INTEGRATING VISUAL LITERACY SKILLS AND TEXTUAL LITERACIES IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF STUDENTS’ WRITING AT TERTIARY LEVEL

This paper will present the results of an experimental study on the integration of visual literacy skills and textual literacies in the improvement of students’ writing at tertiary level. Based on literature review, it was found that visual literacy skills have positive teaching implications. Therefore, this experimental study was carried out over a period of 7 weeks with a group of undergraduates at a public institution of higher learning to find out whether the integration of visual literacy skills with textual literacies helps students to produce quality writing in an English proficiency course. The methodology involved administering a pre-test at the beginning and a post- test at the end of the study to the treatment group and control group. This was followed with the administration of visual literacy treatment to the treatment group. Next, interviews were conducted at the end of the study with respondents from the treatment group to elicit their perceptions on the integration of visual literacy in their writing practice. The findings would encourage teachers and students to incorporate and integrate alternate literacies skills in the teaching and learning of language.