Reading Images

Kress & van Luhen’s discussion of the valuation of the printed word (verbal) reminded me of Samuel Johnson. When Samuel Johnson set out to write the first English language dictionary, he wrote a proposal to ask for funding. In his proposal he said that his purpose was to “put down once and for all” the English language so that it can never be changed. Seven years later in the preface to the first English language dictionary, he stated that because language was always changing, it was impossible to set it once and for all. New words and new meanings are added to the dictionary every day, especially words that reflect cultural phenomenon like how we now “google” information.

At the time of their writing, Kress & van Luhen noted that there was “opposition to the visual”…that is based on an opposition to the situation. For example, in Composition classes, the written word is highly valued, so much so that they are required, general education classes. This value comes from the need for literate students who will enter the workforce. Employers constantly say (no matter the major) that they want to hire someone who communicates well. And the higher one goes in the organization, the more writing they will be required to submit. But one movement in Composition is the interest in assigning multimodal composition (combination of text, images, and audio). Most programs today are embracing this notion, but the written word still seems to be privileged. Once I was invited to talk to teaching assistants about technology and composition. I showed them a visual composition that focused on a female boxer with a voice over narration that was poignant. I tried to find it again but couldn’t, but I remember one line: “How do you know she is committed. Just look at the muscles in her neck.”  There was in fact very little narration. Most of it was a movie of this woman boxer. I thought it was striking, but all the teaching assistants could focus on was fear because they didn’t know how to teach it, how to interpret it themselves, or how to make it. New teaching assistants are always nervous in the beginning anyway, but faced with something they didn’t even know how to create was really scary to them. They worried about being able to work the technology in the classroom and if they’d be able to handle it. They said, What if I don’t know how to do something. I said to ask a student. Chances are someone will know. I understand that fear, though, because I was once a first-time TA. It was just so different/new that they couldn't imagine how to go about it.