Bouwer, Anne Margaret (2000) Visual literacy in adult basic
education : a study of ABET learners' visual perception with
regard to their general level of English second language
learning. Masters thesis, Rhodes University. Adult learners face
many difficulties in their learning programmes, particularly due
to the fact that having mastered literacy in their mother
tongues, they move on to further educational programmes which
are mostly produced in English. In contemporary society, people
need to be adept in a number of literacies, termed
multiliteracies. Adult learners are rarely taught visual
competence as visual images are relegated to illustrations for
written texts, and attention is mainly focussed on the all-
important written word. Adult basic education learners need to
be able to interpret pictures in books, newspapers and
magazines, just as much as they need to be able to read and
write. It is the premise of this research that visual literacy
enhances thinking skills and that adult learners need to be a