Developing multiple perspectives with EFL learners through facilitated dialogue about images

Abstract

This article reports on a case study investigating how Norwegian upper secondary EFL learners develop multiple perspectives in facilitated dialogue about images before and after being familiarized with critical visual literacy (CVL) practices. Focus group interviews were conducted with learners before and after a 16-week intervention in which CVL was introduced as an approach to teaching about culture in the English foreign language (EFL) classroom. An in-depth analysis of the interactions during pre-interviews demonstrates how through the dialogue, facilitated by authentic and critical questions, the learners explored several different perspectives, thus expanding the images’ meaning-making potential even without any prior CVL instruction. Furthermore, the analysis of the post-interviews shows how the learners display agency in taking up a critical stance when familiarized with CVL practices. These findings suggest that given the right time and space, EFL learners can engage reflectively and critically with images even as a one-off event, but also that engaging in CVL practices over time supports EFL learners to become socialized into critical inquiry, enabling them to take a critical stance more independently.