Visual Literacy: Intermediality: How the Use of Multiple Media Enhances Learning

Author(s): Diane Lapp, James Flood and Douglas Fisher

Source: The Reading Teacher, Vol. 52, No. 7 (Apr., 1999), pp. 776-780
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Literacy Association
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VISUAL LITERACY_
Editors and coauthors: Diane Lapp
James Flood
San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA

Coauthor: Douglas Fisher

San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA

Intermediality: How the use of multiple

media enhances learning
dents he asks the

^
Fatima (all names are pseudonyms), a and to add to their character
fourth grader in Mr. Lee's class, has webs if they have new in read Chapter 4. At
just been introduced to Shiloh (Naylor, sights. Fatima wrote in her ter, students use
1991), the story of an 11-year-old boy journal, "I hope Shiloh gets question each other
who befriends a dog that he believes saved and can live with Marty. I re the book and to ch
has been abused by a previous owner. member when my mom took me to the ing. The Question
On the first day of this language arts animal shelter. I found Shadow, my ship (Raphael, 19
lesson, Mr. Lee reads the first chapter cat." She also adds to her character web children underst
aloud. Then he asks students to create
from the insights she has gained about the question and
character webs of Marty, the 11-year
Marty from the discussion she had with sources to respon
old they just met in the book. He ex her friends. -^?v expected
plains and demonstrates that a
On the second day of this language w*~ >v characte
character web is a visual representation
of the character with lines coming from
arts lesson, Mr. Lee reads aloud ^gggg day as well as to write jour
Chapter 3. After a discussion with stu nal entries. Fatima adds the
the drawing. The lines are used to write
words that describe what is known
about the character from the text.
Fatima thinks for a moment before she Figure 1
writes "caring, eats rabbits, lives in the
Character web
country, animal lover" on her picture of
Marty. caring
Fatima and the other students will lives in the country
keep their character webs and add to
them as they get to know Marty better.
Mr. Lee asks the students to share their
webs with a partner. When the students
?50& finish, Mr. Lee uses a
I Ah??MI "book club" format through eats rabbits
HI ?I il whicn mree heterogeneous
^ groups of students read and
discuss the next chapter. He smiles as
he overhears Fatima saying that she
hopes Marty will become a veterinarian
when he gets bigger so that he can save
animals. When the groups finish talk
ing, the students are asked to write their
animal lover
reactions to the chapter in their journals

776 The Reading Teacher Vol. 52, NO. 7 April 1999 ?1999 International Reading Association
(pp. 776-780)

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words "talks funny, has two sisters,
giving, sleeps on the couch, brave" to
her character web and then writes in her
journal, "It is sad that Marty's family
doesn't have enough food to eat. I think
we should be kinder to people and ani
mals so that everyone has enough to
eat. I would protect and feed Shiloh
like Marty did."
After lunch a guest joins Fatima's
class. Officer Donna Graham works for
?the local Animal Control
Department. She talks for a
few minutes about kindness
to animals and then shows a
video about efforts to ensure that ani
mals are well cared for. Officer
^s^ Graham often visits schools
n^^ I to talk about her work. At
I \ the end of the presentation,
Fatima writes a thank-you
letter to Officer Graham on a classroom
r^?i computer. She uses Print
I MB I Shop so that she can in
^L?-^J elude pictures of animals in
her note.
Before she leaves school for the day,
Fatima checks her e-mail. She has a let
ter from her keypal in New York. Fatima
tells Cheyene that her class is reading
Shiloh. She continues, writing "You
should read this book, it is very impor
tant to know about meanness to animals.
Officer Graham came to our class today
and talked about people who are mean
to animals. I'm glad that Marty, in the
book, is saving Shiloh. What's with you?
Talk to you tomorrow."
On the third day of this language arts
QQf\ lesson, Mr. Lee reads aloud
I Afl?Ai Chapter 5 and engages stu
II At li dents m a reciprocal teach
ing activity (Palincsar &
Brown, 1984) in which students partner
read Chapter 6. Chapter 7 is then read
in "book club" format (Flood & Lapp,
1994; Lapp, Flood, Ranck-Buhr,
VanDyke, & Spacek, 1997; Raphael,
Goatley, McMahon, & Woodman,
1995). While the students are dis
cussing the chapter, Mr. Lee circulates
among them helping, modeling, and
__?y encouraging as needed.
\sf \. Following the book club w^N. "Marty was still right for
^\ggg group reading and journal
writing, students talk about
the success that Marty is having as he
attempts to keep Shiloh safe. They also
update their character webs. Fatima
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Figure 2
Character web?first update
brave
lives in the country
eats rabbits
friends with David
talks funny
sleeps on the couch
adds the words "hero, friends with
David, fibs to adults."
At the computer center, Fatima's
group looks at several Web sites that
j^?i provide information about
[Mil animal rights and animal
J??^Introcruelty.
//111IH j Her teacher has a
list of such sites for her to
examine. She takes notes in her jour
nal about the sites. Fatima looks at
www.peta-online.org/kids/index.htm
and reads a magazine with pictures
about animals. She also sees pictures of
animals waiting for adoption in New
York where her keypal lives.
On the fourth day, Mr. Lee follows
the same schedule as the previous day.
?)0f\ First, he reads a chapter
lAJ?Ai aloud, then the students
[I |1 |j read with partners, then
they meet in book clubs.
Fatima is excited by the ending of
Chapter 10. Shiloh was hurt by another
dog, and it may be Marty's fault.
-_?v Fatima writes in her journal,
\w^ trying to protect Shiloh. He
did the best he could to
make the pen safe. The owners of the
other dog should have kept their dog at
home and made sure it didn't hurt
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
giving
caring
fibs to adults
has two sisters
hero
animal lover
Shiloh again. I hope Marty's dad lets
him take Shiloh home again, he isn't
f)Qd sa^e w^h Judd." At her
|A??| learning center, Fatima and
( Oil ^er ?rouP create a concept
map of the events in the
book thus far. The concept map is a
graphic representation of information
that is agreed upon by the group.
Fatima's group creates their concept
map from the Shiloh's perspective. Mr.
Lee often develops whole-class concept
maps at the beginning of the lesson to
activate the students' prior knowledge
on the theme he is presenting.
Mr. Lee knows that the excitement in
the book is building, so he schedules
additional reading time after lunch. He
follows the same pattern as the morn
ing: He reads one chapter aloud, then
his students read with partners, then
they read in their book clubs. When the
class finishes discussing Chapters 10
-, through 13, Fatima writes
\SsT~ \^ in her journal and updates
Xtes*g her character web. This
time she writes "smart,
loved by his family, doctor helps him,
worried" on the map. Before she leaves
school, Fatima writes a note to her key
pal Cheyene. "Remember the book I
VISUAL LITERACY 777
told you about? Well, Shiloh almost got piet?s her character web, writing "hard
killed but not by the mean man. He was worker, dedicated" on the paper.
-?-i hurt by another dog. I guess
I Mil that animals can be cruel to
/k??T?riri eacn other, like some peo
ple are. Tell you more to
morrow."
On the final day of this language arts
lesson Mr. Lee reads Chapter 14 aloud,
and Fatima reads Chapter 15 with her
book club. She is very angry with Judd
for making Marty work so hard and is
happy that Marty gets to keep Shiloh.
She asks the group about the meaning
of "a witness to make things legal."
?)Qf\ The group gets confused
I JUU%| and decides to ask Mr. Lee
Ib?I II f?r h^P- ^e meets with the
group to discuss this point
of law with the students. Mr. Lee asks
the group to retell this specific part of
the chapter for clarification. Then
Fatima writes in her journal, "I think that
Marty should have told the new game
warden that Judd killed the deer. That
way he would have gone to jail and then
Marty could still have Shiloh and the
deer would be protected. I'm glad I
know about a witness in case I ever have
to have legal help." Fatima also com
Figure 3
Completed character web
brave
lives in the country
worried
loved by his family
eats rabbits
friends with David
talks funny
sleeps on the couch smart dedicated
778 The Reading Teacher Vol. 52, No. 7 April 1999
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After lunch, Fatima's class watches
the movie version of Shiloh. When the
movie is finished, Mr. Lee
I VHff I asks the students to select a
story question and to write
an essay answer. The ques
tion Fatima selected read as follows:
Write a story about an experience (like
going to the vet, getting lost, wanting to
go outside on a rainy day) from the per
spective of a pet. Tell how things look
from where the animal is standing. How
do things like chairs and stairs look dif
ferent to animals from the way they look
to humans? What is the animal thinking?
How does the animal let humans know
what it needs?
Mr. Lee circulates among the chil
dren giving encouragement and indi
vidual help when needed. He often
conducts a writing lesson based on the
general needs he observes in his class.
As Mr. Lee develops his literacy cur
ricula, he knows how important it is to
continually consider the role of critical
thinking and visual images in learning.
We agree with Mr. Lee that acquir
ing information through multiple me
giving
caring
doctor helps him
fibs to adults
has two sisters
hard worker
animal lover
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
dia, called intermediality, increases stu
dent understanding and achievement.
We also believe that students must be
taught critical thinking skills that di
rectly relate to the visual world in
which they live. Mr. Lee's classroom is
a thriving example of children effec
tively being taught about and how to
use intermediality. Let's consider some
related research that other teachers who
share Mr. Lee's philosophy have con
ducted in their classrooms. These
teachers, Ms. Frey and Ms. Eyres
Wright, were both interested in what
impact mixes of media would have on
their students.
Intermediality and achievement:
A positive relationship
Ms. Eyres-Wright (1996; Flood et al.,
1997) was interested in determining if
intermediality was a good use of in
structional time. She wondered if using
alternative forms of media would have a
more significant effect on learning than
having students read two texts on the
same topic. In her class, Ms. Eyres
Wright purposely selected six students
(three female, three male) from her
class of 8- and 9-year-olds. These stu
dents were selected to represent the
range of reading ability in her class, eth
nicity, and socioeconomic status. All
students read all six biographies.
Students were questioned about their
knowledge of each person prior to
reading. Three of the biographies were
followed with the viewing of a docu
mentary movie, and three were fol
lowed with the reading of another book
on the same topic (see Table). All stu
dents in the class participated in all the
activities, and specific data were
recorded for the six focus students. In
a book club format, students read the
biographies and completed journal en
tries. In addition, students were given
a comprehension questionnaire about
the historical figure and his or her life;
Ms. Eyres-Wright maintained qualita
tive field notes during the process.
The results of Ms. Eyres-Wright's
study support the use of intermediality
as an important instructional strategy.
For example, journal entries that were
based on both the text and the video
contained more detail and across-text
connections than those followed by the
 Information sources for biographies of famous people
Person Target book Partner book
Paul Revere Fritz, J., & Tomes, M. (1996). Forbes, E.,& Ward, L (1990).
And then what happened, Paul America's Paul Revere. New
Revere? New York: Putnam. York: Houghton Mifflin.
Father Serra White, F.M. (1987). The story of Haley, A., Guzzi, G., & Rawls
Jun?pero Serra, brave adventurer. J. (1996). Never turn back:
New York: Bantam. Father Serra's mission. New York:
Raintree Steck-Vaughn.
Helen Keller Lundell, M. (1995). A girl named Davidson, M. (1996). Helen
Helen Keller. New York: Keller's teacher. New York:
Scholastic. Scholastic.

Person Target book Video

Pocahontas Gourse, L. (1996). Pocahontas: Pocahontas/Clamshell by
Young peacemaker. New York: Enchanted Tales (1995). ISBN
Aladdin. 6303388051
Squanto Bulla, C.R. (1982). Squanto: Squanto and the first Thanksgiving
Friend of the Pilgrims. New York: by Graham Green (1996). ISBN
Scholastic. 6304049307
Davy Crockett Crockett, D. (1993). Davy Davy Crockett: American heroes
Crockett: His own story: A narrative and legends by Vvrev 70226.
of the life of David Crockett of the ISBN 6303029361
State of Tennessee. New York:
Applewood.

reading of a second text. Justin's jour
nal entries clearly demonstrated this:
Texts only
I like Helen Keller because it opened me
up to this book and if I was the writer I
would be very proud of this book. Helen
Keller was a interesting lady.
Text and video
The book Davy Crockett reminds me of
Squanto because Squanto leaves his indi
an village and Davy is leaving his home
too. And they will both be exploring and
doing exciting things and going on long
trips.
In addition, students performed bet
ter, as a class and individually, after
viewing the documentary. The class av
erage on comprehension tests for the
book alone was 87%. The class did
slightly better with the addition of the
video (90%). When asked about the
text and text versus text and video ex
periences, four of the six students re
ported that they preferred the combined
video and book approach because it
helped them see the story better.
Finally, the teacher's field notes indi
cated that students' conversations indi
cated that they comprehended more
when they were exposed to and were
required to use multiple but different
sources of information (intermediality),
because they could draw across-text
comparisons when two different text
formats (book and video) were used.
In another teacher-researcher study,
Ms. Frey (1998) studied the signifi
cance of using multiple media to
enhance perception and aesthetic re
sponse. Her fourth-grade class of 31
students in an urban school setting
were matched with a randomly selected
fourth-grade class in the same school.
The comparison class of 31 students
was demographically similar to the stu
dents in Ms. Frey's class. The students
in both classes read the same novels,
but those in Ms. Frey's class also
watched a topically related video prior
to reading the book.
Two reader response continuums
(Cox & Many, 1992) were used to de
termine if students who saw the video
before reading the novel were able to
respond with more depth of under
Standing than those who did not see the
video. These responses involved both
the readers' stance toward the text as
well as level of understanding.
When students were shown the film
first, then asked to read the book, more
students responded in aesthetic stances.
In fact, the students who had both text
and video were less likely to have low
levels of aesthetic response (and these
results were statistically significant).
Similarly, when students were
shown the film first, then read the book,
significantly more students responded
with higher levels of understanding. In
fact, only 1% of the students who did
not have access to the video responded
with the highest levels of understand
ing. This number compares to students
who had access to the video?15% of
them responded with the highest levels
of understanding (and these results
were statistically significant).
Making learning memorable
The teachers conducted these studies
as a way to better understand how
learning experiences can be enhanced

VISUAL LITERACY 779

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by capitalizing on students' receptivity anchoring thematic units around a groups for teachers. The Reading Teacher,
to media. These studies and the vig wide range of good literature that 47,254-259.
Flood, J., Heath, S.B., & Lapp, D. (Eds.).
nette from Mr. Lee's classroom support includes multiple genre. (1997). Handbook of research on teach
the use of a variety of media in the Intermediality, as demonstrated by ing literacy through the communication
classroom. Evidence suggests that book Mr. Lee, Ms. Frey, and Ms. Eyres and visual arts. New York: Macmillan.
clubs (literary discussions) and videos Wright, has great potential to increase Flood, J., Lapp, D., Fisher, D., Lungren, L.,
Flood, S., Frey, J., & Eyres-Wright, D.
have a positive effect on comprehen students' comprehension and under
(1997, December). Enhancing the literacy
sion, remembering detail, and across standing of text. Building on the nat curriculum with visual technology. Paper
text comparisons. Similarly, the use of ural curiosity and interests of children, presented at the meeting of the National
video appears to have a positive impact these multiple media formats capture Reading Conference, Scottsdale, AZ.
on the readers' stance toward a book as attention, reinforce content knowledge, Frey, J. (1998). Maximizing reader response
through films and videos. Unpublished
well as his or her level of personal un and increase aesthetic responses. Can master's thesis, San Diego State Univer
derstanding. While the examples in you imagine a child not wanting to read sity, San Diego, CA.
these studies only involved video, other and learn more after viewing a short Lapp, D., Flood, J., Ranck-Buhr, W.,
media have also been shown to have a video clip of Shiloh and meeting VanDyke, J., & Spacek, S. (1997). "Do
you really want us to talk about this
positive effect on students' achieve Officer Graham? book?" A closer look at book clubs as an
ment (Flood, Heath, & Lapp, 1997). instructional tool. In J. Paratore & R.
Mr. Lee used television, videos, com Authors' note McCormack (Eds.), Peer talk in the class
puters, classroom guests, and lots of room (pp. 6-25). Newark, DE: Inter
reading and writing to engage his The graphics were created using national Reading Association.
students. May er-Johnson's Boardmaker software. Naylor, P.R. (1991). Shiloh. New York:
Bantam.
For information, call 619-550-0084.
We encourage teachers to explore in Palincsar, A.S., & Brown, A.L. (1984).
termediality in their classrooms be Reciprocal teaching of comprehension
References fostering and monitoring activities.
cause so many types of media are
Cox, C, & Many, J. (1992). Stance toward a Cognition and Instruction, 1,117 - 175.
especially motivating to children. Such Raphael, T.E. (1982). Question-answering
literary work: Applying the transactional
experiences include theory to children's responses. Reading strategies for children. The Reading
viewing videos in conjunction with Psychology, 13,37 - 72. Teacher, 36,186-190.
texts, Eyres-Wright, D. (1996). Book clubs and film: Raphael, T.E., Goatley, V.J., McMahon, S.I.,
producing videos about texts, Connecting literature and technology & Woodman, D.A. (1995). Promoting
through historical biographies. Unpublished meaningful conversations in student book
accessing the World Wide Web master's thesis, San Diego State University, clubs. In N.L. Roser & M.G. Martinez
and CD-ROMs for information, San Diego, CA. (Eds.), Book talk and beyond (pp.
using computers to research and Flood, J., & Lapp, D. (1994). Teacher book 66-79). Newark, DE: International
write; clubs: Establishing literature discussion Reading Association.
encouraging book clubs and litera
ture circles with "grand" conversa
tions about texts, Visual Literacy illustrates that the many dimensions of visual literacy can be
engaging guest speakers who are learned, used, and integrated simultaneously. The editors can be contacted through
Diane Lapp, School of Teacher Education, San Diego State University, San
knowledgeable about the topic,
Diego, CA 92182-0139, USA. E-mail: lapp@mail.sdsu.edu
taking field trips to related points of
interest, and

780 The Reading Teacher Vol. 52, No. 7 April 1999

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