This contribution is intended as a plea for the reappraisal of drawing as a means of active visual inquiry in Visual Literacy. Active visual inquiry is a most adequate concept to describe the first two phases of the sub-domain of 'producing' in the revised Common European Framework of Reference for Visual Competency (CEFR-VC): 'the competency to…

This paper addresses some of the theoretical and practical implications of the Common European Framework of Reference for Visual Competency (CEFR-VC), developed through the European Network for Visual Literacy (Envil), in the context of international trends in curriculum design. Empirical application of the Framework is examined through the…

Among the most difficult aspects of building visual literacy is creating awareness of manipulation, a task made continuously harder by the prevalence of 'Photoshopped' or digitally altered photos through fake news or our everyday usage of photo editing apps. So how are educators to build awareness of visual literacy when manipulation has become…

Theory of mind skills are critical to understanding and interpreting many illustrations in primary school literature especially those which are used in material for the purpose of learning to read. Unfortunately, children who learn to read at an early age as well as mainstreamed children, such as those with autism, often have grave deficiencies in…

In my university classroom teaching, I draw on my interdisciplinary background as both a humanistic scholar and a documentary filmmaker, presenting an approach to learning that integrates scholarship with a digital storytelling practicum. Questions that scrutinize the relationship between written and visual discourses, the possibilities and limits…

This qualitative case study explored the experiences of two teachers participating in a visual literacy online professional development course sponsored by a state-funded art museum. As the world becomes more visual, there is a continued need for teachers to develop the skills needed to foster visual literacy in their students; therefore, the goal…

For creating and reading data visualizations, visual literacy is crucial. This article advances the knowledge about graphical variations and conventions related to the basic graphical element of the graphical line used as a connector in data visualizations. Some visual characteristics of connecting lines can be used to show directionality and thus…

The multitude of disciplines, perspectives, and practices that inform the study of visual literacy is incredibly valuable, but at the same time it means our research lacks a shared set of methodologies and methods. Unfamiliar research approaches may lead to mistrust of research findings and, even more problematic, to missed opportunities for…

This contribution evaluates opportunities and challenges concerning the conception and utilization of visuals in current German geography textbooks from multidisciplinary theoretical perspectives. The designer's point of view, with insights from visual communications, information design, user experience design, and instructional design, will be…

Until today, the most accepted notion about the coinage of visual literacy as a concept has been credited to John Debes in the late 1960s. In this paper, the authors describe the use of available digital tools to unearth a history of the concept of visual literacy in education that precedes in roughly 30 years these events. These overlooked years…

Textbooks do not only offer information on specific topics and delineate competence development but provide insights into a society's socio-cultural norms and values by means of representations. In particular, this refers to the diversity with which classrooms, groups of friends and families are depicted in textbooks. The contribution at hand…

This paper is concerned with multimodal literacy involving the different kinds of knowledge required to fully access texts with multiple semiotic resources used in reading comprehension test tasks. Such literacy requirements have not drawn researchers' attention to date, mainly because the foreign language teaching and testing project has…

Visual literacy has evolved alongside information literacy and media literacy, reflecting social, technological, and cultural changes. Rapidly advancing technology, multimodal access to information and disinformation, and political rhetoric increasingly impact the perception, trust, and use of visual media. These broader technological and cultural…

Today's society is highly visual, imposing the use of respective practices in Higher Education; under this scope the importance of images and multimedia alters the way 21st digital literacy is perceived. As technology advances, it is important for education professionals to learn how to read visuals through practicing and analyzing techniques, but…

The multi-disciplinarity of visual literacy has become even more pronounced in an age of digital information. What shared questions do we ask in our research, where does our work intersect and how do those intersections define the field of visual literacy? Through an analysis of the articles published in the "Journal of Visual Literacy"…