11 — Visual literacy
So far we have focused on the written language of Guji-Guji, but a picture book, by its very nature, is so much more. In this sequence we will undertake a close examination of how pictures and text work together to make meaning. The Analysis of image and text in Guji-Guji provides background information. This will support you in devising questions that help the students in their reading and understanding of the story. It is a useful model that can be adapted to analyse other picture books.
Teacher resources
- Guji-Guji by Chih-Yuan Chen
- the online version of the story read by Robert Guillaume at Storyline Online or YouTube
- Book cover analysis worksheets.
Introduction
The students sort a selection of images according to the type of text they come from: an informative text or an imaginative text. Ensure they are familiar with these terms and their meanings; do not assume that they are.
Discuss and record the images on a chart for display (hard copy or digitally). Some possible responses are given in the table below.
| Images in factual texts are often: | Images in fiction are often: |
|---|---|
photographs |
imaginative; not realistic |
realistic drawings |
make-believe characters |
black-and-white line drawings |
animals that can talk |
diagrams |
animals that wear clothes |
charts |
colourful |
graphs |
drawings made with pencil, pastel or crayon |
labelled drawings or photos |
painted |
colourful but sometimes not |
lino prints or woodblock prints |
Explain that the students will now look closely at how illustrations are used in Guji-Guji.
Activity 1: Analysing a book cover and finding out about an author
Revise or teach the different elements and features of the cover, front and back of a book: title, illustrator, author, publisher, blurb, web address, reviews, picture and so on. The students can fill out a Book cover analysis worksheet (which could be used as the basis for comparison and study of other books).
The author/illustrator, Chih-Yuan Chen, is from Taiwan. Ask the class to find Taiwan on a map. Next, search for information about Chih-Yuan Chen on the internet (Wikipedia may be a good place to start). The students could highlight Taiwan on photocopies of a map of Asia and write a short report about Chih-Yuan Chen. This material could be made into posters for display in the classroom.
Activity 2: Thinking about the relationship between text and pictures
Read the story or play the audio from the Flash or YouTube version, without showing the illustrations, and lead a discussion about what the students like and dislike about not seeing the illustrations as they hear the story.
Read the story again, this time showing the illustrations, inviting comments and asking questions page by page. The focus is to encourage students to glean information from both text and image and to become aware of how images and text support each other, either:
- in a symmetrical relationship, where the words and images closely convey the same information
- in an enhancement relationship, where the images expand on the words or the words expand on the images
- in a counterpoint or contradictory relationship, where the words and pictures give contradictory information.
(From de Silva Joyce and Gaudin, Words and Pictures.)
Examples of questions you might ask:
- Pages 1 and 2: Why are there three brown eggs on these two pages? The words tell us the egg rolled; how do the pictures show the movement? How do we know there is going to be a surprise for Mother Duck? What do we learn from the picture that the words don’t tell us? (The new egg is much bigger than the others.)
- Pages 3 and 4: What does the picture of Mother Duck sitting on her eggs tell us? (It emphasises the fact that she was engrossed in her book, because the size of the strange egg is so obviously out of place.)
- Pages 5 and 6: How do we know the ‘rather odd duckling’ is really a baby crocodile?
Continue questioning for other double-page spreads. Use the Book cover analysis worksheet to suggest questions and discussion points. ACELA1469
Activity 3: Thinking about colour and visual representations
We can discover a lot about the characters from the way they are illustrated and the colours that are used. Ask the students the following discussion questions:
- What are the main colours in the illustrations? Why are the main colours so drab and gloomy?
- Which characters have some bright, cheerful colours (red and/or yellow)? Why?
- What colour is used on the crocodiles to emphasise that they are mean, cold, cruel creatures?
- What other techniques does the illustrator use to help the reader learn more about the characters? (Hint: Consider types of lines, shapes and size as well as position on the page.)
The students can fill in the Character comparison worksheet that lists the characteristics of the three main creatures according to how their body features are represented. Use this worksheet as the basis for a discussion about what the author is trying to convey through these elements of his illustration. You can show the students a sample of a Completed character comparison worksheet to compare with their own worksheet. ACELT1591
Reflection
Ask the students to think about other picture books they have read. Ask them:
- How important were the illustrations in your enjoyment of the book and in your understanding of the story?
- Are there some books that you would rather listen to or read without seeing the illustrations so you can use your imagination to create your own interpretation of the story?
Have a selection of books available to prompt the students’ thinking. These books should be kept available for reading during independent reading sessions.
List some of the class’s favourite picture books and illustrators.
