A Path to Audiovisual Literacy

Abstract

Films have been on the educational scene for many school generations. But as with books, we still have not learned as much as we might about how best to "read" this source of information for comprehension as well as for speed. THIS article concerns a specific yet flexible way to develop &dquo;audiovisual literacy,&dquo; through learning to analyze, appreciate, and evaluate films. Students with whom this method has been used range from sixth graders to post-master's-degree candidates, from gifted to dull, from high school nonreaders to &dquo;special progress&dquo; classes on the junior high level, and from middle-class to &dquo;disadvantaged&dquo; backgrounds in both public and private schools.Let me describe the method and its application through the way participants learned to &dquo;read&dquo; an integrated series of select films to gain an understanding of another civilization. While the films dealt with India and Indian Asia, they could have dealt with any civilization, including our own. Though the method was used with films, it is important to keep in mind that it is applicable to most other media as well.After a consideration of the method and the films, I shall (1) describe the in-service training of teachers and their evaluation of the training, and (2) give some instances of what happened when various teachers used this method and the same films with their classes.