TEACHING VISUAL LITERACY: MULTI-MODAL TEXT

Abstract

Teaching foreign languages in general and English in particular at University level presupposes incorporating multi-modal elements into the instruction process. In real life, which we help our students prepare for, we are not exposed to print-based texts only. On the contrary, we have to be able to read and interpret multi-modal materials which include illustrations, audio and video elements. Our research focus is on political cartoons: we analysed the covers and illustrations for the texts of the New Yorker magazine, which have persuasive capabilities due to the simultaneous use of verbal and visual channels of perception. Literacy research in multimodal forms includes a whole range of communication methods, a combination of visual and verbal forms. The meanings of each mode can be equivalent to each other, complement each other, or sometimes compete by offering conflicting meanings. The most common multimodal text form used in the classroom with students is informational texts, diagrams, infographics, as well as political cartoons and illustrations for texts containing key elements of information. It is believed that the meaning of a picture or an illustration is self-evident and is transparent to everyone regardless of one’s native language. However, adequate interpretation of an illustration featuring a political caricature does depend on the background cultural information a person should be familiar with. The results of the work showed that the magazine cover is a special communicative genre in which sociocultural components such as stereotypes, social myths and standards of behaviour are revealed.