Nowadays, meaning-making through images, is embedded in Language Teaching Books. For decades now, teaching books and workbooks have had pictures and images to help convey meaning of a reading or to introduce a writing piece. We can say, synesthesia was already present many years ago, and it has been including more elements into its multimodal structure.

To mention some resources that have been acquired through time, we have, audios that could be selected by the Teachers, like songs, or speeches. Then teaching material began to include their own audios through cassettes, and later on, in CDs. Currently, teaching materials include links and hyperlinks to the audios made precisely for each section. Furthermore, the different editorials have their own online platforms where students and teachers have audios and videos as part of the teaching process. Students can access specific exercises where audios, videos and images are used to help them convey meaning.

As a Teacher, I believe this resources are invaluable, never the less, students can become accustomed to have different inputs that facilitate their effort to learn. I believe and hope the materials are examined by professionals who consider the double edge of overusing and bombing out different types of visual aids that could affect the students’ performance in learning.

The brain power of imagination is fascinating when creating an inexhaustible world in our minds through the image grammar. Regarding the thinkability that Locke mentions in his visual communications of the world and how it affects us, now, it has taken another meaning to me after watching the videos. I will definitely deconstruct the images I select from now on using the 5 dimensions of meaning taught in the videos. Now, we have more elements to take a better decision and be more careful on which path we want our students to be while using visuals.

https://www.coursera.org/learn/multimodal-literacies/lecture/28NOc/11-5-deconstructing-images

http://newlearningonline.com/literacies/chapter-11/john-locke-on-empirical-knowledge

http://newlearningonline.com/literacies/chapter-11/early-multimodal-literacies