When words are not enough - Mapping students' experiences through drawings
Drawing is often a natural activity for children and they are used to expressing their ideas visually. In recent years, visuality has also become more prominent in communication for young people and adults, as many of today's communication channels such as Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Tiktok or Facebook rely heavily on visuals.
Visual research methods, including drawing, have become increasingly common in recent years in learning research. They are thought to have numerous advantages when studying people's perceptions and states of mind. Visual methods are thought to provide participants with an alternative, and for some more natural, way of expressing themselves than simply writing or speaking.
Visual methods can offer different perspectives and reveal certain specific features of people's perceptions that may not be revealed by interviews alone, for example.
Visual methods can be particularly effective when studying abstract concepts such as multilingualism. In addition, sensitive or emotionally charged topics can be easier to describe and express visually. Visual methods can also be well suited to studying people who speak different languages or have communication difficulties, such as selective non-speaking or developmental language impairment.
Visual methods, especially drawing, have been widely used with children. Often, the children have been asked to draw a picture, write words on it and tell about it orally (the so-called draw, write, and tell method). Drawing has been suggested to help children in particular to construct complex ideas and recall events and to generate more ideas than just writing. However, it should be noted that not all children are comfortable drawing, so alternative methods should be considered with them.
Method studied
In our previous studies we have used drawing with young children. In the first study, we looked at the early learning of English by two pupils with special needs. The pupils were asked to draw a picture of an English lesson and describe what learning English looks and feels like.
In this study, students were also interviewed after drawing and were allowed to talk freely about their drawings. The drawings, and the accompanying interview, highlighted the important role of the teacher in teaching and creating a positive language attitude. You can read more about the results of the study here (in Finnish): https://www.kieliverkosto.fi/fi/journals/kieli-koulutus-ja-yhteiskunta-syyskuu-2021/oppilaiden-yksilollisyyden-huomioiminen-varhennetussa-kieltenopetuksessa
In another study, we asked 41 2nd grade bilingual students to draw a situation where a foreign language is used or needed. In addition to this, the pupils answered a few questions about the drawing in writing (what languages are spoken in the drawing, who is in the drawing and what is happening in the drawing?)
Overall, the drawings and their written descriptions emphasised everyday situations and oral interaction. In the drawings, we were surprised by the paucity of images related to school and ICT. There were only two images related to school and only one image with technology (a smartphone to search for words). More information on the survey can be found here (in Finnish): https://jyx.jyu.fi/jyx/Record/jyx_123456789_84870
IDEAL draws language - children's drawings tell the story of learning English
In the IDEAL project, we also use visual methods. We explore the early learning of English and the feelings associated with it for pupils with language difficulties or who are multilingual. The pupils will be asked to draw what learning English looks and feels like. In addition, the children will be asked to share their drawing and it will be used as the basis for an individual interview.
Read more:
Angell, C., Alexander, J., & Hunt, J. (2015). ‘Draw, write and tell’: A literature review and methodological development on the ‘draw and write’ research method. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 13(1), 17–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X14538592
Dufva, H., Aro, M., Alanen, R., & Kalaja, P. (2011). Voices of literacy, images of books: Sociocognitive approach to multimodality in learner beliefs. ForumSprache, 6, 58–74
Kalaja. P., & Pitkänen-Huhta, A. (2020). Raising awareness of multilingualism as lived – in the context of teaching English as a foreign language. Language and Intercultural Communication, 20(4), 340–355. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2020.1786918
Roiha, A., & Mäntylä, K. (2021). Oppilaiden yksilöllisyyden huomioiminen varhennetussa kieltenopetuksessa. Kieli, koulutus ja yhteiskunta, 12(4). Saatavilla: https://www.kieliverkosto.fi/fi/journals/kieli-koulutus-ja-yhteiskunta-syyskuu-2021/oppilaiden-yksilollisyyden-huomioiminen-varhennetussa-kieltenopetuksessa
Roiha, A., Mäntylä, K., & Dufva, H. (2022). Varhaisessa CLIL-opetuksessa olevien oppilaiden käsityksiä kielitaidosta ja kielen käytöstä. Teoksessa R. Kantelinen, M. Kautonen & Z. Elgundi (toim.), Linguapeda 2021, Conference Proceedings. Suomen ainedidaktisen tutkimusseuran julkaisuja, 12–38.
