The Use of Visual Literacy Strategies to Enhance Reading and Critical Thinking Abilities
Keywords:
Visual literacy, visual literacy strategies, reading ability, critical thinking, thinking abilityAbstract
This research aimed to study the effectiveness of using Visual Literacy Strategies (VLS) to enhance reading and critical thinking abilities. Eighty Mathayomsuksa Four students participated in this study; 40 students formed an experimental group and 40 students were in a control group. Visual Literacy Strategies were practiced in the experimental group whereas an instruction based on the school’s reading curriculum was taught in the control group. The experimental instruments included 10 VLS lesson plans each comprising 10 reading texts and activities. A reading test, used as the data collection instrument, consisted of two reading texts and each had 12 questions based on Bloom’s taxonomy of critical thinking level (1956). Percentages, means, standard deviations and t-test were employed in the data analysis.
It was found that the level of reading ability of the experimental group increased significantly at the level of .01, signifying that using VLS yielded positive results. A further comparison also showed the significant differences between the two groups, making it fair to say that VLS is highly effective. Regarding the critical thinking ability, the experimental group could improve their critical thinking ability significantly at the level of .01. Results from the comparison between the two groups indicated the higher scores in the VLS group with the significant differences in the progression of all levels of critical thinking, except level three (application), in which there was no significant difference.
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