Classroom Use of
Culturally Authentic
Images
A Practical Approach
Michael Bush
Brigham Young University
Michael_Bush@byu.edu
Approach for Yesterday
Learn about language
 Memorize vocabulary
 Memorize grammar rules

Images in the Language Classroom
Education in the Information Age
Humans have learned through sights
and sounds for thousands of years.
 Images and sounds are compatible with
today's students.
 How do our students learn today?

The textbook!
Images in the Language Classroom
Big Question

Primacy of text?
Images in the Language Classroom
Socrates’ view on writing…
This discovery of yours will create
forgetfulness in the learners' souls,
because they will not use their
memories; they will trust to the
external written characters and not
remember of themselves.
Plato’s “Phaedrus”
Images in the Language Classroom
Socrates’ view on writing…
The specific which you have discovered is an
aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and
you give your disciples not truth, but only the
semblance of truth; they will be hearers of
many things and will have learned nothing;
they will appear to be omniscient and will
generally know nothing; they will be tiresome
company, having the show of wisdom without
the reality.
Plato’s “Phaedrus”
Images in the Language Classroom
History of Communication
A story of humankind bridging time and
space with increasing fidelity…
 Multimedia (not only text, but images,
sounds, and video): A natural step in
the evolution of communication and
information technology.

Images in the Language Classroom
Audiovisual Organism

Vision and images were critically
important to our survival as a species,
along with speech and hearing,”
Mary Alice White, Columbia's Teachers' College
Images in the Language Classroom
“Story” as Medium

People think in terms of stories. They
understand the world in terms of stories
that they have already understood. New
events or problems are understood by
reference to old previously understood
stories and explained to others by the
use of stories. (Roger Schank, Tell me
a Story)
Images in the Language Classroom
Why use pictures?
Learning psychology
Multi-modal, multi-sensory presentations
 Connections to schemata
 Binding
 Semantization

Images in the Language Classroom
Binding
Binding is the term I propose to
describe the cognitive and affective
mental process of linking a meaning to
a form. The concept of binding is what
language teachers refer to when they
insist that a new word ultimately be
associated directly with its meaning and
not with a translation.
Terrell (1986)
Images in the Language Classroom
Semantization
Evidence is mounting that the use of visual
representations may precipitate the semantization
process. Especially with concrete picturable words
(e.g. table, house) the picture serves as an
associative aid to constructing the conceptual
network that is connected with a word. Pictures not
only represent reality but they can, through selective
presentation of cues, provide a prototypical meaning.
Pictures appear to be importantly implicated in
concept formation and in this respect they obviously
affect how well we remember verbal material
Beheydt (1987, p. 62)
Images in the Language Classroom
Culturally authentic pictures?
Varying Perceptions of reality
 Denotation versus connotation (pain)
 Conceptual accuracy
 Functional culture (un chariot)

Images in the Language Classroom
Images in the Language Classroom
Images in the Language Classroom
Joy’s study
Vocabulary and culture
 Significant differences

Images in the Language Classroom
Images in the Language Classroom
Gina’s study
What made the difference?
 Think aloud protocols

faire les courses
 un chariot


Direct versus indirect
Images in the Language Classroom
Quand on va au supermarché, on veut un chariot pour
transporter les produits.
Images in the Language Classroom
Les Français aiment ces petits
magasins parce qu’ils sont près
de chez eux, et aussi parce que
les produits sont frais.
Beaucoup de personnes
préfèrent aller aux petits
magasins parce que la qualité
est très bonne.
Images in the Language Classroom
En général, les Français font les
courses plus souvent que les
Américains.
Images in the Language Classroom
Current Images Database
Approximately 4,000 photos
 France, Canada and Senegal
 BYU library electronic archives
 High quality PhotoCD

Images in the Language Classroom
Organizing Images

Framework

Threshold Level

Council of Europe
– Database

One approach


Pre-fabrication
Roll your own

Folder structure
Images in the Language Classroom
A Thousand Words:
The Power of Authentic Cultural
Pictures
LA POUTINE
LA POUTINE
Québec
France (Nice)
Une journée comme une autre…
• Ecoutez l’histoire
• ET
• regardez les images…
Nice
la mer
la plage
le petit déjeuner
nager
le marché
la mer
la boulangerie
le pain
les bons gâteaux
une tarte aux fruits
des millefeuilles
un caddie
du lait
des oeufs
du beurre
des pâtes
chez le charcutier
du pâté
des saucisses
du jambon
du fromage
à la poissonnerie
du poisson
des calmars
des huîtres
des crevettes, du crabe, des moules et des coquillages
au marché
des haricots verts, des tomates et des endives
des fraises
des framboises
des fleurs
une salade
à la plage
La Fin
Approach for Today
“Constructing” knowledge
 Learn by doing

Images in the Language Classroom
Grammar?
Yes!
 Change the role of grammar:

From the starring role
 To a supporting role.

Images in the Language Classroom