Creativity and innovations in ELT materials development looking beyond the current design, edited by dat bao, channel view publications

12 Fostering Self-expression: Learners Create Their Own Visuals Dat Bao The Need for Learners’ Contribution in Visual Resources Visual illustrations in ELT materials for a long time have

12 Fostering Self-expression:

Learners Create Their Own Visuals

Dat Bao

The Need for Learners’ Contribution in Visual Resources

Visual illustrations in ELT materials for a long time have been the work

of expert artists and photographers who are commissioned to support the content developed by course writers Sensible as it sounds, this process is massively a top-down practice as it draws a boundary between the supplier who distributes images and the user who receives them without any say over whether a picture seems culturally irrelevant or poorly pedagogical

To address such dominance, this chapter argues that language coursebook activities can arrange for learners to be involved in a process of drawing pictures to express individualised meaning If learners are recognised as rightful negotiators of their own learning, materials writers might consider occasionally liberating them from the heavy reliance on the illustrations provided by the coursebook This can be realised by inviting learners to create their own visuals as a way to share voices and perspectives

Research conducted by Bao (2006, 2017) shows that many English coursebooks tend to control the direction in which learners are supposed

to respond, such as simplifying reality without building an in-depth dis-cussion or interpreting the world they see In many cases, visuals neither stimulate critical thinking nor push imagination forward but tend to spoon-feed learners with ideas that constrain autonomy Some pictures restrict multiple senses and intelligences by showing learners what to see rather than inviting them to find and by asking learners to witness without much emotional engagement Others neglect logical intelligence as they ignore learners’ reasoning skills and ability to create connections among events Some fail to promote interpersonal intelligence by not offering the learner the opportunity to walk in the shoes of others Many tasks overlook intrapersonal intelligence by not allowing learners to analyse issues, feelings or dilemmas themselves Such examples run on indefinitely, Pictures allocate information in domineering ways that restrain learners’ self-expression

The Main Functions of Visuals in Course Materials

An overview of the literature over the past two decades reveals seven major functions in the use of visuals:

(1) To convey notions Coursebook visuals play the role of presenting

concepts (Kang, 2004), developing conceptions (Arif & Hashim, 2009), conveying messages (Canning-Wilson, 2000), clarifying meanings (Mannan, 2005) and building relations between words (Canning-Wilson, 2000)

(2) To construct knowledge Coursebook visuals assist learners in

vocabu-lary retention (Peterson, 2004; Clark & Lyon, 2004; Hendricks, 2005;

Altun, 2015), memory (Clark & Lyon, 2004; Watkins et al., 2004),

acquisition of linguistic expressions (Tomalin, 1991) and connection

of learning content (Clark & Lyon, 2004)

(3) To increase attentiveness Coursebook visuals arouse learner curiosity

(Mayer & Moreno, 2000), capture attention, build motivation (Bradshaw, 2003), maintain learning interest and stretch concentration span (Canning-Wilson, 2000)

(4) To organise discussion Coursebook visuals support the generation of

ideas (Adoniou, 2015), language processing (Canning-Wilson, 1998), interpretation of meaning (Arif & Hashim, 2009) and persuasive effect (Barry, 2001)

(5) To support learning Coursebook visuals promote student learning (Anglin et al., 2004), mental scaffolding (Fang, 1996), reading

com-petence (Carney & Levin, 2002) and the learning of the four macro language skills (Stoller, 1992)

(6) To support pedagogy Coursebook visuals perform well in introducing

lesson themes (Tomalin, 1991), giving paralinguistic cues (Canning-Wilson & Wallace, 2000), economising the teaching task (Brinton, 2001), contextualising language (Mukherjee & Roy, 2003) and promoting aesthetic appreciation (Fang, 1996)

(7) To increase resources Online digital visuals are characterised as

free-of-cost materials (Snelson & Perkins, 2009) with high accessibility (Snelson & Perkins, 2009) and the ability to build learners’ confidence

in speech (Shrosbree, 2008)

In a nutshell, visual images in course materials have made teaching and learning easier and more convenient by capturing learner attention, demon strating vocabulary concepts, explaining linguistic features, providing practice of the four skills, illustrating lesson content and stimu-lating classroom discussion Despite all this, the guidance for visual use

in most coursebooks remains controlling With discussion topics being specified by the writer, the illustrative visual serves as a pointer to that content rather than stretch beyond it As a result, learners are not trained

to produce their own meaning independently; nor are they encouraged

to articulate their thoughts in a detached manner from the designated content when necessary

The effect of visuals remains deficient because they does not support learners’ high-order thinking facility The discourse so far has not produced any indication of how visuals can inspire learners’ original ideas, push imagination further, stimulate reflection on their own experi-ences, encourage differing viewpoints, promote awareness of social issues, facilitate judgement and encourage learners’ self-initiated debate Instead, learners play a submissive role as content followers without being able

to come up with their own issues of interest Learners find little room to become proactive agents of their own learning

Learners’ Need for Meaning Making

Learner voice matters, not only in adjusting pedagogy but also in improving materials quality Respecting learner voice requires materials to foster learners’ ability to generate opinions to discuss ideas in depth and to explore their own thoughts One practice that makes the learning process highly productive is the opportunity to express oneself divergently, which, according to Saracho (2012), is closely connected to creativity

Creativity starts at an early age among humans and tends to reduce

as one ages, especially if such skills are not properly nurtured through upbringing and education Creative behaviour is often spontaneous, original and self-expressive (Isenberg & Jalongo, 2001; Saracho & Spodek, 2013) When students enter school, they bring with them a background in reading not only words but also pictures – drawings, cartoons, comics, illustrations, animated visuals – and such experiences with images should

be taken more seriously Many educators with rich experience working with children have agreed that open-ended materials such as play-dough, blocks, sand and self-initiated drawings can stimulate alternatives and have great potential to generate rich learning A review of how scholars discuss learner-generated visuals can shed some light on such potential

Discourse on Learners’ Drawings

The literature in education has acknowledged that, from an early age, drawing pictures represents a practice of language use connected to both spoken and written forms Vygotsky (1978) refers to children’s drawings

as graphic speech and Newkirk (1989) regards drawing as a writing ability

in itself Malchiodi (1998) observes that drawings provide one with the potential to convey metaphors Over the past six decades, many scholars who have conducted research into students’ visual-creating skills have concluded that drawing can serve as:

• a ‘method of conveying ideas as surely as language’ (Sibley, 1957: 6);

• a kind of visual awareness which children have more than adults (McDermott, 1974);

• a representation of artistic cleverness (Gardner, 1980; Goodnow, 1977);

• a rehearsal for writing (Grave, 1983);

• a form of encoding meanings (Sulzby, 1990);

• a way to develop a viewpoint (Jacobs & Tunnel, 1996);

• a demonstration of ability to see the world (Jacobs & Tunnel, 1996);

• ‘a constructive process of thinking in action’ (Cox, 2005: 123);

• an expression of engagement (Einarsdottir et al., 2009);

• the representation of one’s learning environment (Nedelcu, 2013);

• an expression of identity (Schaenen, 2013)

In many cases, adults’ assumption about students’ needs and preferences can be misleading and damaging to their learning (Keddie, 2000) This is particularly true when learners’ views are excluded from pedagogical practice Such lack of trust in students’ ability demonstrates pedagogical subjectivity and poor collaboration in research Carl Jung (1939: 285) once made a statement that somehow conveys the depth of such understanding: ‘If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves’

In recent decades, there have been appeals for educators to believe

in students as social actors (Wyness, 2000), experts on their own lives (Mason & Urquhart, 2001) and legitimate research informants (Neale, 2004) Since drawing is an important means of communication (Nedelcu, 2013), it should be made an available option in students’ learning reper-toire According to Kress (2000), some conceptual understandings cannot

be expressed through language with the same impact as they are conveyed through imagery Visual choice, as advocated by Sidelnick and Svodoba (2000), can be regarded as an individualised way to organise learning Literacy pedagogy must allow for multiple modes of presentation (Kendrick & McKay, 2004) and being able to treat all modes of meaning as equally significant is taking a constructive step towards building a multi-modal approach to enrich learning (Kress & Jewitt, 2003)

Some Examples of Learners’ Self-initiated Visuals

In a research project conducted by Bao (2017), learners were invited to write and draw about their dreams or main concerns in life The drawing shown in Figure 12.1, by Landy, a 15-year-old student from a middle-school English class in China, is an annotated story of how humans have destroyed the living environment over the last four decades The sketch comes in four panels, representing four gradual stages in the development

of the story

Figure 12.1 ‘The environment story’ Source: Student drawing (Bao, 2017: 33)

As is visible in Landy’s drawing (not reproduced in colour here, but anyway drawn largely in monotone), in 1970, the tree, apparently sym-bolising a forest, was ‘very green’ The river was ‘very clean’, with ‘many kinds of fish’ in the water The person sitting on the river bank with his fishing rod was catching a ‘very big fish’ By 1980, the environment had became less wholesome: the tree was now just ‘green’ and the river merely

‘clean’ The kinds of fish had decreased and the person could catch only

‘a very small fish’ By 1990, the situation had become worse: the tree was now orange, the river dirty, there were no more fish, and the person trying hard to fish ended up getting a shoe By 2000, nature had been utterly ruined: the tree was bare of leaves and the river had turned into mud due

to excessive rubbish; all the fish had died and the person ironically dipped his brush in black water as ink for writing These scenarios contain an advanced level of complex thinking, as analysed below

• There is a causal relationship between humans and the environment, between human needs and natural resources, between humans’ mistakes and negative responses from nature, as well as between humans’ destruction of nature and its consequences

• There is a glaring contrast between the artist’s humour and the sad reality

• The development of actions is framed in respective components, namely the tree, the river, the supply of fish and the person’s action, each of which is a story in itself, yet together they form the whole theme

• The development of moods changes gradually from a positive initial state to the negative ending in a logical, dramatic manner

• There is consistency in size, layout and components across the four panels

Landy’s drawing works as a narrative tool A narrative, as defined by Malchiodi (1998: 43), is ‘a story or a recounting of past events, a history, statement, report, account, description, or a chronicle’ With minimal writing, the drawing takes a dominant role in indicating a complex, advanced range of tasks, such as asserting a position, expressing views

of the world, demonstrating logic and solving a social or psychological problem It is also noted that each component in the drawing provides

a different kind of information through the language of metaphors and symbolisation

Studies of meaning making in children’s drawings have noted students’

ability in developing sequences (Einarsdottir et al., 2009), among other

skills Although Boyden and Ennew (1997) contend that drawings often function as the basis for discussion, the student has shown that drawing can be the main discussion in itself rather than merely serve as a stimulus Landy’s work also presents a system of symbolisation, where the tree

stands for the forest, the river indicates water supply, the character denotes the human community and the act of fishing characterises basic human needs These elements not only tell us about the student’s perspective but, more importantly, they allow us to look into the author’s mind and follow her thinking process

In a second example (Figure 12.2), Angela, a 14-year-old Chinese student, uses her imagination in a creative way that stretches her thinking beyond the everyday world and she shares a fantasy story The character comes from outer space and his interaction with the Earth seems unique and amusing

In this story, Alf, a young alien spy, comes to the Earth in a UFO called ‘con-purposes’ When flying over a museum, however, the spaceship suddenly drops to the ground and the alien is captured He gets locked

up in a case to serve as an exhibit for entertaining visitors The drawing reveals two important abilities, namely, to adopt terms used by Kendrick and McKay (2004: 122), ‘imagined identity’ and ‘metalinguistic awareness’ Not only does Angela invent a mythical alien who is not part of her life

Figure 12.2 ‘The alien’ Source: Student drawing (Bao, 2017: 40)

reality, but she also displays the ability to formulate tones and emotions that make her characters more believable Such metalinguistic features are evident in the alien’s confidence as a spy, his sadness when captured, and the museum visitors’ excitement on viewing the new exhibit in a glass case Additionally, Angela attempts to develop vocabulary in her own way, which are ‘Alf’ and ‘con-purposes’, and she also creates characters’ speech, such as ‘I want to be [a] spy’ and ‘he look[s] like cool!’

With innovative ways of telling stories, these personalised visuals are worth embedding in coursebook activities for learners to enjoy, comment, interpret and relate to their own thinking It is through such interaction with virtual peers that learners can feel their creative expression is welcome and will develop the confidence to play with their imagination Research shows that self-initiated drawings allow learners to exercise the ability

to build sequence, develop a reasoning procedure, create logic and solve problems (Bao, 2017) Without such graphic thinking-aloud, one might not be able to construct meaning so efficiently The literature also indicates that drawing encourages a different kind of intelligence (Brier & Lebbin, 2015), including greater awareness of detail (Baldwin & Crawford, 2010), comprehension of feeling beyond words (Kantrowitz, 2012), hypothetical exploration skills (Brier & Lebbin, 2015) and the ability to collect multi-sensory cues (Willis, 2012) These extensions of learner competence should not be restricted by a conventional classroom that involves students mainly

in the written word and through many uncreative textbook pictures Arguably, such activities will also allow the teacher to see learners’ thought, attitude, behaviour, preferences and interaction styles In a study which explored student perceptions of their teacher, Weber and Mitchell (1999) found that a large number of drawings depicted the teacher as someone invariably talking in front of a blackboard or from behind the desk, rather than socialising with students This response shows how students recognise the typical teacher, reveals what most teachers do and provokes further thoughts on the need to make teachers less boring In another project, by Bao (2015), many students’ drawings portrayed the teacher as a giant, standing next to students, who were shrunk into min-iatures This narrative suggests a relationship in which the former held far more power than the latter Such spontaneous output provided by students

is so genuine and thought-provoking that they are valuable substance for classroom discussion

Through self-driven drawings, learners form a reasoning procedure and graphic work is a way of thinking aloud for meaning construction This understanding is manifest in a research study conducted by Helm and Katz (2001) in which a four-year-old child drew images of shelves to assist her own thinking and to explain to others how she made them As research has demonstrated, complex thinking ability in learner visuals should inspire materials writers to come up with activities in which there

is a problem to be solved Some examples would be how to wash a gorilla,

how to build a tree-house and how to save a bicycle that has fallen into a river Once given such a task, students can develop their own solution and draw it in pictures

Proposed Activity Models for Learners’ Creative Participation

This section recommends three types of task which I have piloted in the classroom in various countries and which have generated enthusi-astic, creative responses from learners The first model invites learners

to complete a scenario or find the hidden story The second provides a structure for story-making through both visuals and words The third supports learners in reviewing previously learned vocabulary and in using it in a new context The activities in this discussion are examples

to demon strate the models, based on which course writers might like to consider creating similar tasks

Activity 1: Reveal the hidden story

The first activity is called ‘Reveal the hidden story’ It introduces to the class the drawing segment shown in Figure 12.3, which can be presented

on a PowerPoint slide or printed out as a handout for students

Figure 12.3 Reveal the hidden story Source: Dat Bao’s drawing (Bao, 2010: 61)

The picture is deliberately left unfinished, to stimulate the viewer’s imagination Learners work in groups to share ideas and complete the scenario The pedagogical aim of the task is to engage students in an amusing reflection on life experiences Figure 12.4 shows some examples

of responses from the classroom, each of which represents a snapshot of

a story developed by learners Together with their image presentation, learners also provide a title, a plot, a set of characters, a problem or conflict, a solution, a short dialogue, an ending, a follow-up picture if necessary and the moral of the story These elements are provided in a framework as a metacognitive strategy that guides story construction and

presentation The discussion also involves peer questions, new possibili-ties and additional elements such as social context, animals, object items, time and atmosphere

From a learning perspective, this collaborative process requires learners

to exercise creativity, explain tension, write amusing dialogues, interpret behaviour, express emotions and exchange views on gender relationships

In an international classroom, the activity might stimulate individual and cultural reactions to the way men and women might behave in learners’ contemporary society Some topics and issues created by learners include, for example, dating, marriage, verbal argument, fighting for food, a singing contest, brushing teeth, domestic division of labour, planning a trip, going to the dentist, practising pronunciation and so on

From a social-affective perspective, perhaps the most remarkable part

of this process is that almost all learners who engage in the activity feel the urge to capture the hilarious side of life and come up with a witty comedy

to entertain one another In this way, the class is filled with laughter every time a story is shared To make all of the above happen requires some degree of pedagogical imagination on the part of materials writers so that a picture does not have to equal one idea but opens new doors to multiple meanings After all, the value of a coursebook visual should be measured not by how splendid the image looks, but by how far it engages learners, how much learning it generates and how effectively the cognitive, metacognitive, kinaesthetic, social-affective and sociocultural domains in the learner’s mind are triggered

Figure 12.4 Learner responses to ‘Reveal the hidden story’ Source: Dat Bao’s

drawings based on classroom discussion