Table of Contents
Issue #4 as well as supplement added at the end.
Communication Research Trends:
The Language of Film and Television
vol. 2 no. 4 1981
Research Trends in Religious Communication:
Media Language and the Churches: Opportunity or Threat
vol. 2 no. 4 1981
Abstract
An increasing number of people receive most of their news, entertainment and even religious inspiration through the visual media of film, television or illustrated magazines. We all "watch" television.James Monaco notes that some cats watch television attentively! But how well do we grasp the specific language of the visual media?
In countries such as the U.S., there is evidence that the post-1950 generation that has grown up with television has a pattern of thinking more attuned to the visual than to print media. Yet, some cross-cultural studies suggest that many American children, for all of the long hours of TV they watch, have a relatively shallow perception of visual expression.
Primary and secondary education generally focusses almost entirely on understanding print media. Some educators urge greater emphasis on visual literacy to build upon the latent "visual mentality" of young people today and to cultivate a deeper understanding of film and television expression. One presupposition of many "visual literacy" programmes now being introduced into schools is that film and television have specific langnages and that we can teach students to understand this language.
This issue reviews some of the controversy among researchers regarding the notion of visual langnage and the debates on how to teach visual literacy.
Recommended Citation
(1981)
"The Language of Film and Television,"
Communication Research Trends: Vol. 2:
No.
4, Article 1.
Available at:
https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/crt/vol2/iss4/1