Nicolas Hurst, The Department of Anglo-American Studies, The Faculty of Letters, The University of Porto, Portugal.

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1 Nicolas Hurst, The Department of Anglo-American Studies, The Faculty of Letters, The University of Porto, Portugal.

2 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 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

3 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.

4 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

5 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.

6 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

7 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

8 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

9 7th Grade [2004] Directly linked to L2 work? What type of L2 work/photo relationship? Cultural Connection The who, the where, the what Page No Yes Functionality [160 pages in Ss book] 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.

10 DATA ANALYSIS: OVERALL RESULTS THE BOOKS 7 TH GRADE [2004] 8 TH GRADE [2005] 9 TH GRADE [2006] TOTAL INSTANCES OF PHOTO.S DIRECTLY RELATED TO L2 WORK ILLUSTRATIVE OR DECORATIVE?? % 61.3% % 74.2% % 85.7%

11 DATA ANALYSIS: VOCAB RELATED L2 WORK THE BOOKS ELICIT VOCAB VOCAB MATCH RECYCLE VOCAB TOTAL VOCAB [12] 7 TH GRADE [16] 8 TH GRADE [15] 9 TH GRADE % 41.7% 16.7% 75% % 12.5% 6.3% 25% % 6.7% 0% 26.7%

12 DATA ANALYSIS: NON-VOCAB RELATED L2 WORK OUTSIDE CLASS IN CLASS RESEARCH PROMPT PROJECT PROMPT PICTURE PROMPT % OF TOTAL 7 TH GRADE [12] 8 TH GRADE [16] 9 TH GRADE [15] » [31] 0% 0% 0% 0% » [62] 12.5% 18.6% 31.3% 8.1% » [105] 0% 0% 60% 8.6%

13 Photos and People: 7 th 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%] Page No Yes Functionality [160 pages in Ss book] 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.

14 People in the photos: 7 th 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.

15 Photos and people across all 3 books [31] 7 th Grade [62] 8 th Grade [105] 9 th Grade Youth Celebrities Others People as a % of Total Photos in % 38.9% 33.3% 58.1% in % 24.3% 24.3% 59.7% in % 22.4% 22.4% 63.8%

16 Extreme 7: 118.

17 Extreme 9: 72.

18 Extreme 7: 81.

19 Extreme 8:

20 Extreme 7:

21 Extreme 9:

22 Extreme 9: 124.

23 Extreme 9: 150.

24 Extreme 9: 149.

25 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, ]. # 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]

26 Thanks for being here Please contact me if you d like to discuss any of the issues raised in this talk... My address is nrhurst@letras.up.pt

ATLANTIC CANADA ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS CURRICULUM, GRADE 9

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