The Role(s) of Image for Young Bilinguals Reading Multimodal Informational Texts

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how young bilinguals construct meaning with multimodal informational texts. The most frequently used literacy practice to support the meaning construction involved viewing an image. The function of image played four distinct, but important roles: image as access to meaning and content; image as prompt for discussion; image as a catalyst to seek access to printed text; image as a multimodal complement to printed text. The roles were examined using a case study approach that drew on multiple levels of analysis in order to describe content knowledge and language development among first-grade bilinguals over an academic year.