Os recursos visuais no ensino-aprendizagem de vocabulário em língua estrangeira

Abstract

This paper aims at investigating the usage of visual resources in vocabulary teaching and learning in a foreign language. Based on Kress and Van Leeuwen (1996), Callow (1999) and Oliveira (2006), it discusses the relation between the visual resources and vocabulary learning as well as reflects on the necessity of making the students capable of exploring such resources consciously and critically, aiming at a better comprehension of the meanings and usages of the words. This paper analyses vocabulary exercises of current English as foreign language textbooks. The results indicate that the selection and exploration of the visual resources in the textbooks rarely contribute to a more meaningful vocabulary learning, or contemplate the interaction between the visual and verbal resources, what could provide the student with important support in the lexical knowledge construction.