Visualizing intercultural literacy: engaging critically with diversity and migration in the classroom through an image-based approach

Abstract

Accessible forms of language, learning and literacy, as well as strategies that support intercultural communication are needed for the diverse population of refugee, asylum seeker and migrant children within schools. The research project Journeys from Images to Words explored the potential of visual texts to address these issues. Working in Glasgow primary schools within critical pedagogical frameworks that invite sharing of personal narratives and of cultural knowledge, the researchers examined and evaluated an image-based approach, both for reading and responding to a selection of children's texts and for obtaining an insight into the home literacy practices of diverse communities. In this article, a ‘generative theme’, as used by Paulo Freire is used to examine how students engaged with reading visual texts, shared their responses and extended their intercultural understanding. The results from this project provide evidence for the inclusion of visual texts and methodologies within critical pedagogies in order to develop intercultural literacy in the classroom.