1. visualsforlearning
professor elizabeth boling
students abdullah atuwaijri, jiyoon jung,
cagri yildirim, colin gray,
micah modell, craig howard

2. research question
identifying strategies learners
use to make sense of images
during the learning process

3. background and
relevant literature
- Extend existing research on the role of learner
interpretation of visuals (Boling, Eccarius, Smith, Frick, 2004)
- Literature reviewed includes readings in:
semiotics (von Engelhardt, 2002; Kress, 2004; Sless, 1986; Van
Leeuwen, 2001), aesthetics in the design of instruction
(Parrish, Wilson, & Dunlap, 2010); message design (Fleming,
1987); document design (Schriver, 1996); and cognitive
load theory related to multimedia (Mayer, Hegarty, S.
Mayer, & Campbell, 2005)
- A gap currently exists between theories
prescribing characteristics of visuals and the
authentic use of visuals in learning

4. naturalistic research design
- Dyads worked in pairs, agreeing on their choice of
images to match sentences in vocabulary practice
- All dyads used materials adapted from authentic
language learning practice activities with images
meeting message design guidelines
- Prompts were used by the researchers to
encourage verbalization; stimulated recall was
used to probe for further data
- Analysis
- repeated viewing of video-taped sessions and
transcripts
- identification of themes

5. participants & context
- Students from IEP (Intensive English Program) and
Near Eastern Languages and Cultures (NELC)
programs
- First language Arabic learning English
- First language English learning Arabic
- Total of 8 dyads between two programs
program male female
Arabic speakers
6 2
learning English
English speakers
6 2
learning Arabic

6. activity
someone giving
blood?
a girl who is sitting
on a floor?
a girl who is sitting
in a garden?
a pupil in a
classroom?
Which picture
shows a look of
concern?
someone listening
to something?
a library?
someone who is
missing someone?

7. data collection
- Use of existing level-appropriate language activity
with visual and textual elements video
- Subjects were video recorded while working in
teams to interpret instructional images in the arabic
context of completing the chosen instructional translation
activity, reflecting on the activity in their native
language
- Arabic video recordings were transcribed and transcription
translated into English by an outside party for further
analysis by the research group
- English video recordings were transcribed and
Arabic words were translated

8. observations
- learners‟ strategies are not entirely available to
the themselves; they are not verbalized in a
direct manner and analysis is necessarily
interpretive
- “everyone‟s been to the Wells library … “
- strategies are not distinct between visuals and
text; learners move back and forth,
opportunistically privileging one or the other
- support was found for Schriver‟s (1996) hypothesis
that readers use all means available to interpret
texts (visuals and text)

9. preliminary analysis
- lived experiences and schema
- use of internal context
- comparing images and sentence structure
- interrogating the image—attending to content in
detail
- extrapolation from minimal cues
- “something about looking—there‟s a mirror …”
- “that word reminds me of „blood‟”

10. remaining analysis & study
- complete transcripts and translations
- full, repeated review
- hypothesized strategies
- future study designs need to retain the authentic
learning context and focus more specifically on
the visual component of texts

11. references
Boling, E., Eccarius, M., Smith, K., & Frick, T. (2004). Instructional illustrations: Intended meanings and
learner interpretations. Journal of Visual Literacy, 24(2), 185-204.
Fleming, M. L. (1987). Designing pictorial/verbal instruction: Some speculative extensions from research
to practice. In The psychology of illustration. (pp. 136-57). New York: Springer Verlag.
Fleming, M., & Levie, W. H. (1993). Instructional message design: Principles from the behavioral and
cognitive sciences (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Educational Technology Publications.
Kress, G. (2004). Reading images: Multimodality, representation and new media. Information Design
Journal, 12(2), 110-119.
Mayer, R. E., Hegarty, M., Mayer, S., & Campbell, J. (2005). When static media promote active learning:
Annotated illustrations versus narrated animations in multimedia instruction. Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Applied, 11(4), 256-65.
Parrish, P., Wilson, B. G., & Dunlap, J. C. (in press). Learning experience as transaction: A framework for
instructional design. Educational Technology.
Schriver, K. A. (1996). Dynamics in document design: Creating text for readers. New York: Wiley
Computer Publishing.
Sless, D. (1986). In search of semiotics. Totowa, New Jersey: Barnes & Noble Books.
van Leeuwen, T. (2001). Semiotics and iconography. In T. van Leeuwen & C. Jewitt (Eds.), Handbook of
visual analysis. (pp. 92-118). London: Sage Publications.
von Engelhardt, J. (2002). The language of graphics: A framework for the analysis of syntax and
meaning in maps, charts and diagrams. Amsterdam: Institute for Logic, Language and Computation,
Universiteit van Amsterdam.

13. activity content
- someone giving blood? look of concern?
- a girl who is sitting on a - someone listening to
floor? something?
- a girl who is sitting in a - a library?
garden?
- someone who is missing
- a pupil in a classroom? someone?
- Which picture shows a