Using Visual Literacy to Engage ELLs

By Heather Jung

Teachers often struggle to assist ELLs in learning grade level content in Science and Social Studies.  The frustration of trying to teach content to students with limited English proficiency often cause teachers to either lower the standards for these students or engage them in meaningless, worksheet based activities.  Neither of these provides ELLs with adequate instructional opportunity.

Our ELLs do not need watered-down instruction; they need instruction that is both accessible and meaningful, and provides the same content knowledge as their grade level peers.  

So, how can we accomplish this?   One way is to use visual literacy to build student background knowledge prior to content instruction with grade level peers.  Access to prior knowledge builds confidence and leads to more risk taking behaviors.  These factors are critical for student success.  Using Visual Literacy to build prior knowledge allows students to construct meaning without experiencing the confusion they encounter when confronted with text. It also builds student fluency and functionality in this critical form of literacy.

We live in an increasingly visual world where the ability to both convey and decode ideas presented in images is increasingly important.  Using online resources such as: YouTube and Google Images, we can expose students to instructional  content visually.  This provides students with practice learning verbal meaning using visual literacy.  We can use the understanding created through visual literacy as a basis to build understanding and oral language around content.  Once understanding and oral language are secure, we can begin to link that understanding to the abstract world of communication through text.

For example, when I was teaching a group of ELLs in 2nd grade about thunderstorms, tornadoes, blizzards, droughts, and floods in science, I showed them YouTube videos about each topic.  Then, I had them sort picture cards to sequence the events shown in the videos.  Only, after the students had worked with the information visually, did we begin to discuss the topic and build oral language around the content.  When the oral language was secure, the students were able to write about their understanding of weather.  All of this instruction occurred with my ELLs before the content was introduced to the general education population in the class.   As a result of having built strong prior knowledge for the ELLS students they were able to fully participate successfully in whole-group content instruction.