USING VISUALS TO PROMOTE WORKPLACE LITERACY AMONG POLYTECHNIC STUDENTS

Abstract

The 21st century is saturated with visuals and texts that are mediated through the Internet, mobile phones, videos, films, advertisements and games. These new media with integrated visuals are part of popular culture. The students in Politeknik Sazali Ahmad Shah were found to have difficulties in reading visuals and manuals and communicating their ideas in their workplace during their industrial training. Hence, this qualitative descriptive case study looked into a new approach of teaching English for Technical Purposes to polytechnic students by the use of visuals such as drawings, digital photographs, flow charts and video clips to promote workplace literacy. Students are required to comprehend and make meaning from the visual images and present their PowerPoint presentations. This case study examines four Civil Engineering students. Sources of data for this study consist of field notes, students’ task output, video recordings, descriptions of the lesson and interviews. The study found that the students utilized and made meaning of the visuals by using iconic signs to signify their interpretation of texts and identify elements from video clips to construct their workplace tasks. They analyzed each video element according to Kress’ principle of aptness and plausibility of the visuals. The students also perceived that by learning their field content, they can perform and communicate better in their industrial training due to the exposure to lexical items, ability to think critically, retain in long term memory, and express their arguments in deciding the appropriate descriptions for the visuals.