“Reading the Visual in College Writing Courses,” by Charles A. Hill

Hill, Charles A. “Reading the Visual in College Writing Courses.”
Visual Rhetoric in a Visual World: A Critical Sourcebook.
Ed. Carolyn Handa. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004. (107-129)

Hill’s article stresses the pedagogical demands of a new age in composition studies. He gives some practical strategies for teaching visual rhetoric, or the rhetoric of the image, within the composition classroom. He argues that instructors of composition should embrace the rhetoric of the screen, of design, of image, as well as the rhetoric of traditional text. This may seem daunting when we are faced with the challenge of getting our students’ writing up to par in just the simple terms of grammar, organization, and argument, but Hill emphasizes the role of composition instructors as the first and sometimes only encounter students will have with the functions and implication of rhetoric in their daily lives.

Hill makes the point that students today encounter more texts in their daily lives than any generation before them. These multimodal texts are loaded with cultural information; therefore, it is necessary to integrate visual rhetoric into our classrooms. He argues that “pedagogical efforts should be aimed toward helping students deal with combinations of picture, word, and symbol” (109). Images have the power to create knowledge and understanding, and therefore the visual needs to be addressed in writing courses. Because communication has always contained aspects of the visual, it is erroneous to omit the study of the visual when teaching rhetorical and critical analysis. The power of the image specifically in documentaries is acknowledged. Because visual images do convey “cultural values and assumptions,” they are equally important in developing a rhetorical understanding of the world. Hill writes, “Students need to appreciate the power of images for defining and for reinforcing our cultural values and to understand the ways in which images help us define our individual roles in society” (116). He goes on to argue that students should be made aware of the rhetorical intentions of the producers of these images. Ultimately, teaching students to rhetorically analyze visual images in the classroom may lead them to be more critical consumers in the world.
Not only is analysis important in Hill’s argument, but so is the process of design. Students should be taught how the visual elements of their texts are rhetorical. He offers several examples by using the title of the article and putting it in different typefaces, fonts, and adjusting the sizes of the headings.

Because the students will continue to live and work in a hyper-visual world, it is important to prepare them to critically examine the visual arguments that they routinely encounter. Hill argues that “ignoring graphics and visual design elements in writing classes, even in first-year composition, is quickly becoming anachronistic”