Just as there are strategies for us to decode the words, sentences and language of written texts, there are skills and strategies that we can use to read and interpret images in visual text. This is visual literacy.
Visual literacy
From English K-10 Syllabus–Glossary
The ability to decode, interpret, create, question, challenge and evaluate texts that communicate with visual images as well as, or rather than, words. Visually literate people can read the intended meaning in a visual text such as an advertisement or a film shot, interpret the purpose and intended meaning, and evaluate the form, structure and features of the text. They can also use images in a creative and appropriate way to express meaning.
Visual literacy
From English K-10 Syllabus–Glossary
The ability to decode, interpret, create, question, challenge and evaluate texts that communicate with visual images as well as, or rather than, words. Visually literate people can read the intended meaning in a visual text such as an advertisement or a film shot, interpret the purpose and intended meaning, and evaluate the form, structure and features of the text. They can also use images in a creative and appropriate way to express meaning.
And this is why we teach visual literacy in the English classroom.
