english essay picture composition

english essay picture composition

The Power of Visual Storytelling in English Composition

1. Introduction

In the classroom, teaching is inherently based on visual and auditory interaction between students and instructor. At the college level where the vast majority of students carry smartphones with cameras, audio editing capability, and PowerPoint—professors never truly venture beyond the realm of visual and auditory stimuli. As users of screens and smart devices build a craving for visual stimuli, as learners increasingly play in the land of screens, as educators shift toward digital integration, surviving classrooms will be those pockets of traditional learning spaces that refuse to let go of the dynamics of personal and professional growth that spring from an old-fashioned notebook, a scribbled composition, and interpretational student to instructor dialogue. However, while such literary traditions can be touted and honored, it is also a fact that digital culture rules. With over 4 billion Internet users, over 3 billion active global social media users, and 350,000 tweets per minute, digital and image-literate students are eager for an instruction that meshes English Composition foundation with a strong emphasis on digital application.

This article challenges English Composition instructors to consider the value of visual storytelling in their class assignments and its role in repurposing traditional English Composition curriculum. When exploring the power of misconception and truth in visual rhetoric, it is important to connect such a discussion to what William Zinsser writes about style. With the combination of powerful visual communication by the student, writing that informs and reveals a hidden subject through the employment of traditional English Composition strategies, which includes proper grammar and punctuation, the author reaches a dual objective. The reflection on teachers’ assignment responses confirms the student and author’s results.

2. Importance of Picture Composition

Photography is a visual art and when the pictures have a good story in it, they always make a better impression; but as we all know, if the image is worth a thousand words then in that case the story automatically becomes invaluable. Picture composition and picture making is a sum total of lots of rules which are there to help a photographer understand and create an image to its best potential. Whether to use or not to use these rules in pictures is also an integral part of the composition. If used, it should be used in such a way that a photographer uses it as his strength and applies it in such a way that the picture becomes a creation of his or her individual talent, and if a photographer finds the rule to be mundane he should also know how to break them and use it in his favor. I personally believe that only when one knows the actual rule, he or she can successfully break it and use the rule to his benefit.

People’s first thousand words are said to be through their pictures. Not always a story, sometimes a picture/an image is just a piece of a moment, and it depends on the person to perceive what they see. The world of writing, especially storytelling, is not a piece of cake. It is not always easy and fun. It needs time, effort, hours and hours of thinking, looking, and trying to find the right details. But not all people like that. Photography comes with the power to help them to capture a moment and tell a story. In a visual world, visual storytelling is modern photography’s answer to traditional photography’s landscape and portrait work that is more about style than the story. Picture composition creates harmony and interest within a frame. Picture composition is like an architecture, without proper architectural understanding a building cannot be constructed or for that matter no work can be done. The study of picture composition and its application in the image making is the most fundamental thing of this trade. It is the most important aspect in visual language. Picture composition has its roots in primitive art.

3. Techniques for Effective English Essay Picture Composition

The use of images can enhance the text and provide better visual explanation. It increases understanding and retention. The use of pictures is an immediate way to gauge the understanding of the concepts introduced, and this will in turn serve as formative assessment for effective learning. Using pictures or sketches also helps to aesthetically break up pages of words in the essay and provides comic relief in a serious essay. This is especially beneficial for those who do not like reading or those who have a short attention span. When others state, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” it is no exaggeration. It is true. Pictures are able to convey messages better and faster. In an essay, it is always good to use a certain level of visual storytelling by adding relevant pictures to essays to enhance its content and provide a deeper understanding to its readers.

Adding sketches into essays can help to express your ideas in an interesting way. Students are also entertained by illustrations, which makes learning more enjoyable. Incorporate picture composition into your English lessons today and teach in a fun way. Using this approach alleviates boredom in the little stories.

4. Examples of Successful Visual Storytelling

Many visual literacy and composition stakeholders are, in a current society of written and spoken words, seeking the necessary skills that are inherently needed to be successful when it comes to reading literacy. Connors discusses that many times a lot of thought goes into the words on a page, but little thought goes into the physical layout of the page. As such, professionals in education should not just teach students to read alphabetic words and texts, but should also teach students to not only read or understand “legible, readable, visible,” and “unforgotten” visuals, in that they can visually communicate better “when we draw on sources of meaning beyond words”.

Examples of successful visual storytelling may include any of the following: a political cartoon in an urban newspaper, similar controversial editorial cartoons in the fine visual magazines such as The New Yorker, anti-smoking advertising, comic books, street art, photographs with captions, videos expressing an opinion, all advertising be it in print form on paper or in as jpegs on the World Wide Web – such as magazine or internet ads, etc. Since visuals can represent a global language versus specific spoken and written language, visuals can often reach various types of people in terms of their language and literacy skillsets. Printed editorial cartoons or manipulaxes sent via the internet for an issue are one way the masses can have their opinions voiced.

5. Conclusion: Impact of Visuals in English Composition

Students understand more and work better cooperatively when they are led to color visual media images on paper. As long as visual media is more memorable, it will teach writing and encourage discussion. Learning through discussing visual still images has motivated, stimulated, and challenged the student as they explored options for swinging their writing so that it could be visually expressed up to different levels of being interesting. Students lose both creativity and momentum when they are fixed in mind. It is a supportive environment for students in English composition because it can be sent in winter and released for skating without fear of slipping or failing. Students were invited to take an interest and interactively self-correct as they were encouraged to select ice symbols and together create a story without revealing mistakes, creating a visual story. Participants in the game had a chance to evaluate his story. Participants paused to evaluate their intake. Finally, the process of making the visual story is one of the first stages of the writing process because it helps to identify the main points and the values that learners want to communicate to the target. In addition, the eye is the contact point of the audience, with the viewer of the visual story understanding and reacting to the images of the story. Accordingly, visuals are strong communication devices. Use these tools to improve the performance of your students in writing, reading, imagining, working, and team-building in English and developing their voice as they learn to describe the text.

“The Power of Visual Storytelling in English Composition” examines how the visuals of visual media can be used to improve English writing, reading, and discussing in an English Composition Course at a private university in Saudi Arabia. The study explores how learners’ engagement and performance are facilitated and how the participants can use the visual storyboards of the story to increase, revise, and interact in collaborative work. The study is based on Creativity and Innovation and focuses on different teaching methods, such as hooking, prompting to quick thinking, using imagination, and training learners to predict outcomes, which are important in the writing process.