Practising critical visual literacy through redesign in ELT classrooms

Abstract

The aim of this article is to argue for the relevance of critical visual literacy (CVL) in relation to intercultural learning in ELT and present a redesign task that has been implemented with secondary school EFL learners in Norway. CVL is an approach to reading images which acknowledges that all texts are constructed, rather than neutral, and that they work to position the reader to accept a particular view of the world. Redesign tasks encourage learners to engage critically with these positions and create alternative texts that better reflect their personal worldviews. Through presenting examples of learner redesigns of a multimodal advertisement created in a different cultural context, we discuss how the task facilitated critical reading, exploration of multiple perspectives and engagement with sociopolitical issues. Such critical reading skills are crucial for navigating the increasingly more complex visual and intercultural landscapes the learners encounter in their everyday lives.