Using the visitgreece social media posts to introduce visual imagery in language syllabus

Usingthevisitgreecesocial
mediapoststointroducevisual
imageryinlanguagesyllabus
Elli Vazou & Periklis Politis
PhD student Associate Prof.
Dept. of Journalism and Mass Communications
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

what we are going to see together
at a glance: the VisitGreece social media posts, that is facebook,
google+, instagram, flickr, and twitter;
through the basic tenets of critical multiliteracies, multimodality,
critical tourism studies, and tourism & visual culture (Schirato & Webb,
2004; Buckingham, 2008; Abraham & Williams, 2009; Ito et al., 2010; Kress et al., 2001; Kress, 2003;
Serafini, 2014; Schirato & Webb, 2004; Buckingham, 2008; Abraham & Williams, 2009; Ito et al.,
2010; Kress et al., 2001; Kress, 2003; Serafini, 2014);
casting a little more light on visual images;
examining how can visual literacy enter the language classroom and
help co-create a novel multimodal curriculum (Foucault, 1963 (1973); Rose,
1993; Dann, 1996; Crawshaw & Urry, 1997; Ryan, 2002; Schroeder, 2002; Cappelli, 2008; Hunter,
2008; Burns et al., 2010 & 2010; Munar, 2011; Urry & Larsen, 2011; Politis & Vazou, 2012;
Moufakkir & Reisinger, 2013; Thurlow, 2013; boyd, 2014).

tourism
(destination
branding)
visual,
media,
and digital
literacy
multiple
literacies
(multiliteracies)

Many scholars have analysed tourism imagery
in a way that brings us closer to the notion of
"critical"
introducing the notion of
"gaze"

...which is taken to be the institutionalized form of
power . “Under Foucauldian light, the gaze is not so
much an act of seeing, but an act of knowing” (Moufakkir
& Reisinger, 2013: xiv).

The gaze is constructed through signs, and tourism
involves the collection of signs (Urry & Larsen, 2011).

Such gazes cannot be
left to chance. People
have to learn how, when
and where to ‘gaze’ (Urry,
2011: 12).

So, how has the GNTO—the main governmental body responsible for
promoting Greece worldwide—used imagery and has built a certain
identity for the country as a (tourism) destination throughout the years?
And how hasn't the GNTO left this gaze to chance?

Using the visitgreece social media posts to introduce visual imagery in language syllabus

from the typical ad campaigns and
the old tourism posters moving on
...to the new Internet era; a political decision
to show Greece's new face, a renovated
image of a country fully engaged with the
new media (here the medium was also the
message)

From the political decisions regarding the
branding of Greece to language classroom

Children will be able to discover that “looking is a
learned ability and that the pure and innocent eye
is a myth” (Urry 2011: 1).

• Is really an image worth a thousand words?
• Do images convey certain meanings in a more
dynamic way than language?

How a country’s image has been built up
through the visual elements of a photo?
(That is, focus, light, angle, foreground,
background, composition, saturation,
framing, etc.)
According to
resources (e.g. a
landscape, or an
archaeological
finding) how is the
camera positioned?
Are there
emotional, or
iconic images?
Which are their
differences and
purpose?
Are there stereotypical
representations? Are
there any recurrent
symbols?

Pupils will be called to examine basic elements of web
design/layout:
• Colours used, impressions of dominant colours. Why?
• What kind of lines are preferred? Fine and smooth, or
wavy and curved? Why?

“Photographs are a powerful medium for tourism
destination promotion. They cast the natural and
cultural resources of a destination in the best light and
even prescribe the proper host–tourist interactions
through their depictions. It could be said that their
representational power transforms a place into a
destination” (Hunter, 2008: 354).

logo
a variety of graphic
and typeface
elements
a graphic design that a
destination uses, with or
without a destination
name attached to it, to
identify itself as a
producer of quality
products or services.
part of a destination’s
sign system and is
applied to communicate
the destination’s identity
to internal and external
audiences
In this way, logos can
be regarded as a
destination’s
signature on its
materials .

Eros Έρως The Greek god of love. He gave
us the word “erotic”. He made people fall in
love using a few arrows and the most
romantic islands in the Mediterranean Sea.

Considering the multimodal/digital content:

“In learning with and through these media, young people are
also learning how to learn. They are developing particular
orientations toward information, particular methods of
acquiring new knowledge and skills, and a sense of their own
identities as learners” (Buckingham, 2008).

As we are talking in essence about tourism advertising (destination
branding), the content analysed uses persuasive techniques to lure
and influence audiences worldwide.

• That means that children will be more aware of the
messages they receive, and analyze these idyllic images and
the descriptions accompany them within a certain
political/historical context.
• This helps children become critical consumers, and also
teaches them how to craft persuasive visual arguments or
messages (Serafini, 2014: 143).

Children witness that pictorial and verbal elements interact, and so
do schemes and tropes: they work together as modes of figuration to
build up a feel for a country as a tourism destination and to attract
travellers.

Posts (just like print ads) are a kind of “compressed message” through
which a country conveys its brand promise: what are its core values,
the unique experiences offered, to what extent can it live up to the
visitor’s expectations, etc.

As the messages of the GNTO posts address the whole world,
regardless of cross-cultural differences, children also learn
that intense experiences on which destination branding is
based seem to be universal.
And in this way they get familiar with the notion of
universality in meaning-making.

Different social media and their specific layout change also the way
texts are structured —the so-called linguistic/technological
variables— (e.g. frequent use of bullets, numbering, word choice,
sentence structure, identity markers, spelling, features automatically
introduced by the software, string length, etc.) (Herring, 2011; Crystal,
2011).

It seems now—as we have moved from page to
screen—that the text becomes a kind of visual entity
(as Kress mentioned back in 2003).

Visual grammar issues also arise:
According to the principles of visual grammar the placing of
the elements of image and writing on the space of the screen
matters.
• What is located on the left, right, or centre? What is
on the top and bottom?
• Are there eye-catching techniques adopted?
• Which elements are salient and why?

A simple example is the ‘caption’ (we find it in Instagram, or Flickr
posts), where it clearly matters whether the verbal caption is
placed near to the visual element or more distantly, or whether it
is placed at the top, at the bottom, to the left or to the right, within
the same frame, within the visual element or outside (as it happens
with other digital genres, such as the visitgreece newsletter, the
homepage, etc.).

Depending on the medium children will also learn: (a) whether the
written text or the image are used and interact in different ways; (b)
are there degrees of interaction or interactivity, e.g. between a
medium based primarily on image, such as Instagram, or another
which allows us to write longer texts, such as Facebook?

As we saw earlier (in the brand manual) letters alone
have significances at the visual level (different fonts
for different messages, use of capital letters, etc.).

Finally, children will be able to find hidden ideologies
established by public policy authorities (exercise social
power) and relate them to visual and verbal messages.

• To what extent does the logic of image dominates
on the screen? And what are the consequences on
the way children are taught language in school?
• Should language curricula also take into
consideration the fact that writing has a subsidiary
role to image?

Should the question of which mode to use for the
representation of what content is become closely
connected with curriculum?

Schools traditionally privilege abstract and discrete
forms of knowledge. How can these forms be mixed
with the skills that young people develop through their
out-of-school digital practices?

As we’ve watched how landscapes are being
shown around the world, and how tourism has
the power to transform a land into a landscape,
maybe it’s time to think of all the changes brought
about as the communicational landscape
is moving
more towards the use of image.
If school is not willing to follow that trend, does that
mean that education harbour the danger of not
engaging
with the children's interests?

Using the visitgreece social media posts to introduce visual imagery in language syllabus

More Related Content

Viewers also liked (14)

Similar to Using the visitgreece social media posts to introduce visual imagery in language syllabus (20)

More from Dr. Elli Vazou (9)

Recently uploaded (20)

Using the visitgreece social media posts to introduce visual imagery in language syllabus

Editor's Notes