Many years ago, I was first introduced to the paintings of JMW Turner.

At that time, I knew little about the background to his works or the historical context in which they were created.

Nor did I know much about the man himself, the history of art, or even how artists experimented with different materials and modes of composition.

I knew little about the ‘ways of seeing’ artists develop, or how they seek to convey these through their work.

Yet none of this mattered as I stood looking at the paintings of light and landscape hanging on the walls in front of me.

It felt as if I were falling into the majesty of celestial scenes wrung out of the commonplace world.

As if the canvases were washed with emotion, painted with twin brushes, one real and one ghostly.

The colour spread across the surface while the feelings of the artist, channelled through the divine, were entwined with the paintings by threads of light, unseen yet felt.

When I look at Turner’s paintings today, I still get the same sense of nature recast in the light of enigmatic spirituality.

Whether this was intended by the artist and whether other people would see his work in the same way is immaterial.

What is clear is the latent power that images possess to draw thought and emotion from the viewer.

Ways of Seeing

On coming across a picture or drawing, you find yourself looking at another person’s mediation of experience.

A photograph captures the world as it was once seen; in painting, an artist transfers from their mind what it is they see.

Both make a way of seeing available to others.

The structure of the image plays a major role in the meaning it conveys or evokes.

An abstract painting, for example, may be intended to speak more about the relationship between colour, form and shape than a portrait, in which those elements are subjugated to the communication of the subject’s appearance (or the artist’s interpretation of their appearance).

Even so, the viewer will not necessarily take the same meaning from the image as that which the artist set out to convey.

Equally, the artist may aim to sustain multiple meanings within the same piece of work, leaving it to the viewer to tease these out or project their own.

These thoughts connect to our topic of using images to help EAL learners by showing that the relationship between a viewer and an image is not always straightforward yet is often powerful.

For me, Turner makes plain in his paintings things that I feel about the world but which I do not have the words to say.

Even with page after page of writing arranged with the greatest care and consideration, I doubt I would be able to come close to encapsulating what it is that, for me, is given voice through his work.

Communicating Through Images

Visual media offers a different way of communicating to that provided by language. Written or spoken.

It possesses a different structure and a different logic to that of the word.

It can ‘say’ things far more quickly, or in much less space.

It can articulate a feeling or a thought that is not amenable to language.

It can move us closer to being able to enunciate an idea, prodding us in a certain direction or making connections for us which are, at present, one step beyond our linguistic capacities.

When working in the classroom, we can call on the power of images. Particularly to support our EAL learners.

We can use images as another means of communication.

In so doing, we recognise that:

• (i) Visual media conveys meaning.
• (ii) Visual media conveys meaning differently from written and spoken language.

If the second were not true, there would be no point discussing visual media in the context of EAL learners.

If the first were not true, there would be no point discussing visual media at all.

Supplementing Language

Perhaps the most useful role that pictures can play in the classroom, particularly when working with EAL learners, is as supplements to writing and speech.

Supplements are an addition, not a replacement.

Think of the Sunday supplements that come with the main section of the newspaper.

The main section is available every day and forms the continuous output through the week.

The supplements are an addition.

They arrive at the weekend when people have more free time and can read at leisure.

Pictures can supplement the words you use when speaking to learners or when giving them written information.

You probably do this to some extent already when creating your resources.

For example, if you use PowerPoint slides to structure your lessons, you may include images to illustrate some of the things you say.

The great advantage that images hold over language is that they do not require the same prior learning.

A learner who has just arrived in your classroom with no knowledge of English will nonetheless be able to understand pictures of things with which they are familiar.

Images can guide learners.

Even if they cannot access the meaning of what is being said, a relevant image can make clear what topic is being discussed.

This provides purchase for the learner. A way to start making sense of what is happening.

They can think about what they know using their first language, or whatever standard of English they currently possess.

Using pictures as guides also helps EAL learners to feel included in what is going on.

They can decode them and think about them, whatever their present stage of English language development.

They also help EAL learners by prompting them to connect what they are hearing, and the written words they are seeing, with the areas of thought the images signify.

To put it another way, images help direct the linguistic assimilation and interaction in which EAL learners are engaged.

Images Contextualise Words

This can be broad or specific, and I’ll give an example of each.

Studying the topic of Henry VIII, you might choose to contextualise the language broadly by displaying images of kings from a variety of different cultures, both real and fictional.

There could also be pictures of leaders, expanding the theme beyond that of monarchy.

All of this offers context to the topic.

Context an EAL learner can decode.

On the other hand, if you were teaching the geography of rivers, contextualising images might include examples of a river mouth, a delta, and a meander.

These could be displayed beside each word, making it clear what is being referred to.

Here again we see images providing context, only it is much more specific.

In this example, that extends to the images providing visual definitions of the terms in question.

The decision about whether to use images for broad or specific purposes will depend on your area of study and where you feel your EAL learners are at.

Either way it will help them.

Some words, rules or phrases are well suited to images, or a collection of images, that demonstrate their meaning or the actions being requested.

If you have class rules, these could be accompanied by images that show them being correctly and incorrectly followed.

A series of images could indicate to what an abstract word refers.

For example, a circle, followed by an arrow, followed by a straight line, with the circle and straight line both labelled as being the same length.

This could demonstrate change, translation or similarity.

In these examples, we are using images to help EAL learners deal with more complex language.

It can be a creative, challenging experience for the teacher to think up intelligent uses of pictures for language that is conceptual, or which is command-based.

You could even ask your class to help you come up with ideas.

This will lead to all of them thinking carefully about language and how to translate its meaning into visual form, while also helping your EAL learners.

As noted, my experience with Turner took me beyond words.

You may also be able to use images to achieve this effect with your EAL learners. For example:

There are certain words that carry specific connotations for most native English-speakers.

In the United Kingdom ‘class’ and ‘parliament’ are two examples.

These words include various histories that children brought up in Britain tend to be exposed to.

Using images to supplement words like these, and explaining them, helps EAL learners pick up on meanings that we might take for granted but which are, in fact, culturally specific and rarely made explicit.

Images and Memorisation

A simple benefit of using images we have not yet mentioned is as an aid to memorisation.

Invoking multiple areas of the brain when learning new information has been shown to aid memory.

Many techniques for enhancing memory are predicated on making visual associations with words or objects.

EAL learners will most likely be learning and remembering far more than the rest of your class.

Your use of pictures will help them to associate words with images. This should help them to more easily memorise the new language they encounter.

Turning the classroom relationship around, we can also imagine how EAL learners may find images a useful means of communicating with the teacher.

By drawing or sketching their thoughts or feelings, learners who cannot articulate what they would like to say in speech or writing can make their ideas comprehensible.

While this might lack some of the nuance of language, they still give the learner a ‘voice’ in the classroom and help them to establish rapport and build a relationship with the teacher.

Diagrams

The final aspect of the use of images that I would draw your attention to is a special case we touched on briefly when thinking about how to demonstrate abstract concepts or rules.

It is that of diagrams.

Diagrams can communicate things that are difficult, lengthy or technically challenging to express through words.

They are an aid to understanding. They elucidate meaning and simplify language.

Their use is a matter of judgement, based on the question: ‘Will they make things clearer for the audience?’

If the answer is ‘yes’, then they are well worth using.

Think, for example, of the tube map on the London Underground.

Or a set of IKEA instructions.

In both cases, diagrammatic visualisation is used to convey information that is difficult or impossible to convey adequately through writing.

I have sketched in outline some of the ways you can use pictures and images to assist your EAL learners.

I have also suggested how you might use them in your resources.

In the EAL Knowledge Base, you’ll find links to a range of tried-and-tested image-focussed strategies you can use to develop your practice.

See which work for you – and for your learners.