Reading the visual

Beach scene from the Image, Text and the Child unit website. Images used on the site are under licence from the State Library of New South Wales.

Two education experts from Macquarie University are collaborating on a study with young children, exploring the ways in which they understand images.

Dr Susan Roberts and Dr Jane Torr, both senior lecturers in the Institute of Early Childhood (IEC), undertook the research because of the changing notion of ‘literacy’ in our society. Everything we read, they say, from government and company reports to newspapers and textbooks, are richer in pictures and visual design than ever before.

There is also hot debate about the impact of computers on literacy. One side says computers rob children of the chance to become verbally literate, while the other contends that those who are computer-savvy are also likely to be better at understanding all contemporary texts, including books.

How they are working

Roberts and Torr are following four-year-olds into their homes and videoing them as they play computer games. Then they film them as they read picture books. They also join parents in observing the children at play, keep diaries, and discuss “what they mean by what they say”. “We have to spend a lot of time understanding the children’s world,” says Roberts.

They also note gestures, facial expressions, the way children position themselves in relation to the screen and their carers, and what they have to say about what they see.

Using analysis developed by Halliday and others, Roberts and Torr will determine how the children use visual elements of electronic and print-based materials to construct meaning. They will then develop a theory-based method to transcribe and analyse children’s interactions with the material.

Image, text and the child

In the units Roberts teaches at the Institute, two explore images related to childhood. Students consider the way children were and are depicted in art and popular culture. Then, using the specially-designed websites Reading the Visual and The Family Album, a language for describing images is explored. The sites are themselves designed as teaching tools, and have been assessed for effectiveness in use.

“We were interested in user perceptions of the clarity of the navigation for locating information, and whether students were engaging with what they found in meaningful ways,” says Roberts. They assessed responses through self-reflection, a questionnaire and an interview, and modified the sites accordingly.

“Understanding the way visual grammar works is an important step in teaching and extending visual literacy in early childhood,” she says.

A third unit in the course looks at the nature of images addressed to the child viewer by adults, as in children’s picture books. The fourth outlines the processes by which children learn to make sense of images.

“We hope our work will be of relevance to both educators and parents in guiding the way young children use both technology and print,” says Roberts.

For further information, contact Dr Susan Roberts at susan.roberts@mq.edu.au

The Institute of Early Childhood website is at www.aces.mq.edu.au

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