VO C A B U L A RY

Extending Childrens Vocabulary

and Comprehension Through
Oral and Visual Literacy
Victoria Cochrane

Questions
What impact does a childs existing vocabulary
have on their comprehension of text without
pictures? How do pictures help children to construct
meaning?

Before Reading

After Reading

The children who drew the first picture said: I

know dragons breathe fire, so sea-dragons must
breathe water.

The activity

Definitions

PR IM AR Y

Visual literacy can be defined as the ability to

construct meaning from visual images (Giorgis,
Johnson, Bonomo, Colbort et al., 1999, in Bamford,
2003, p. 146). It is knowing which text to use to create
meaningful learning (and communication). Think
of all the different ways we can communicate: by
writing, speaking, drawing, or gesture; by using
words, numbers, images, symbols, or colours. Each
one is a different tool in the literacy toolbox and part

PR AC TIC ALLY

The following activity was originally conducted

with a Grade 2 and a Grade 3 class. Pairs of
children were given a sheet of paper with a piece
of text from Jeannie Bakers (2000) book The Hidden
Forest. Without reading the book, and without
any assistance to understand unknown words,
the students worked together to interpret the
text and draw a picture to represent what they
thought passage meant. The class was then read the
story twice, and they discussed their pictures in
comparison with the text. The vocabulary of their
piece of the text was clarified through looking at
the detail in the pictures and through looking at the
dictionary if they saw that this was necessary. The
same partners then re-drew the same picture, this
time using the book as reference if they saw that this
was needed. I later used another of Jeannie Bakers
(1997) books, Where the Forest Meets the Sea with
Grade One and Two students in the same way.
The activity was conducted over two, sometimes
three sessions, so it was time consuming. Finishing

off the activity on different days meant there was

sometimes a problem with children maintaining the
same partners. I chose to do this as a co-operative
activity because it was unfamiliar, both in procedure
and in some of the language content, so working
with a partner was a scaffolding technique. Where
possible I partnered a more capable child with a
child who was currently at a lower ability level.
I also tried to partner a boy with a girl, in such
ways creating a learning intention of teaching and
expecting children to work collaboratively outside
their friendship group; there are some children who
find this social skill difficult, even when it is a simple
activity. However, the activity could easily be done
as an individual exercise, and/or with older children
using picture books with more sophisticated
concepts.
Originally, this activity was conducted as a
visual literacy exercise, but the understandings that
emerged through the childrens work went a lot
deeper than that. I realised that it was an exercise
in comprehension involving oral language as well
as visual literacy, and that it highlighted, very
strongly, how readers make meaning. Without prior
knowledge of the pictures supporting the text, the
specific context of the text and, for some learners,
comprehension of the topic vocabulary, the children
had to draw upon their existing knowledge. They
had to use what they knew, which is what all
learners do when they come across an unfamiliar
word, sound or concept.

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Before Reading

After Reading

Ben gazes at the water, but its like a mirror.

He parts some kelp to reveal rock alive with all kinds of strangely, beautiful textures.

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Gigantic golden trees of kelp reach towards the sun.

Shafts of sunlight shimmer in their branches.

I pretend it is a hundred million years ago (Where the Forest Meets the Sea, Baker).
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of a semiotic system (Anstey & Bull, 2006). If we use

only one set of tools (words, sentences, paragraphs)
our literacy is limited to those things best expressed
with those tools.
Oral language is the foundation to literacy
and of learning in the classroom. An appropriate
level of oral language knowledge helps facilitate
academic growth in both language and the ability
to communicate effectively in all learning areas
(Munro et al., 2008). A deficit in a childs spoken or
receptive language, then, will have implications for
their language and literacy development.
The definition of a text is anything with which we
make meaning. Books, websites, videos, even smiles
and gestures can be thought of as texts. A visual text
makes its meanings with images or with meaningful
patterns and sequences (Moline 1995, 2012).

How children make meaning

After I had conducted this activity once, it occurred
to me how powerful a tool it is in teaching reading
comprehension. The childrens work shown clearly
demonstrates how children (and people in general)
make meaning. We do so in a number of ways:
We use what we know! We make
generalisations based on what we know to
make sense of the unknown;
We use our background knowledge and
experience;
We use the language and vocabulary that we
have in our repertoire;
We scan the pictures to find meaning in them;
If we cant do any of the above, we struggle to
make meaning at all.
How many of your students struggle to make
meaning? Can you understand why that might be
now?

What can we learn from this activity?

Emergent and visual learners rely on

visual information to make meaning
We cannot rely solely on oral and spoken language
when teaching primary school children! Even older
children, that is, in middle school, may have limited
vocabulary and background knowledge. This
suggests that when introducing new vocabulary or
concepts, we must remember that many children
need visual support to make meaning. Words can
have many meanings, depending on the context.
Quite often, the pictures give us the context for
words that could otherwise have multiple meanings
and contexts.

How can this activity be used in the

classroom?
Asking children to visualise unseen text is a
powerful tool for teaching the skills of visualisation,
generalisation, inferencing and prediction. It is
also extremely useful in teaching comprehension
through the expansion of childrens understanding
and use of language and topic-specific vocabulary.
Jeannie Bakers books are an excellent choice
because:
the text is rich in description and detail,
allowing for visualisation;
there is not too much text;
the topics are interesting; the content is not
unfamiliar;
a wide range of concepts are covered and there
are many titles to choose from.
It is important to choose your texts carefully
according to the students you are teaching, and to
consider whether you will make it an individual
or collaborative exercise. Even the simplest of
contexts and/or words may not be familiar to
some students, particularly if they have spoken
or receptive language issues, making it extremely
difficult for independent work. The possibilities for
optimal learning could be compromised without
careful consideration of the learning needs of the
students and the management of the conduction
of the activity. However, there are many possible
extensions to this activity that were not explored in
this article.

Conclusion

PR IM AR Y

Young children need visual information that

supports and extends their prior knowledge to
help them to make meaning from print. Extending
childrens vocabulary through visualisation of
text is a powerful tool for developing childrens

PR AC TIC ALLY

Conducting this activity was a timely reminder to

me that we, as teachers, talk too much, assume way
too much of our students and rarely use enough
visual prompts, especially for older students. We
cannot make assumptions that:
Our students have the language and/or
experiences that we expect them to have had, at
any age;
That when we talk, they understand everything
we say!
That children can visualise oral language;
That children understand even the most basic
of vocabulary or that they can make simple
word associations;
That children will apply their background

knowledge or experiences to help them make

meaning from text.

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comprehension of text and their ability to make

meaning in authentic and contextual ways. This
particular activity shows how empowering, or
disempowering, language in the classroom can be
for our students, depending on how teachers know
their students and structure the lessons to support
all students language learning.
References

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Anstey, M. and Bull, G. (2006). Teaching and learning

multiliteracies. Delaware, USA: International Reading
Association
Baker, J. (1987). Where the forest meets the sea. London, UK:
Walker Books.
Baker, J. (2000). The hidden forest. London, UK: Walker
Books
Cameron, M. (2008). Vocabulary development within an oral
language classroom. Retrieved on 27/4/13 from http://
students.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/LiteracyResearch/pub/
Projects/OL/1VocabDev_MCameron.pdf
Giorgis, Bonomo, Colbert et al., (1999). In A. Bamford,

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(2003). The visual literacy white paper. (p.146) Australia:

Adobe Systems. Retrieved on 23/2/2013 from
wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/.../visual-literacy-wp.
pdf
Moline, S. (1995, 2012). I see what you mean: Visual literacy.
(Second Edition). NSW, Australia: Black Cockatoo
Publishing.
Munro, N., Lee, K. and Baker, E. (2008). Building
vocabulary knowledge and phonological awareness
skills in children with specific language impairment
through hybrid language intervention: a feasibility
study. International Journal of Language and Communication
Disorders, 43(6), 662682.

Victoria Cochrane is a classroom and learning support

teacher at Table Cape Primary on the NW Coast of Tasmania. She
has previously worked as a Flying Start and Reading Recovery
teacher, a literacy/numeracy coach, and has worked as a literacy
advisor in a Commonwealth Government Pilot Project for the
Independent Schools Australia 2009/2010.

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