Abstract

In attempting to understand how learners might be supported in developing their multiliteracies, the authors reflected on the educational activity of creating visual products with technology from the perspectives of structuring and scaffolding. This paper presents a case study of two sets of activities that were implemented among university students in Japan. In the preliminary study, the students used a theoretical tool for creating visual products with the help of structures, but scaffolding by the teacher was spontaneous. In the main study, on the other hand, while the students used the same theoretical structure, the scaffolding by the teacher was systematic. According to the analyses of the data collected during the implementation and from the subsequent focus group interview, the learners were able to demonstrate the process of integrating the abstract concept of verbal thinking and the concrete images of visual thinking through the given theoretical structure. Furthermore, the teacher’s systematic scaffolding was found to have supported this process effectively. Based on these findings, the authors suggest that theoretical structuring facilitates learners’ verbal-and-visual thinking; and systematic scaffolding by a teacher reinforces the process of harmonization between verbal and visual modes.