Visual compositions can be used in the content areas to address comprehension problems posed by implicit factors in any content theme. The importance of a visual presentation for writing is that it can instantly portray the theme to be learned and act as a catalyst to elicit words and sentences to help explain that content theme. Stages of…

Film and writing each resolve quite differently the problem of how to communicate. Still, film can demonstrate some underlying principles that are helpful to writers, especially those writers lacking understanding or skill in certain writing principles. There are at least five principles that both film and composition portray: the importance of…

Describes a college teaching experience in which active visual analysis (hands-on deconstruction of visual statements to their constituent elements and principles) had an unblocking effect on concomitant writing assignments. Suggests that students can improve both verbal and visual articulateness when modes of perceiving and thinking are used…

Based on the idea that children can learn to write letters to friends and relatives as soon as they learn to write words, this visually oriented pamphlet presents practical classroom activities that primary grade teachers can use to encourage their young students to practice letter writing skills. The pamphlet contains instructions for making a…

Elementary and secondary teachers are recognizing that today's children are products of a visual era who bring visual literacy to their school language learning. Visual resources may be developed and used as a valuable motivational technique. The following programs utilizing this approach are outlined: Dorothy Lopez' development of polaroid…

For use by teachers in helping students become better writers, this booklet describes and illustrates cognitive mapping, a prewriting technique that helps students combine their verbal and visual skills in order to produce ideas and to plan stories, plays, reports, or essays. The first section of the booklet discusses the interrelations between…

The discussion presented here seeks to defend Lado's principle of "speech before writing" and focuses attention on the comparative effectiveness of audio versus visual presentation of language material. Reports on several experiments dealing with this problem lead the author to conclude that, as long as we have the tendency of verbalization or…

Writing exercises used as a means of reinforcing language presented and practiced in the spoken medium should include clear cues for the student that can stimulate and guide the writing of connected sentences. Three principles are suggested as being fundamental to the planning and use of effective exercises: (1) focus throughout should be on the…