Abstract

Visual exploration, visual scanning, and visual pick-up of information in print are important first-year learning tasks for school children, but they are often neglected by educators and researchers because they are not easy to observe or record (Clay, 1991). The world now is experiencing an explosion of knowledge and with the advancing media technology, most of this knowledge comes in the form of visual input. Visual images are becoming the predominant form of communication across a range of learning and teaching resources, delivered across a range of media and formats. Set in the context of general perception that boys are much better in interpreting visual input, this study explores gender differences or similarities in young learners’ second language visual literacy practices. Drawing on the analysis of visual characteristics of 90 lower primary students, findings revealed limited differences of boys’ and girls’ visual literacy practices and these differences were very much influenced by social and cultural contexts rather than gender.