Using Visuals
Beginning speakers of English may be able to secure meaning from visual sources they would be incapable of extracting from written sources.
Source: http://teachinghistory.org/teaching-materials/english-language-learners/24143
Image: https://www.quicksprout.com/2015/03/20/the-ultimate-guide-to-creating-visually-appealing-content/
Advantages of Using Visuals:
Are superior to texts (Clark and Lyons, 2004)
Reduce the need for translations and extra explanations (Brinton, 2001)
Serve as mental scaffolds for ELLs (Carney and Levin, 2002)
Support students who have different learning styles
Help us bring the reality "out there" inside the classroom (Evans and Green, 2006)
Reduce confusion and anxiety (Oxford, 2001)
Aid in motivation and maintaining attention (Kemp and Dayton, 1985)
Correlates to brain research and dual-coding theory - value in combining pictures, mental imagery and verbal elaboration (Paivio, 1991) as well as incorporating manipulatives or kinesthetic bodily experiences (Gibbs, 2006) -
Enhance memory retention (Clark and Lyons, 2004)
Source: https://www.ucm.es/data/cont/docs/119-2015-03-17-11.MariaRamirezGarcia2013.pdf
Visual information can provide the necessary bridge or scaffold between everyday language and more difficult academic language (Cruz, 2004).
sECONDARY SOCIAL STUDIES SLIDE PRESENTATION
This Edmonton Public Schools presentation provides practical ideas for using visuals to enrich learning in Div III and IV Social Studies classrooms; the strategies could be applied to other subjects.
Using visuals to support learning in the content (1).pptxVisuals help the teacher to clarify, establish, correlate and coordinate accurate concepts, interpretations and appreciations, and enable him to make learning more concrete, effective, interesting, inspirational, meaningful and vivid. (Mannan, 2005)
further ideas for visuals that support ELLs:
Definition Lists or Word Walls with Visuals (see image to the right)
Mind Maps (see example below - Prepositions: AT, IN, ON)
Visual prompts - photos, maps, video clips, objects, drawings, infographics
Anchor Charts - e.g., prepositions (see image to the right) or words to use in place of “said”
Content Vocabulary Word Walls (see Math word wall below)
Blog Post: http://scaffoldedmath.blogspot.ca/2015/09/high-school-math-word-wall-ideas.html
Article: Interactive Word Walls, Science and Children, September 2013
Add objects to words on the bulletin board (see Science word wall below)
Tier 2 Word Walls
Sentence Frames (see image below)
Need to Know from a Unit - condensed ideas, e.g. create a Children’s book or a digital book of key ideas
Novel Studies - create character bulletin boards with “artifacts” to help students keep track of characters and plot; represent the narrative in a series of significant images/quotes
Provide manipulatives such as storytelling prompts or dice to aid with idea generation and visualization
For more ideas: http://learningstrategieseng491.weebly.com/visual-aids.html
