed, between the power of the image to signify and the viewer’s capacity to interpret meaning.”
Evans & Hall, 1999: 4
“Beyond what is seen in the image, however, there are many stories to be construed from what is seen. […] The photographic image can carry a large number of different meanings. It is ‘polysemic’. Generally the polysemy of the image is controlled by its juxtaposition with a verbal text.”
Burgin, 1999: 48
Materials Evaluation and Visual Content
McDonough & Shaw (1993: 66-77) talk of ‘what kind of visuals are included and what use is made of them’ in an extensive list of criteria (22), subdivided into ‘external’ and ‘internal’.
Ur (1996: 186) lists examples of what she calls “general criteria” which includes “appropriate visual materials available” among 19 related criteria.
Tomlinson (1998: 5-22) aligns SLA research with 16 ‘materials should’ criteria: visual content is mentioned in relation to learning styles.
ELT Literature Review:
“ … a majority of pictures included are used only for decorative purposes and … those used for language purposes tend to concentrate on low-level language skills related to basic language manipulation.”
Hill, 2003: 181
“The findings [ … ] revealed that age, social class and gender are problematic areas in the visual materials in ELT coursebooks in terms of their cultural, psychological, and social attributions.”
Arikan, 2005: 37
Photo Data Collection Grid [adapted from Eyles, J. 1998]
Directly
linked to
L2 work?
What type of
L2 work/photo
relationship?
Cultural Connection
Page No Yes Functionality The who, the where, the what …
The present study: the Extreme series
The books by Belita Carlo Almeida, Edite Frias & Elisabete Caldas Almeida cover the national programme of English for ‘3º ciclo do ensino básico’ (the 7th, 8th & 9th years), published by Porto Editora.
2004 2005 2006
7th Grade [2004]
Directly linked to L2
work?
What type of L2 work/photo relationship?
Cultural Connection
The who, the where, the what …
[160 pages in Ss book] Page No Yes
Functionality
9 X Photo of 3 school children (2 f, 1 m) early teens ,wearing school uniforms
9 x Wide angle photo of school playground: lots of kids, no uniforms.
14 x Small photo of entrance to “Great Northern Mall”
15 x Vocab recycle 7 small photos of animals: support/matching for crossword clues
18 x Photo of black teen girl on mobile: represents Brazilian girl in letter/text
18 x Photo of Gustavo Kuerten (Guga): tennis player mentioned in gap fill letter/text
18 x Photo of Will Smith: film star mentioned in gap fill letter/text
20 x Vocab matching 7 photos of celebrities: match photo to nationality nouns given, fill in adjectives in table/box (2 f 4 m 1 c)
42 x Model sentences* 2 photos to illustrate model sentences: comparative adjectives: castle/houses
44/45 x Vocab matching 6 photos: activities mentioned in reading text in separate box/table
46 x Photo of various fruit in a group/pile: next to m/c exercise on reading text
65 x Vocab matching 7 photos of school facilities: vocab taken from reading text
67 x Photo of unidentified rap group(?) under non-authentic rap song text
73 x 6 photos of kids: representing authors of short opinion pieces on cheating (3 f 3 m)
75 x Small photo of 3 girls in foreground texting
77/78 x Vocab matching 13 photos of means of transport: red bus, black cab, ferry, luxury car, scooter, train etc
81 x Vocab matching 20 photos of jobs/professions: 7 f & 13 m.
86/87 x 6 photos illustrating “Scotland”: bagpipes, man in kilt, castle on loch, Tattoo, skyline, town
92 x Elicit vocab 4 photos as prompt for test items: school subjects: Big Ben, Black female athlete
118 x Photo of glamorous woman with two bellhops carrying her shopping (many boxes)
121 x Info Transfer* Speech bubble + Two male police officers: one gives directions in London
130 x Photo montage of pizza, salad, etc to illustrate restaurant dialogue
131 x Photo of burger: illustrate gap fill exercise about burgers
132/3 x 7 photos of London sights, next to texts
135 x Text match 6 photos about cultural “trivia”
140 x 3 photos of central European capital cities
147 x Elicit vocab 20 small photos of different sports + classification exercise (land/air/water) (1 f only??)
148 x Picture prompt Photos of 5 celebrities, each has spoken text: listening comp and fill in table (2 f 3 m)
150 x 3 photos of sports stars mentioned in grammar exercise (2 f 1 m)
152 x Photo of female footballer next to non-authentic interview
154 x Vocab recycle 13 photos of items in word search box, test context.
DATA ANALYSIS: OVERALL RESULTS
THE BOOKS
TOTAL INSTANCES
OF PHOTO.S
DIRECTLY RELATED
TO L2 WORK
ILLUSTRATIVE OR
DECORATIVE ??
7TH GRADE
[2004]
31
12 19
38.7% 61.3%
8TH GRADE
[2005]
62
16 46
25.8% 74.2%
9TH GRADE
[2006]
105
15 90
14.3% 85.7%
DATA ANALYSIS: VOCAB RELATED L2 WORK
THE BOOKS
ELICIT
VOCAB
VOCAB
MATCH
RECYCLE
VOCAB
TOTAL
VOCAB
[12]
7TH GRADE
2 5 2 9
18.6%
41.7%
16.7%
75%
[16]
8TH GRADE
1 2 1 4
6.3%
12.5%
6.3%
25%
[15]
9TH GRADE
3 1 0 4
20%
6.7%
0%
26.7%
DATA ANALYSIS: NON-VOCAB RELATED L2 WORK OUTSIDE CLASS IN CLASS
RESEARCH
PROMPT
PROJECT
PROMPT
PICTURE
PROMPT
% OF TOTAL
7TH GRADE
[12]
0 0 0 --» [31]
0% 0% 0% 0%
8TH GRADE
[16]
2 3 5 --» [62]
8.1% 12.5% 18.6% 31.3%
9TH GRADE
[15]
0 0 9 --» [105]
8.6% 0% 0% 60%
Photos and People: 7th Grade 7th
Grade [2004]
Directly linked to L2
work?
What type of L2 work/photo relationship?
Cultural Connection: the who…
[31 photo instances, 18 featuring people = 51.8%] [160 pages in Ss book] Page No Yes Functionality
9 X Photo of 3 school children (2 f, 1 m) early teens ,wearing school uniforms
9 x Wide angle photo of school playground: lots of kids, no uniforms.
14 x Small photo of entrance to “Great Northern Mall”
15 x Vocab recycle 7 small photos of animals: support/matching for crossword clues
18 x Photo of black teen girl on mobile: represents Brazilian girl in letter/text
18 x Photo of Gustavo Kuerten (Guga): tennis player mentioned in gap fill letter/text
18 x Photo of Will Smith: film star mentioned in gap fill letter/text
20 x Vocab matching 7 photos of celebrities: match photo to nationality nouns given, fill in adjectives in table/box (2 f 4 m 1 c)
42 x Model sentences* 2 photos to illustrate model sentences: comparative adjectives: castle/houses
44/45 x Vocab matching 6 photos: activities mentioned in reading text in separate box/table
46 x Photo of various fruit in a group/pile: next to m/c exercise on reading text
65 x Vocab matching 7 photos of school facilities: vocab taken from reading text
67 x Photo of unidentified rap group(?) under non-authentic rap song /text
73 x 6 photos of kids: representing authors of short opinion pieces on cheating (3 f 3 m)
75 x Small photo of 3 young girls in foreground texting
77/78 x Vocab matching 13 photos of means of transport: red bus, black cab, ferry, luxury car, scooter, train etc
81 x Vocab matching 20 photos of jobs/professions: 7 f & 13 m.
86/87 x 6 photos illustrating “Scotland”: bagpipes, man in kilt, castle on loch, Tattoo, skyline, town
92 x Elicit vocab 4 photos as prompt for test items: school subjects: Big Ben, black female athlete
118 x Photo of glamorous woman with two bellhops carrying her shopping (many boxes)
121 x Info Transfer* Speech bubble + Two male police officers: one gives directions in London
130 x Photo montage of pizza, salad, etc to illustrate restaurant dialogue
131 x Photo of burger: illustrate gap fill exercise about burgers
132/3 x 7 photos of London sights, next to texts
135 x Text match 6 photos about cultural “trivia”
140 x 3 photos of central European capital cities
147 x Elicit vocab 20 small photos of different sports + classification exercise (land/air/water) (1 f only??)
148 x Picture prompt Photos of 5 celebrities, each has spoken text: listening comp and fill in table (2 f 3 m)
150 x 3 photos of sports stars mentioned in grammar exercise (2 f 1 m)
152 x Photo of female footballer next to non-authentic interview
154 x Vocab recycle 13 photos of items in word search box, test context.
People in the photos: 7th Grade 7th
Grade [2004]
Directly linked to L2
work?
What type of L2 work/photo relationship?
Cultural Connection: the who…
[160 pages in Ss book]
Page No Yes Functionality
9 X Photo of 3 school children (2 f, 1 m) early teens ,wearing school uniforms
9 x Wide angle photo of school playground: lots of kids, no uniforms.
18 x Photo of black teen girl on mobile: represents Brazilian girl in letter/text
18 x Photo of Gustavo Kuerten (Guga): tennis player mentioned in gap fill letter/text
18 x Photo of Will Smith: film star mentioned in gap fill letter/text
20 x Vocab matching 7 photos of celebrities: match photo to nationality nouns given, fill in adjectives in table/box (2 f 4 m 1 c)
67 x Photo of unidentified rap group(?) under non-authentic rap song /text
73 x 6 photos of kids: representing authors of short opinion pieces on cheating (3 f 3 m)
75 x Small photo of 3 young girls in foreground texting
81 x Vocab matching 20 photos of jobs/professions: 7 f & 13 m.
86/87 x 6 photos illustrating “Scotland”: bagpipes, man in kilt, castle on loch, Tattoo, skyline, town
92 x Elicit vocab 4 photos as prompt for test items: school subjects: Big Ben, black female athlete
118 x Photo of glamorous woman with two bellhops carrying her shopping (many boxes)
121 x Info Transfer* Speech bubble + Two male police officers: one gives directions in London
147 x Elicit vocab 20 small photos of different sports + classification exercise (land/air/water) (1 f only??)
148 x Picture prompt Photos of 5 celebrities, each has spoken text: listening comp and fill in table (2 f 3 m)
150 x 3 photos of sports stars mentioned in grammar exercise (2 f 1 m)
152 x Photo of female footballer next to non-authentic interview
From 31 photo instances, 18 feature people = 58.1%
5 are Youths, 7 are Celebrities and 6 are Others.
Photos and people across all 3 books
Youth
Celebrities
Others
People as a % of Total
Photos
[31] 7th Grade
5 7 6 18 in 31
27.8% 38.9% 33.3% 58.1% [62]
8th Grade 19 9 9 37 in 62
51.4% 24.3% 24.3% 59.7% [105]
9th Grade 37 15 15 67 in 105
55.2% 22.4% 22.4% 63.8%
Extreme 7: 118.
Extreme 9: 72.
Extreme 7: 81.
Extreme 8: 66-67.
Extreme 7: 86-87.
Extreme 9: 110-111.
Extreme 9: 124.
Extreme 9: 150.
Extreme 9: 149.
Conclusions: # Need to move beyond accepting “ornamentation” [Harmer, 2001: 135] as valid/useful and make more sociolinguistically/methodologically oriented decisions about the inclusion of photos.
# Reduce YL bias towards vocabulary based exercises. Move into areas of flexible, creative use of photos/language in all the classroom contexts [see Hill, 2003, 174-182].
# Pay more attention to the ‘cultural content’ aspect of photo choice and how this is linked to the construction of a ‘world view’ [see Arikan, 2005, 29-38].
# Use photos to encourage ‘engagement’ of learners through the feelings/impressions provoked by photos which lies at the heart of their meaning [see Giaschi 2000, 32-46]
Thanks for being here… Please contact me if you’d like to discuss any of the issues raised in this talk ... My e-mail address is
