Diana George - Visual Communication

George, D. (2002). "From Analysis to Design: Visual Communication in the Teaching of Writing" in CCC, 54.1, September

Because of the debates that typically surround the teaching of writing in terms of visual literacy, the kinds of assignments limit the imagination for composition. There's more to be accomplished with using visual communication in the composition classroom. Drawing, again, on the New London Group (1996) and multiliteracies, George encourages the use of visual communication. Specifically, she writes, "I actually believe that some tug of war between words and images or between writing and design can be productive as it brings into relief the multiple dimensions of all forms of communicatio" (14).

This argument is the same being made by Arts Based Research Methodology and one I explored at Rethinking Validity.

Students have grown up in a "visually aggressive culture" (15) that should be addressed in composition.

Visuals assist writing with a purpose and so George asks students for a "visual argument" (28) that "make a claim or assertion and attempt to sway an audience by offering reasons to accept that claim" (29). History has traditionally linked words to high culture and visual to low culture (31)

George concludes, "For students who have grown up in a technology-saturated and an image-rich culture, questions of communication and composition absolutely will include the visual, not as attendant to the verbal but as complex communication intricately related to the world around them.