12 Fostering Self-expression: Learners Create Their Own Visuals Dat Bao Copyright © 2018 Channel View Publications All rights reserved 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 discussion 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 193 Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/monash/detail.action?docID=5316843 Created from monash on 2021-06-30 12:55:22 194 Part 3: Improving ELT Materials Through Teacher and Learner Involvement The Main Functions of Visuals in Course Materials Copyright © 2018 Channel View Publications All rights reserved 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 vocabulary 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 competence (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 (CanningWilson & 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 freeof-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, demonstrating vocabulary concepts, explaining linguistic features, providing practice of the four skills, illustrating lesson content and stimulating 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 Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/monash/detail.action?docID=5316843 Created from monash on 2021-06-30 12:55:22 Fostering Self-expression 195 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 experiences, 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 Copyright © 2018 Channel View Publications All rights reserved 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: Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/monash/detail.action?docID=5316843 Created from monash on 2021-06-30 12:55:22 196 ã ã Copyright â 2018 Channel View Publications All rights reserved • • • • • • • • • Part 3: Improving ELT Materials Through Teacher and Learner Involvement 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 repertoire 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 multimodal 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 middleschool 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 Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/monash/detail.action?docID=5316843 Created from monash on 2021-06-30 12:55:22 Copyright © 2018 Channel View Publications All rights reserved Fostering Self-expression Figure 12.1 ‘The environment story’ Source: Student drawing (Bao, 2017: 33) Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/monash/detail.action?docID=5316843 Created from monash on 2021-06-30 12:55:22 197 198 Part 3: Improving ELT Materials Through Teacher and Learner Involvement As is visible in Landy’s drawing (not reproduced in colour here, but anyway drawn largely in monotone), in 1970, the tree, apparently symbolising 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 ã ã ã ã Copyright â 2018 Channel View Publications All rights reserved • 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 Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/monash/detail.action?docID=5316843 Created from monash on 2021-06-30 12:55:22 Fostering Self-expression 199 Copyright © 2018 Channel View Publications All rights reserved 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) Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/monash/detail.action?docID=5316843 Created from monash on 2021-06-30 12:55:22 Copyright © 2018 Channel View Publications All rights reserved 200 Part 3: Improving ELT Materials Through Teacher and Learner Involvement 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 multisensory 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 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 miniatures 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, Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/monash/detail.action?docID=5316843 Created from monash on 2021-06-30 12:55:22 Fostering Self-expression 201 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 enthusiastic, 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 demonstrate the models, based on which course writers might like to consider creating similar tasks Activity 1: Reveal the hidden story Copyright © 2018 Channel View Publications All rights reserved 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 Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/monash/detail.action?docID=5316843 Created from monash on 2021-06-30 12:55:22 202 Part 3: Improving ELT Materials Through Teacher and Learner Involvement Copyright © 2018 Channel View Publications All rights reserved Figure 12.4 Learner responses to ‘Reveal the hidden story’ Source: Dat Bao’s drawings based on classroom discussion presentation The discussion also involves peer questions, new possibilities 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 Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/monash/detail.action?docID=5316843 Created from monash on 2021-06-30 12:55:22 Fostering Self-expression 203 Activity 2: Contextualising grammar Copyright © 2018 Channel View Publications All rights reserved This task, which is called ‘If I was/were’, aims to promote learners’ creativity and self-expression To begin with, learners are given the cartoon shown in Figure 12.5 to read for enjoyment Later it also serves as a template for them to draw their own fiction Figure 12.5 ‘If I was a robot’ Source: Funky Junk website Retrieved from https:// www.funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/1236258/If Based on that template (Figure 12.6), learners are invited to construct their own story The activity can be performed individually or in small groups The stories are later presented to the class, to another individual or to another group This process can generate a follow-up discussion with comments and questions The class might like to vote for the most thought-provoking and entertaining piece of work Figures 12.7 and 12.8 are example of learners’ responses from the actual classroom The respective texts are reproduced below: Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/monash/detail.action?docID=5316843 Created from monash on 2021-06-30 12:55:22 204 Part 3: Improving ELT Materials Through Teacher and Learner Involvement Copyright © 2018 Channel View Publications All rights reserved Figure 12.6 ‘If I was a…’ template Source: Dat Bao’s adaptation of Figure 12.5 Figure 12.7 ‘If I was a cat’ Source: Student drawing Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/monash/detail.action?docID=5316843 Created from monash on 2021-06-30 12:55:22 Fostering Self-expression 205 Figure 12.8 ‘If I was a witch’ Source: Student drawing Copyright © 2018 Channel View Publications All rights reserved If I was a cat, I would sleep all the time, and keep eating When I got angry, I’d threaten a mouse And fight with others I’d hang out with kitty And date Doraemon If I was a witch, I would scare people And I would cook any food with magical power When I got angry I’d ride a broom at hig[h] speed And break some mountains I’d hang out with Harry Potter And date a handsome vampire The visual template serves as a self-scaffolding tool that stimulates learners to come up with fictional ideas and weave them into their own design Although guidance is provided, learners can exercise the freedom to find their own topic, practise a syntactic structure, contextualise language use, play with imagination, conceive communication among characters, relate compatible elements, develop logic, have fun, share stories with classmates and integrate the four macro skills During presentation, individuals have a chance to state what else they would if they were the chosen characters This follow-up discussion might generate more creative options and language practice can be stretched in individualised, innovative ways Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/monash/detail.action?docID=5316843 Created from monash on 2021-06-30 12:55:22 206 Part 3: Improving ELT Materials Through Teacher and Learner Involvement Activity 3: Translating images into words Copyright © 2018 Channel View Publications All rights reserved A third activity, called ‘translating images into words’, helps learners review previously learned vocabulary by putting words into context Learners are invited to draw tiny images within a text to replace words that they wish to revise, as shown in Figure 12.9 The task can be performed in groups Each group creates a text comprising both pictures and words They then invite another group or the class to read the text aloud Every time readers encounter an image, they will need to speak the appropriate word You can try reading the visual reproduced in Figure 12.9 Figure 12.9 Relationship scenario, with translation of images into words Source: Dat Bao’s drawing (Bao, 2010: 62) The activity not only elicits vocabulary but also contextualises learning through follow-up tasks For example, after studying the text shown in Figure 12.9, learners can develop the boyfriend’s perspective within the same story and imagine how he might talk about the girl They can also build multiple scenarios, such as a counselling session, a family role-play with parental involvement, a set of email exchanges with friends, a discussion in a lonely-heart column in a popular magazine, among others The activity covers many learning functions, including problem-solving skills, interpersonal strategies, intrapersonal issues, writing in different Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/monash/detail.action?docID=5316843 Created from monash on 2021-06-30 12:55:22 Fostering Self-expression 207 genres, dialogue writing, role-play improvisation, emotional expression, decision justification, anticipation of reactions, sharing advice and so on The activity taps into the complexity of real-world situations where a wide range of language skills and social communication abilities are involved Pedagogically, learner drawings not only generate creative ideas and language use but also need to promote the integration of the four macro skills alongside many social skills that students will need to engage in authentic communication These tasks can lead students to generate something different from the everyday textbook, inspire creative effort, experiment with methods of conveying ideas, develop divergent thinking, promote awareness of social problems and facilitate value judgement Copyright © 2018 Channel View Publications All rights reserved Conclusion This chapter has recommended ways to bring learners’ worlds into the classroom for individualising materials content The suggested models not only tap into the social context where learners live but also make their inner self more visible when individuals contribute to the classroom process with their own wisdom, imagination and personality It is the balance between relevance and originality that is hard to achieve but once accomplished will have the power to lift learning quality to the next level Commonsensically, drawing is a literacy strategy that serves to manipulate words and an optical channel in the brain that helps restore the flow of ideas From an economic perspective, owing to learners’ contributions to materials, resources will be richer, ideas will be more diverse and the cost of coursebooks will be lower From an innovator perspective, since there have been commonplace, similar ways of exploiting visuals in commercial coursebooks, it is about time for learners to embed their fresh, different voices into ELT materials so as to keep the everyday classroom process from being repetitive and predictable Drawing, as a tool for self-expression, however, does not have to be a stand-alone resource but can serve, in Vygotsky’s (1962) view, as graphic manifestation that informs writing in a dialogic process Gardner (1980) believes that the mixing of visuals and words represents complex conceptualisation Other scholars also indicate the positive impact of learners’ drawings on cognitive competence (Piaget, 1956), language development (Kendrick & McKay, 2004) and on the strengthening of writing abilities (Adoniou, 2013, 2015) If we see learning as a lifelong process, drawing in the classroom can start any time, even with learners of young age As children grow, they adjust to the demands and priorities of their social environment, which might lead to a change in perspective (Adi-Japha et al., 2010) If educators not nurture young learners’ artistic expression, these skills may perish over time and weaken their imagination Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/monash/detail.action?docID=5316843 Created from monash on 2021-06-30 12:55:22 208 Part 3: Improving ELT Materials Through Teacher and Learner Involvement Copyright © 2018 Channel View Publications All rights reserved References Adi-Japha, E., Berberich-Artzi, J and Libnawi, A (2010) Cognitive flexibility in drawings of bilingual children Child Development 81 (5), 1356–1366 Adoniou, M (2013) Drawing to support writing development in English language learners Language and Education 27 (3), 261–277 Adoniou, M (2015) English language learners, multimodality, multilingualism and writing In J Turbill, G Barton and C Brock (eds) Teaching Writing in Today’s Classrooms: Looking Back to Look Forward (pp 316–332) Norwood: Australian Literacy Educators’ Association Altun, F (2015) The use of drawing in language teaching and learning Journal of Educational and Instructional Studies in the World (4), 91–93 Retrieved from http://www wjei s.org/FileUpload/ds217232/File/10a._altun.pdf Anglin, G.J., Vaez, H and Cunningham, K.L (2004) Visual representations and learning: The role of static and animated graphics In D.H Jonassen (ed.) Handbook of Research for Education Communications and Technology (pp 865–913) New York: Simon and Schuster Arif, M and Hashim, F (2009) Young Learners’ Second Language Visual Literacy Practices Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press Baldwin, L and Crawford, I (2010) Art instruction in the botany lab: A collaborative approach Journal of College Science Teaching 40 (2), 26–31 Bao, D (2006) Developing materials for local markets: Issues and considerations In J Mukundan (ed.) Readings on Materials II (pp 52–76) Selangor: Pearson Longman Bao, D (2010) The teaching of language through interactive cartoons Education Technology Solution 34, 60–62 Bao, D (2015) Images of dreams and hopes: Hmong and Yao primary students in Northern Thailand In J Brown and N.F Johnson (eds) Children’s Images of Identity: Drawing the Self and the Other (pp 169–180) Rotterdam: Sense Publishers Bao, D (2017) Learner drawing as connected with writing: Implications in ELT pedagogy and materials development European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL (1), 27–47 Barry, A.M (2001) Faster than the speed of thought: Vision, perceptual learning, and the space of cognitive reflection Journal of Visual Literacy 21 (2), 107–122 Boyden, J and Ennew, J (1997) Children in Focus: A Manual for Participatory Research With Children Stockholm: Radda Barnen Bradshaw, A.C (2003) Effect of presentation interference in learning with visuals Journal of Visual Literacy 23 (1), 41–68 Brier, D.J and Lebbin, V.K (2015) Learning information literacy through drawing Reference Services Review 43 (1), 45–67 Brinton, D.M (2001) The use of media in language teaching In M Celce-Murcia (ed.) Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (3rd edn) (pp 459–475) Boston, MA: Heinle and Heinle Canning-Wilson, C (1998) Visual support and language teaching TESOL Arabia News (4), 3–4 Canning-Wilson, C (2000) Practical aspects of using video in the foreign language classroom Internet TESL Journal Retrieved from http://itestlj.org/articles/canningvideo.html Canning-Wilson, C and Wallace, J (2000) Practical aspects of using video in the foreign language classroom Internet TESL Journal (11), 1–36 Carney, R.N and Levin, J.R (2002) Pictorial illustrations still improve students’ learning from text Educational Psychology Review 14 (1), 5–26 Clark, R.C and Lyon, C (2004) Graphics for Learning: Proven Guidelines for Planning, Designing and Evaluation Visuals in Training Materials San Francisco, CA: Pfieffer Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/monash/detail.action?docID=5316843 Created from monash on 2021-06-30 12:55:22 Copyright © 2018 Channel View Publications All rights reserved Fostering Self-expression 209 Cox, S (2005) Intention and meaning in young children’s drawing International Journal of Art and Design Education 24 (2), 115–125 Einarsdottir, J., Dockett, S and Perry, B (2009) Making meaning: Children’s perspectives expressed through drawings Early Child Development and Care 179 (2), 217–232 Fang, Z (1996) Illustrations, text, and the child reader What are pictures in children’s story-books for? Read: Horizons 37, 130–142 Gardner, H (1980) Artful Scribbles New York: Basic Books Goodnow, J (1977) Children’s Drawing London: Open Books Grave, D (1983) Writing: Teachers and Children at Work Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Helm, J.H and Katz, L.G (2001) Young Investigators: The Project Approach in the Early Years New York: Teachers College Press Hendricks, S (2015) Speed Drawing for Vocabulary Retention Retrieved from http:// ameri canenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/53_1_teaching_techniques_speed_ drawing_vocabulary_retention.pdf Isenberg, J.P and Jalongo, M.R (2001) Creative Expression and Play in Early Childhood (3rd edn) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merill Jacobs, J.S and Tunnel, M.O (1996) Children’s Literature, Briefly Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Jung, C.G (1939) The Integration of the Personality Oxford: Farrar and Rinehart Kang, S (2004) Using visual organizers to enhance EFL instruction ELT Journal 58 (1), 58–67 Kantrowitz, A (2012) The man behind the curtain: What cognitive science reveals about drawing Journal of Aesthetic Education 46 (1), 1–14 Keddie, A (2000) Research with young children: Some ethical considerations Journal of Educational Enquiry (2), 72–81 Kendrick, M.E and McKay, R (2004) Drawings as an alternative way of understanding young children’s constructions of literacy Journal of Early Childhood Literacy (1), 109–128 Kress, G (2000) Multimodality In B Cope and M Kalantzis (eds) Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures (pp 182–201) London: Routledge Kress, G and Jewitt, C (2003) Introduction In C Jewitt and G Kress (eds) Multimodal Literacy (pp 1–18) New York: Peter Lang Malchiodi, C.A (1998) Understanding Children’s Drawings New York: Guilford Press Mannan, A (2005) Modern Education: Audio-Visual Aids New Delhi: Anmol Publications Mason, J and Urquhart, R (2001) Developing a model for participation by children in research on decision making Children Australia 26 (4), 16–21 Mayer, R.E and Moreno, R (2000) Engaging students in active learning: The case for personalized multimedia messages Journal of Educational Psychology 92 (4), 724–733 McDermott, G (1974) Image in Film and Picture Book Athens, GA: University of Georgia Mukherjee, N and Roy, D (2003) A visual context-aware multimodal system for spoken language processing Retrieved from http://web.media.mit.edu/~dkroy/papers/pdf/ mukherjee_roy_2003.pdf Neale, B (ed.) (2004) Young Children’s Citizenship York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation Nedelcu, A (2013) Analysing students’ drawings of their classroom: A child-friendly research method Revista de Cercetare şi Intervenţie Sociala 42 (1538-3410), 275–293 Newkirk, T (1989) More Than Stories – The Range of Children’s Writing Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Piaget, J (1956) The Child’s Conception of Space New York: Macmillan Saracho, O.N (2012) Contemporary Perspectives on Research in Creativity in Early Childhood Education Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing Saracho, O.N and Spodek, B (2013) Handbook of Research on the Education of Young Children (3rd edn) London: Routledge Schaenen, I (2013) Hand-I coordination: Interpreting student writings and drawings as expressions of identity Qualitative Report 18 (12), 1–24 Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/monash/detail.action?docID=5316843 Created from monash on 2021-06-30 12:55:22 210 Part 3: Improving ELT Materials Through Teacher and Learner Involvement Copyright © 2018 Channel View Publications All rights reserved Shrosbree, M (2008) Digital video in the language classroom Jactcall Journal Selected Papers (1), 75–84 Retrieved from http://journal.jaltcall.org/articles/4_1_Shrosbree pdf Sibley, A.G (1957) Drawing of kindergarten children as a measure of reading readiness Master’s thesis, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York Sidelnick, M.A and Svoboda, M.L (2000) The bridge between drawing and writing: Hannah’s story Reading Teacher 54 (2), 174–184 Snelson, C and Perkins, R.A (2009) From silence film to YouTube: Tracing the historical roots of motion picture technologies in education Journal of Visual Literacy 28 (1), 1–27 Stoller, F.L (1992) Using video in theme-based curricula In S Stempleski and P Arcano (eds) Video in Second language Teaching: Using, Selecting and Producing Video for the Classroom (pp 25–46) Alexandria: Teachers of English to Spears of Other Languages Sulzby, E (1990) Assessment of emergent writing and children’s language while writing In L.M Morrow and J.K Smith (eds) Assessment for Instruction in Early Literacy (pp 83–109) Englewood Cliff, NJ: Prentice Hall Tomalin, B (1991) Video, TV and Radio in the English Class: An Introductory Guide London: Macmillan Vygotsky, L (1962) Thought and Language Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press Vygotsky, L (1978) Mind in Society Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press Watkins, J.K., Miller, E and Brobaker, D (2004) The role of the visual image: What are students really learning form pictorical representations? Journal of Visual Literacy 24 (1), 23–40 Weber, S and Mitchell, C (1999) Reinventing Ourselves as Teachers: Beyond Nostalgia London: Falmer Press Willis, J (2012) Brain-based teaching strategies for improving students’ memory, learning, and test-taking success Childhood Education 18 (23), 310–315 Wyness, M (2000) Contesting Childhood London: Falmer Press Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/monash/detail.action?docID=5316843 Created from monash on 2021-06-30 12:55:22 ... sociocultural domains in the learner’s mind are triggered Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, ... expression, these skills may perish over time and weaken their imagination Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, ... alien’ Source: Student drawing (Bao, 2017: 40) Creativity and Innovations in ELT Materials Development : Looking Beyond the Current Design, edited by Dat Bao, Channel View Publications, 2018 ProQuest