The article Talking about visual texts with students by J. Callow (2003) claims that visual literacy is part of the new literacies and in describing it, a type of metalanguage needs to be used. The article was based on a research done in a few Australian schools and deals with the way students understand the visual aspects of their own Power Point presentations.
The article takes the reader through the main steps of the project and concentrates on explaining (with plenty of visual examples!) how the students perceived the visual images they used in their projects. It is interesting to mention that most presentations had images bigger than (or at least as big as) the written text that accompanied the image. The students were allowed to use only clip arts, but some suggested that real pictures would have had a stronger effect on the viewer/reader.
The author concludes the article by stating that it is important not only to familiarize the students with the technology involved in making visual presentations, but also how the visuals used create meaning.
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